- Coders and high-tech engineers saved nearly an hour a day by using AI assistants to code and allowing them to build new technologies.
- Over 1,000 engineers experts used assistants from 50 different government departments. This drives productivity through planning change.
- It follows the government to save what AI can do faster to find £45 billion of efficiency savings from technology and AI across the public sector.
AI assistants are saving government coders worth 28 business days a year (almost almost an hour each day) according to new test results.
This increased efficiency from AI has allowed over 1,000 developers to build more technologies, such as Whitehall Humphrey AI Assistant, Healthcare Technology and more.
Ultimately, AI assistants targeted a £45 billion jackpot that saved taxpayers by helping the government build the necessary technologies more quickly and making the public sector more efficient.
Time savings from AI assistants came mainly from using them to create the first draft of code that the experts edit and then edit, or to check existing code. Only 15% of the code generated by the AI coding assistant was used without editing. It shows that engineers are careful to review and modify the code generated by AI as needed.
Minister of Technology Kanishka Narayan said:
For too long, essential public services have slowed the use of new technologies – we have a lot to do. These results show that engineers know how to use AI to do it faster and safer.
This is exactly how we use AI and other technologies to ensure that we are providing the standard of public service that people expect, both in terms of accuracy and efficiency. With the £45 billion jackpot at risk, it's not an opportunity we can pass on as it helps cut back on the backlog and save money.
50 government department developers and engineers tried out AI coding assistants from Microsoft, Github Copilot, Google and Gemini Code Assist.
This trial found widespread satisfaction with the tools between coders, and 72% of users agree that it offers good value to their organization. Over half of participants (over 58%) said they did not want to return to work without AI support, with 65% reporting task completion faster and 56% saying they could resolve the issue more efficiently.
“We're committed to providing a range of services to our customers,” said Tara Brady, president of Google Cloud EMEA.
Seeing the positive impact Gemini Code Assist has had on official developers, we are excited to accelerate innovation and enable us to deliver better public services more efficiently.
This groundbreaking exam of this kind, the biggest in which Gemini Code supports the UK's public sector, highlights the transformational potential of AI in expert coding productivity and problem solving, and highlights the successful collaboration that emerges from Google Cloud's strategic partnership agreement with the UK government.
The trial forms part of the government's broader artificial intelligence strategy to increase AI adoption across the public sector, ensuring that the UK remains at the forefront of technological innovation, while delivering concrete benefits to its citizens through improved government services.
