AI promises to be a transformative force across many industries, offering immense potential for innovation and growth. However, successfully scaling AI deployments will only be possible if we overcome a major hurdle: Building trust in AI.

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As the UK strives to meet its ambitious decarbonisation targets, the collective efforts of dedicated leaders from diverse fields are crucial. This year’s Net Zero 50 List highlights innovators from SMEs, the public sector, and other key industries who are driving transformative change towards a sustainable future.

Among the List members are pioneers from SMEs developing AI-driven waste recognition software, regenerative farming practices, advisory and certification services for decarbonisation, and digital platforms for carbon footprint management. From the public sector, notable figures included sustainability leads from the Environment Agency and the Crown Commercial Service, alongside other professionals championing sustainable IT, local economic growth, and energy-efficient initiatives in the British Army. You can view the 50 List members here.

The event featured a series of inspiring speeches from prominent figures such as Dr. Mattie Yeta, Chair of the Net Zero 50 List Advisory Panel and Chief Sustainability Officer at CGI, and Sarah Kemmitt, Secretariat Lead at the Net-Zero Banking Alliance, UN. emphasised the critical role of innovative solutions and cross-sector collaboration in achieving the net zero goals.

For me, Lord Deben our host’s address was particularly impactful, highlighting three key takeaways: Firstly, he emphasised the importance of explaining why net zero matters, urging us to communicate that it’s about reducing our planetary impact to nil and transcending party politics for the common good. Secondly, he encouraged celebrating the benefits of a net zero world, such as a healthier, cleaner, and more equitable future with greater opportunities for prosperity. Lastly, he called for discussions on net zero to be in clear, accessible language that resonates with everyone, making the pathway into these discussions barrier-free.

As we reflect on the individual successes celebrated at the House of Lords, it’s clear that reaching net zero is an enormous challenge requiring collective action and a shift in both individual and organisational behaviours. The foundations for a sustainable future are being laid through ambitious actions, robust policies, and coordinated efforts at national, regional, and local levels. The Digital Leaders community, known for its commitment to tech for good and sustainability, continues to lead the charge by fostering conversations and networks around innovative solutions.

The Net Zero 50 List serves not only as a recognition of exemplary work but also as a catalyst for ongoing efforts. By showcasing the UK’s leading initiatives and individuals, we aim to advance the conversation across sectors and build a network dedicated to achieving net zero. The Net Zero 50 List is a testament to the inspiring work of those dedicated to a sustainable future.

To all those who contributed to this remarkable event and to the ongoing efforts towards net zero, thank you. Your work not only inspires but also paves the way for a greener, more sustainable world.

More information is available on the Net Zero 50 List 2024 website. 

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In 2023, the UK Communications and Digital Committee’s report highlighted a significant digital divide, showing that 7 million households are without broadband or mobile internet access. Rising living costs have exacerbated this issue, resulting in 1 million people scaling back or entirely cancelling their internet services in the last year. The report also emphasises a concerning trend in workforce digital literacy, with over 5 million working adults unable to perform fundamental digital tasks required for their jobs. Alarmingly, the lack of basic digital skills is projected to become the most substantial skills gap in the UK by 2030.

In an increasingly digital world, the importance of inclusivity for all cannot be overstated. Digital exclusion, a challenge facing many, especially in the public sector, hinders access to essential services and opportunities.

This blog explores effective strategies to promote digital inclusion, particularly focusing on those currently marginalised or excluded in the digital realm.

Understanding digital exclusion

Before diving into solutions, it’s crucial to understand the challenges faced by the digitally excluded. These challenges include:

• Lack of Access to Technology: Many individuals do not have sufficient access to digital devices or reliable internet connectivity.
• Digital Literacy: A significant portion of the population lacks the necessary skills to navigate the digital world effectively.
• Financial Barriers: The cost of digital technology can be a prohibitive factor for many, especially in lower-income communities.

