The Department for Education (DfE) could soon use artificial intelligence to draft responses to as much as 80 per cent of its external correspondence. Plans published in December by the Cabinet Office, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and the Government Digital Service reveal details of the DfE鈥檚 The plans say the system can reduce the time it takes to draft a response to external correspondence from 30 to just one minute. It will 鈥渃reate opportunities to prioritise more complex and high priority work鈥 and in turn 鈥渉opefully enhance the department鈥檚 reputation with regards to responding to external queries鈥. The department told Schools Week the tool will help to support some types of public correspondence from early this year. It is not clear whether it will be used to answer formal complaints. But a digital safety campaigner has warned the tool cannot replicate the 鈥渘ecessary nuance and sensitivity to reply to a human being鈥, while the Public and Commercial Services Union has urged the government to protect employees鈥 jobs. The tool will use Microsoft鈥檚 Open Azure AI, which can be used to write a first response to external queries. Staff members must review text The AI searches for the relevant documents and information before drafting the response in an email template format. A staff member must review the text and is able to edit it before copying and pasting. The Azure model provides 鈥渆xtra security鈥 compared with other large language models, plans indicate, while open-source LLMs 鈥 which scan the internet rather than uploaded documents 鈥 have not been approved. The next phase of any rollout will include uploading about 400 documents to the system. The government says it expects the tool ultimately could address 80 per cent of the DfE鈥檚 monthly queries. An impact assessment completed in November 2023 did not raise any concerns around the design of the tool, but the DfE said there were risks of hallucinations 鈥 misleading or false information presented as fact 鈥 that might impact accuracy. The model has been developed to only pull information from inputted data, which should mitigate the danger of such hallucinations. If the query does not relate to topics within the model鈥檚 data, it will default to a message saying it is not available. DfE silent over staff cuts The DfE did not respond when asked by Schools Week whether the introduction of the model would result in staff cuts. But it said AI 鈥渉as the power to transform the way we live and work, and like many organisations, we are harnessing AI and technology across the government to improve efficiencies鈥. Its present use of AI to support responses to public enquiries 鈥渉as led to improved efficiencies, faster response times and better allocation of resource鈥. Plans say the model 鈥渨ill create opportunities to prioritise more complex and high-priority work鈥 and 鈥渋n turn hopefully enhance the department鈥檚 reputation with regards to responding to external queries鈥. But Fran Heathcoate, the general secretary of the Public and Commercial Services Union, which represents civil servants, said any use of AI 鈥渕ust improve workers鈥 lives and public services鈥. 鈥淲e are urging government departments and arms鈥-length bodies to protect employees and public from potential harms, ensure accountability and to strengthen trade union rights in relation to AI.鈥 鈥榃ho gains the most? We may find it鈥檚 those AI companies鈥 Jen Persson, the director of Defend Digital Me, questioned whether the plans 鈥渁ctually solve a problem鈥. Jen Persson 鈥淭he idea that text generators can do the thinking that incorporates the necessary nuance and sensitivity to reply to a human being is often misplaced 鈥 time and effort are rarely reduced in drafting correspondence.鈥 Persson said there were 鈥渜uestions here to consider for liability, confidentiality, stability and security鈥. 鈥淚 suspect once we see independent research we will find it is overall felt to be helpful, but in terms of who gains the most, we may find it鈥檚 those AI companies, rather than budgets, our civil servants, or public interest.鈥 AI is already used across a range of government departments, according to a House of Commons Library report. The DfE is also experimenting with an AI tool to assist teachers by pooling government documents such as curriculum guidance and lesson plans, with Ofsted testing AI tools to predict which schools may decline in performance.