MS, Cabinet Secretary for
Economy, Energy and Planning: In June, I announced that the Welsh
Government would establish an Office for Artificial Intelligence
(AI) to strengthen our internal capability, facilitate informed
policymaking and support meaningful collaboration with
stakeholders across Wales. I also announced the establishment of
a Strategic AI Advisory Group to provide expert advice to
Ministers on AI adoption across Welsh public services.
The Strategic AI Advisory Group will meet for the second time
later this month to discuss AI skills and priorities for Wales.
Alongside this, as part of the Office for AI work programme, I
have allocated funding to a series of exciting initiatives which
are supporting the responsible implementation of AI across Welsh
public services.
The funding will accelerate delivery of the projects and
establish a robust foundation for future AI activity. The
overarching objective is to clearly demonstrate the practical
benefits that AI can offer in enhancing the delivery of public
services across Wales. Each project will produce a lessons
learned report and share best practice with others across the
Welsh public sector.
The projects will:
- develop an up-to-date baseline understanding of AI related
activities across Welsh public services;
- undertake an evaluation of the AI scribe tools currently
being used across parts of the public sector in Wales, in areas
such as social care assessments, to help inform future investment
and deployment decisions;
- deploy a platform available for the public sector to test and
use AI tools, such as those developed by the Welsh Government and
the UK Government, and deploy an AI-enabled content design tool
for others to use;
- develop a proof of concept to test the feasibility of a
chatbot assistant for the Welsh Government's new StatsWales
service, making it easier for people and organisations to find
datasets and useful figures without having to search through lots
of complicated information;
- develop guidance for use by local authorities and others on
how best to efficiently and effectively deploy AI into their
services;
- deliver training on AI for public sector workers so that they
can use AI; and,
- continue to work with the UK Government on its AI-enabled
toolset “Humphrey” to assess how the tools it is developing can
be made available and used in Wales.
In addition to this fund, the Cabinet Secretary for Social
Justice, Chief Whip and Trefnydd has recently agreed to fund a
Welsh credit union to participate in a collaborative AI project
working with a tech company and two ethical lenders. The project
will explore the use of AI technology to streamline core office
functions and back-office automation, freeing up staff time to
spend on improving the lending process and focussing on the
member journey. Learnings from the project will be shared
between the three organisations, with other credit unions in
Wales, and the Welsh Government throughout the course of the
project.
The Welsh Government has also received more than £440k of funding
from the UK Government's Digital Inclusion Innovation Fund for
the current financial year. It is supporting our leading work on
the concept of a minimum digital living standard (MDLS). The MDLS
is a benchmark for what people need to be digitally included,
covering access to devices and connectivity as well as basic
digital skills. We also plan to commission a baseline survey
which will provide a national estimate for how many people aged
16 and over living in Wales are below the MDLS. This supplements
MDLS pilot projects which are working with organisations that
support social housing residents, Gypsy, Roma and Traveller
communities, and older people across Wales to demonstrate the
benefits of meeting the MDLS.
Today, the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Welsh Language also
announced that UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) has confirmed a
further £26 million investment over the next five years in our
Administrative Data Research Wales Partnership, highlighting the
strengths of our approach to secure, ethical and innovative use
of data to support research in Wales.
These provide just a snapshot of the breadth of AI and digital
activity we are driving across the public sector in Wales. It is
vital that the public sector itself has the right AI skills and
capabilities to grasp the opportunities AI has to offer in the
delivery of public services.
I have decided, therefore, that there is significant benefit in
aligning the skills and resources of the Office for AI with those
of the Centre for Digital Public Services (CDPS). As a result,
the functions of the CDPS will be integrated into the Welsh
Government. I expect this to be achieved by April next
year.
Consolidating resources in this way will streamline and
strengthen the Welsh Government's digital and AI capabilities, as
well as reducing complexity and duplication. It will bring
together people who shape policy and those who deliver it. It
will bring greater integration and focus to our work whilst
maintaining the digital and AI expertise and our ambition for
improved public services digitally enabled change.