Strategies for digital inclusion

To address these challenges, several strategies can be implemented:

• Policy Interventions: Governments and organisations can create policies aimed at making technology more accessible and affordable. This might include subsidies for internet access or providing public spaces with free Wi-Fi and digital devices.
• Community-Based Programs: Local initiatives can play a pivotal role in teaching digital skills. Libraries, community centres, and schools can offer workshops and training sessions.
• Partnerships with Stakeholders: Collaborations between the public sector, private companies, and non-profit organisations can lead to innovative solutions. For example, tech companies can donate devices, while educational institutions provide training.
• Inclusive Design: Digital services should be designed with inclusivity in mind, ensuring they are accessible to people with disabilities and those with limited digital skills.
• Awareness Campaigns: Raising awareness about the importance of digital inclusion can change public perception, alleviate technophobia, and encourage more people to get involved in bridging the digital divide.

Recommendations for digital leaders

In your role within digital transformation and operations, you play a crucial part in this journey towards greater digital inclusion. Your expertise and leadership are key in driving these initiatives forward within your Council. Here are some recommendations:

• Leverage Data: Use data analytics to identify areas with significant digital exclusion and tailor your strategies accordingly.
• Engage Communities: Understand the unique needs of different communities and engage with them to find the most effective solutions, appointing ‘Community Champions’ to support projects.
• Promote Digital Literacy: Focus on building digital skills at all levels, from basic internet navigation to more advanced digital skillset.
• Advocate for Inclusion: As a leader, advocate for policies and practices that prioritise digital inclusion.

Conclusion

Encouraging digital take-up amongst the digitally excluded is not just a technological challenge but a societal necessity. By implementing these strategies and recommendations, we can move towards a more inclusive digital future, where everyone has the opportunity to benefit from the digital revolution. It’s time to act now and ensure that digital transformation is inclusive for all.

Originally posted here

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Sabby Gill kicked us off with a summary of the recently-published DL Attitudes of Leaders to AI Survey, highlighting evidence of widespread interaction with AI across government, but also the need for more leadership, data and privacy concerns, and a mixed picture on impact to date, with many citing the need to overcome silos as a key barrier.  Our AI in innovation panel (Number Ten’s Eoin Mulgrew, Informed’s David Lawton, NAO’s Yvonne Gallagher, and DWP’s Shruti Kohli) developed and really pushed the ‘leadership’ and ‘silos’ themes: for me, one of the consistent and stand-out insights of the whole conference was the need to understand whether we’re just doing tactical implementations or real transformation – and it was pretty clear that the consensus in the room was that we’re not really scratching the surface: technical innovation is happening, but very little strategic innovation.

We followed this our first panel with an experiment: ‘There’s an AI for That’ – a sort of rapid speed-dating format where we heard six examples – just three minutes each – of practical AI implementations from the ‘front line’ (thanks to Swindon’s Sara Pena, Norfolk’s Geoff Connell, Natural England’s Alex Kilcoyne, FCDO’s David Gerouille-Farrell, MoJ’s Shelina Hargrove, and CDDO’s Clive Kelman) – great, practical examples of use of AI in streamlining, improving accessibility, co-piloting, integrating, and enabling our public services.  Surprisingly, panellists stuck to the 1-slide/3-minute rule, policed by an implacable Robin Knowles and his trusty alarm clock.

After morning coffee, we held our second panel, ‘AI and ethics in the public sector’, with FDM’s Sarah Wyer, TPXImpact/Nesta’s Imeh Akpan, and AWS’ Himanshu Sahni. The stand-out theme here was the need to acknowledge that AI is merely a mirror to society with all its baked-in inequalities – and therefore of the need to ensure diversity in training AI models. Unfortunately it was felt that more attention is given to ‘user research’ than the sort of ‘social research’ that might address this issue, whilst attention to bias, the need for explainability, and assessment of the usefulness to humans of all AI implementations was seen as a practical framework for addressing some of these issues.

We finished our morning with an excellent ‘fireside chat’ between Malcolm Harbour CBE (Connected Places Catapult) and Rebecca Rees (Trowers and Hamlins) addressing issues relating how the public sector might inject more innovation into the way in which it procures AI.  It was felt that government needs to adopt a more proactive, ‘market-making’ stance to encourage suppliers to meet current needs, and that this might require more creative approaches such as hackathons and much more pre-market engagement.  It was noted that the upcoming Competitive Flexible Procedure should offer a solid framework for such behaviours, hopefully resulting in a less traditionally adversarial relationship between government and its suppliers.

