AI assistants are saving government coders the equivalent of 28 working days a year – almost an hour every day – according to new trial results.
The boost in efficiency from this AI has meant that more than 1,000 developers were able to build more tech like the Whitehall’s Humphrey AI assistant, healthcare tech and more, the UK Government said.
Ultimately, the AI assistants could help the government build the technology it needs more quickly, targeting £45 billion in savings by making the public sector more efficient, it said.
The time savings from the AI assistants mostly came from using them to write first drafts of code that experts then edit, or using them to review existing code. Only 15% of code generated by the AI coding assistants was used without any edits – showing that engineers were taking care to check and correct AI-generated code where needed.
Technology Minister Kanishka Narayan said:
“For too long, essential public services have been slow to use new technology – we have a lot of catching up to do. These results show that our engineers are hungry to use AI to get that work done more quickly, and know how to use it safely.
“This is exactly how I want us to use AI and other technology to make sure we are delivering the standard of public services people expect – both in terms of accuracy and efficiency. With a £45 billion jackpot at stake, it’s not an opportunity we can pass up, as it can help cut backlogs and save money.”
Developers and engineers across 50 government departments trialled AI coding assistants from Microsoft, GitHub Copilot, and Google, Gemini Code Assist.
The trial found widespread satisfaction with the tools among coders, with 72% of users agreeing they offered good value for their organisation. Over half of participants – 58% – said they would prefer not to return to working without AI assistance, whilst 65% reported completing tasks faster and 56% said they could solve problems more efficiently.
President of Google Cloud EMEA, Tara Brady, said:
“We are thrilled to see the positive impact Gemini Code Assist has had on government developers, enabling them to accelerate innovation and deliver better public services more efficiently.
“This landmark trial, the largest of its kind for Gemini Code Assist in the UK public sector, underscores the transformative potential of AI in enhancing productivity and problem-solving for coding professionals, and highlights the successful collaboration stemming from Google Cloud’s Strategic Partnership Agreement with the UK Government.”