Our afternoon kicked off with a hugely informative keynote from Ollie Ilott, Director of the AI Safety Institute, who provided us with an overview of the Institute’s work, across four themes.  First, we never fully understand the risks, since the capabilities of AI often emerge down the line post-implementation. Second, the institute uses automated benchmarks, red-teams, and automated agents and tools to test for misuse, societal impacts, possible autonomy of AI, and that the present safeguards continue to be sufficient.  Third, the need to upskill people across these areas is an ongoing challenge, and fourth, that the growth of AI is exponential and that it is not easy to focus on the frontier (as we must), since we only evaluate ‘old drops’ of the technology, and thinking in an exponential way isn’t intuitive.

Our third panel session, ‘AI for good and bad’ saw contributions from The Army’s Brigadier Stefan Crossfield, NCSC’s Ollie Whitehouse, Zuhlke’s Dan Klein, and Actionable Futurist’s Andrew Grill.  The stand-out challenge for me came from Andrew, who asked the audience to first raise their hand if they’d tried out Chat GPT (all hands up), and then to raise their hand again if they’d used it again in the past week (all hands down) – the point being that we need to engage more ourselves with the technology to appreciate its positives and its risks. The panel raised a range of fascinating angles on the topic – from Ollie’s question about what trust looks like in a post-truth world to Stefan’s emphasis on leveraging commodity AI (rather than trying to built it within government), and the worrying observation that for our adversaries, ‘the human is not always in the loop’.

Our second and final ‘There’s an AI for That’ panel heard pop-up offerings from Beam’s Seb Barker, Skin Analytics’ Jack Greenhalgh, NHS Resolution’s Niamh McKenna, and Curistica’s Dr Keith Grimes: again, an astonishing range of applications for AI across diagnostics, assessment, accessibility, and documentation.

Our final speaker of the day was Harriet Harman MP, who gave an excellent closing keynote addressing the need to ensure that an AI-powered world is one of equality for all – especially given the ‘techbro’ culture that has prevailed thus far.  She drew attention to Section 149 of the Equality act, in which public authorities are accountable for ensuring that biases are opened up and challenged in datasets – but also that we will need radical change to our processes if we are to implement such much-needed regulation.  Unfortunately, current legislative processes are far too complex and slow to keep pace with AI’s evolution, and Harriet suggested that we may need to grant special statutory powers to the Science, Innovation and Technology and Business and Trade Select Committees in order to fast-track the state’s regulatory response.

All in all, a really enjoyable, packed day of informed views, challenge, and debate.  Thanks to Robin and the Team at Digital Leaders, and our sponsors for the day: Informed Solutions, Connected Places Catapult, Zuhlke and DIgitLab.

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Prof Mark Thompson 17 March 2024

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While early innovations in immersive reality were emerging just as The Beatles started rising to fame – the first VR mounted headset was developed in 1960 – it was undoubtedly Pokemon Go that took AR to the mainstream in 2016, carving out a lucrative space for AR as an entertainment experience.

AR has come a long way in the past decade alone, with increasingly sophisticated technology driving innovation to enable more immersive experiences and a greater connection to places. Whether for entertainment or education purposes, AR is being adopted by many to enhance storytelling – in journalism, theatre, museums, towns and cities. My particular interest lies in the ways that AR is being used to form new experiences for people in places, and a variety of examples follow.

The world’s first augmented reality city

Stirling in Scotland is currently undergoing a £200,000 transformation to become the first fully augmented reality city in the world. Part of the Scottish government’s Place Based Investment Programme, Stirling Council has teamed up with BT and global design agency Seymourpowell to bring the city’s history and heritage to life in a new AR environment.

The place-based app, dubbed Stirling XP, overlays key attractions with interactive information, graphics and 3D models, while interactive games will unlock rewards and incentives across the city. It is part of a wider ambition to raise Stirling’s profile on the international stage – particularly by tapping into the expectations of a younger generation looking for more immersive and digital experiences. Another key aim is to open up new opportunities for local businesses and boost the wider tourism economy.

We know that digital placemaking has become a key component of the visitor experience and has the potential to realise socio-economic benefits for a location. Neil Christison, VisitScotland’s regional director notes: “…tourism is a force for good with an impact that spreads far beyond the industry itself – it benefits our economy, our community and our wellbeing.” As a central pillar of place-based digital capabilities, investment in augmented reality can be an investment in the local economy.

Bringing history to life

AR is not only a powerful way to bring modern-day cities to life, it also has a great role to play in recreating places of the past. Zubr Curio’s Acropolis AR app, for example, allows visitors to the Acropolis of Athens to explore the ancient buildings as they would have appeared in the 5th Century, and walk the paths that connect them. The app is not only location specific, but also lets people enjoy the experience wherever they are in the world. By bringing a miniature 3D model of the Acropolis Hill to their living rooms, users can inspect the ruins as they appear today and reconstruct the monuments in AR, piece by piece.

The New York Times has used AR to recreate history in a slightly different way. As part of its experimentation with AR in storytelling and journalism, the publisher used photogrammetry – the process of taking overlapping photos of an object, structure or space and converting them into 3D digital models – to recreate a model of an historic Chinatown street in New York. Using over 4,000 images, users can explore archival photos of that space through the lens of AR – including a famous vintage dim sum parlour dating back to 1920.

Back in 2019, Calvium collaborated with Professor Fabrizio Nevola at the University of Exeter, Professor Donal Cooper at the University of Cambridge, the National Gallery and long-term partners Zubr to create Hidden Florence 3D: San Pier Maggiore. Using AR, the app places the user inside a reconstructed model of the Church at San Pier Maggiore in Florence that was destroyed in the 18th Century, and recreates the building around the altarpiece, which is currently situated in the National Gallery.

Adding a new dimension to fiction

Audio has been an incredibly popular extension of fiction for decades, with the first audiobooks dating back to the 1930s. So it makes sense that AR is being used to add another dimension to fiction and storytelling, creating immersive experiences that pique the imagination of both adults and children alike.

For example, Singapore’s Mint Museum of Toys’ series of AR story-colouring books for 4-12-year-olds encourages learning through interaction and creativity. Each book is based on collections from the museum, including one about a girl who grew up in 1920s Singapore, which tells a story of how this nation-state has progressed since then.

The University of York, meanwhile, has developed an immersive AR pop-up book to bring the story of Dracula to life. The 20-minute experience combines a ‘real world’ fine art pop-up book with immersive AR animations, with a tablet dressed as a ‘spirit detector’ inviting audience members to become part of Dracula’s reincarnation. The project hopes to eventually enable the development and testing of a location-based version that can be toured internationally.

Even closer to Calvium HQ in Bristol, Aardman Studios has created its first AR experience for Wallace and Gromit. The narrative-driven experience sees the world-famous duo take on a contract to ‘Fix Up’ Bristol and positions the player as a new employee of the company. They can interact in a variety of ways, including through AR gameplay and extended reality portals.

Fictioneers’ Richard Saggers, who worked on the project with Aardman, described it as groundbreaking work “which demonstrates the huge opportunity to evolve the way stories are told.” Saggers highlights the importance of having diverse, multidisciplinary teams, which is something Calvium certainly advocates for too!

Immersive theatre

The immersive nature of theatre means it is already very well-positioned to experiment with AR. The National Theatre spotted the opportunity early on and launched its own immersive storytelling studio back in 2016. The studio is designed to examine how emerging technologies such as AR can widen and enhance the company’s remit to be a “pioneer of dramatic storytelling and to enable an audience to stand in the shoes of another”.

One studio output includes a live AR performance of All Kinds of Limbo; people can buy a £6 ticket and watch it on their smartphone or tablet, wherever they are. This demonstrates the power of AR to make theatre more accessible too.

Professor Elizabeth Hunter’s theatre productions, meanwhile, use video games and AR headsets to place audience members in the perspective of a play’s characters. Bitter Wind: Greek Tragedy for Hololens, for example, puts users in the POV of the protagonist by overlaying their physical surroundings with digitally rendered versions of palace windows, torches and wall fragments.

Place experience platform evolution

Calvium’s Place Experience Platform (PEP), that I mentioned earlier on, is one tool that can give place managers the capability to put AR elements in a location, and then manage, update and expand on them. We are constantly looking to improve capabilities and expand our menu of experiences from which place managers can choose their feast!

We recognise the value of making AR scalable and accessible to everyone using our platform, which is why I am currently designing new elements that will be made available to all of the PEP customers.

Windmill Hill City Farm

To coincide with Halloween, we recently co-designed a new digital visitor experience for Windmill Hill City Farm. The 15-minute trail follows Dusty the ghost, who appears as an animated AR model and needs help finding their friends around the farm. We’ve created five fixed templates of different ghosts in the CMS, which can be customised to create individual trails and challenges around different sites.

Starting with an initial set of characters, each place can create their own site-specific experience from a ready-to-go toolbox. for personalising to their place. We see a huge opportunity to create more seasonal trails like this, including for Easter, Christmas and major peek holiday times. Moving forward, developments like this will be available to all clients as part of their subscription.

Beckford’s Tower

A more complex, unique and bespoke project, our latest collaboration with Zubr is an example of a more complex, unique and bespoke project, which uses mixed media storytelling to enhance the historic site of Beckford’s Tower in Bath.

As this project was built using PEP, the curatorial team can continue to develop it once the project is over. There are so many stories to be told, which means place managers can produce and release new content over time; they can get user feedback, make changes, tie in releases with themed promotions and regional events. It’s a quick, cheap and easy way to update and keep visitor experiences fresh and relevant.

Final thoughts

As I’ve discovered, AR is no longer a novel and risky innovation; it is a must-have way to engage. In the context of place-based storytelling, AR can help draw out what is distinctive about your place. It can further enhance the craft, creativity and quality of storytelling, and deepen understanding of the unique local aspects of a place. AR as a technology is a common offer, but how you use it to lead people around your place and tune it into your particular context is what will make you stand out.

People expect a digital element to their place experience nowadays, and so a digital component, AR or otherwise, should be seen as a staple part of any placemaker’s toolkit. Not only do audiences enjoy digital experiences, it is a tried-and-tested way to boost engagement with a place, support a place’s brand and encourage repeat visits. A win-win for all!

Originally posted here

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2024: The World continues its transition towards more resilient, sustainable growth following three years of healthcare threat, which in part have been a catalyst for economic and societal, turbulence.

Our own experience at Informed during this challenging time has seen us in the privileged position of driving and supporting digital change and developing data-led resilience and sustainability services for nationally and internationally-significant public safety, civil defence, and healthcare programmes in support of The Home Office, The National Police Coordination Centre (NPoCC), The NHS Patient Safety Team and most recently the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), where we are helping the organisation mature its digital operating model in the aftermath of the Covid pandemic.

Although each of these engagements have different objectives, they state the importance of safe and effective data sharing between agencies for effective collaboration as a common, critical theme. Whether that be capturing and sharing patient incident data across the NHS estate for patient safety improvement, or in capturing data on every fire-related incident into a national reporting system that helps fire and rescue services understand the leading causes of fires in order to reduce fire related casualties.

Our work with the National Police Coordination Centre has seen the advancement of Intelligence-led policing through the development of a cloud-based data integration and digital mutual aid platform that integrates nine regions and 46 police forces, providing superior operational preparedness and response for national scale operations. 

And with the UKHSA, the body responsible for protecting our communities from the impact of infectious diseases, chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear incidents, and other health threats, our team is helping the agency’s technology arm design, develop, deliver, and support the technology required to prevent, detect, analyse, monitor, and respond to public health threats across the UK. 

Through our work with the teams responsible for critical national infrastructure, we have seen first-hand a very real requirement for continued, smart investments in data sharing capability and capacity that enables and empowers resilient inter-agency network collaboration.

To realise an effective, seamless inter-service collaboration vision, agencies have to provide the integration, collaboration, communication, and information sharing needed to serve both operational staff delivering a service and the needs of citizens and patients these services  must meet. This ability to share and collaborate will enable effective service and safety for citizens wherever and whenever they need it most, and where challenge and need can be most effectively met. This will rely on more of a whole system approach to inter-agency collaboration based on effective data and insights sharing.

While some agencies are trailblazers in the use of data, digital tools and technology, others may lag in their journey of due to the challenges of legacy data estates, leaving data preparedness and readiness the next challenge to address ahead of digital service integration and collaboration.

The quality of data and the ability to share will underpin a more effective (and cost effective) transition to intelligence-led policing, emergency services and healthcare, and each service’s ability to collaborate. The key will lie in the ability for each agency to exchange and interrogate high-quality data, using information transferred within networks in order to make the best, most effective, and most timely decisions about what care, communication, or support is delivered, as well as where and how.

With existing levels of fragmentation and divergence across the NHS and Justice estates, interoperability remains a fundamental building block for new digitally enabled shared services. An effective and interoperable data sharing ecosystem will provide an infrastructure that uses technical standards, policies, and protocols to enable seamless and highly secure capture, discovery, exchange, and utilisation of information, with appropriate controls that ensure proper and effective use. Alongside this, the reshaping of legacy systems with platforms that communicate with, and work better together, can be used to more effectively access and share data.

This ecosystem must also better meet the challenge of sharing unstructured data by employing Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML) and Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques to discover and provide relevant information at the point of interrogation and use.  This approach offers significant potential for data sharing, as it allows more meaning and intelligence to be extracted from legacy and unstructured data, and can also support better assessment of data quality and confidence levels in real time, by for example attempting to correlate between different data sets.

In meeting this challenge, data scientists at Informed have worked over the past two years to develop InformedDECISION© – an innovative, first of its kind AI-based decision support platform that enables decision makers to categorise and extract meaning from large, distributed, and unstructured data sources in real time to support and enhance complex decision-making. Importantly, the platform’s ability to unify and extract value from existing unstructured data sources without the need to upgrade systems or take copies of the data could provide a short cut to immediate efficiency and collaboration gains for inter-agency collaboration, whilst significant legacy and data quality challenges are addressed.  The platform is already helping Medical and Environmental decision makers integrate and make sense of large, distributed datasets in real time, employing automated learning to better understand and qualify external datasets as they are used. 

This platform can integrate intelligent workflows that adapt to users’ needs and support complex requests and transactions, with multi-agency case handling delivering seamless and secure case transaction management across multiple organisations through API bridges that efficiently integrate and harmonise data.

As a two-time Queen’s Award for Innovation winner for our ability to accelerate and de-risk digital business change, we understand that the levers that help overcome the challenges of inter-agency collaboration through data sharing across estates lie in; the potential for AI to improve integration of unstructured data; shared and open technical standards that facilitate effective data interoperability; and ultimately investment in quality, decision grade data to support current and future needs.

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Both play critical roles in designing, deploying, and regulating AI systems, and their convergence holds significant implications for the future of policy, especially as we grapple with the risks of advanced AI systems with AI adoption accelerating. With the upcoming AI Safety Bill in the UK, it’s worth exploring how these two areas can support and enhance each other.

AI safety testing: The bedrock of trust

At its core, AI safety is about ensuring systems behave as intended—reliably, predictably, and without harm. Think of it as the crash-test dummy for AI. While safety testing ensures that AI systems are fundamentally sound, AI assurance steps in to make sure we can prove that over time, particularly as regulations tighten and systems evolve.

Take autonomous vehicles, for example. It’s not enough to ensure the car knows how to stop and go; it also needs to handle unpredictable scenarios, from sudden obstacles to extreme weather. That’s safety testing in action—ensuring that AI works robustly across a range of situations. In high-risk sectors like healthcare and finance, safety testing is even more critical. The potential consequences of failure—misdiagnoses, financial fraud—demand that safety isn’t just a check-box exercise but a fundamental pillar of trust in AI systems.

AI Assurance: Proving the case, again and again

Once safety testing is complete, AI assurance steps in. If safety testing is the crash-test dummy, assurance is the process of reviewing the system’s “logbook”—proving the AI not only passed initial tests but continues to perform under evolving conditions. It’s about showing that AI behaves as expected—ethically, consistently, and within the legal boundaries.

As more organisations adopt AI assurance frameworks, we could see assurance become as formalised as financial auditing. AI assurance doesn’t just align with regulation; it is deeply embedded in responsible practices within organisations, ensuring systems remain fit for purpose. This could eventually normalise AI validation as part of business operations, embedding trust and compliance at the core of AI governance.

The Role of the AI Safety Institute and Responsible Technology Unit in the UK

Leading this conversation in the UK is the AI Safety Institute (AISI), which works closely with policymakers, academia, and industry to set robust regulatory frameworks. Their mission? To ensure AI systems are not only safe but beneficial, driving the UK’s leadership in AI governance. But what makes this even more compelling is the complementary work of the Responsible Technology Unit (RTU), which previously operated as the Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation (CDEI).

The RTU has been instrumental in shaping what AI assurance should look like, focusing on transparency, fairness, and risk mitigation. I was lucky enough to be part of the pioneer work as early as 2020. Their AI Assurance Roadmap has provided tools and frameworks for organisations to prove that their AI systems meet ethical, legal, and societal expectations. This work is setting the stage for a future where AI assurance could be as standardised as any other compliance exercise.

By having both the AISI and the RTU under the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), the UK is well-positioned to foster cross-pollination of ideas between safety and assurance. While the two departments have distinct roles, their combined expertise—policy development from the RTU and technical validation from the AISI—paves the way for more joined-up thinking in AI regulation. This holistic approach could place the UK at the forefront of global AI assurance.

Why safety testing could normalise AI Assurance

AI safety testing has the potential to normalise and accelerate AI Assurance. When robust safety testing is established upfront, it becomes the foundation for continuous validation. Rather than treating validation as an afterthought, it becomes embedded in the lifecycle of AI development. This shift could lead to organisations making validation as routine as financial audits.

Imagine a world where AI Assurance is as commonplace as annual reports. By proving that AI systems meet performance and ethical criteria consistently, we can build stronger trust with regulators, businesses, and the public. As a result, innovation will accelerate—because trust is the key to scaling AI responsibly.

As someone who has spent years working on responsible AI, I can’t help but feel a sense of déjà vu. When we first rolled out PwC’s Responsible AI toolkit, the challenges were as real as the excitement. We learned early on that building ethical AI isn’t just about technology; it’s about building trust. And as I always say, trust doesn’t come from promises—it comes from proof. AI safety and assurance are two sides of the same coin on this journey.

In conclusion

As AI reshapes industries and societies, the intersection of AI safety and assurance will be pivotal in ensuring that these systems not only function but do so ethically, safely, and within regulatory frameworks. The work of the AI Safety Institute and Responsible Technology Unit in the UK will be crucial in guiding this process. Their collaborative efforts will not just react to AI risks but anticipate them, setting a global precedent for responsible AI governance.

Ultimately, AI safety testing is about more than preventing harm; it’s about creating a foundation for AI validation to become a formal, standard practice. By embedding these processes into AI development from the outset, we can ensure that trust in AI isn’t just a goal—it’s something we can demonstrate, time and again.

Because in AI, as in everything, trust is everything—and trust comes from showing your work.

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So far so good.

But this structure makes it hard to offer a single point of access. During the pandemic, CAS established the Scottish Citizens Advice Helpline: a central number for advice. To get local advice, clients would have to wait for a callback from their local bureau.

There were a few problems: it could take 24 hours to get a callback; volunteering to staff the service was not popular; advisors wanted to be giving advice, not routing calls; and the system cost nearly £500k per year to run.

Working with Civtech, my team successfully deployed an AI-driven system (thanks to the support from CivTech), which tackled these challenges that: reduced wait times for connecting to a local bureau to under a minute; eliminated the need for staffing, allowing advisors to be redeployed from the contact centre to the frontline; and reduced annual costs below £30k.

CAS said that the project was a significant game changer in bridging the gap between national coverage and local delivery. By smart use of AI, we effectively decentralised a call centre model. The project won a 2023 ScotlandIS Tech for Good Award and was runner-up for DigiLeaders AI Innovation of the Year.

Here’s 3 things we learnt from this project:

Service Design is key to AI
Advances in AI are bringing human-like writing and understanding within reach. Similar to previous tech advances (whether the internet, the computer or even electricity before that), the key issue becomes how to use the technology well. This is a service design question: the challenge is deeply understanding user needs, exploring innovative solutions, and continuously refining the user experience.

Cost-Effectiveness Doesn’t Compromise Quality
One significant takeaway is that AI can not only make operations more cost-effective but also improve the quality of service. The transition from a £500,000 per year system to one costing only tens of thousands without compromising — in fact, improving — response time is a wonderful example of this.

Buy Over Build
Instead of creating a solution from the ground up, leveraging existing, well-funded technologies (like PolyAI, in this project) can speed up implementation and reduce risks. This ‘buy over build’ strategy is a crucial lesson if you are seeking to innovate swiftly.

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When it comes to the public sector, its benefits are significant. GenAI can streamline access to knowledge, making it easier for staff to gather information, understand the correct procedures, and make informed decisions. 

However, as these technologies become more embedded in the public sector, securing them against cyber threats will be an increasingly difficult challenge to meet. As such, cybersecurity professionals will need to update their strategies and skills to protect these digital tools.

The barriers caused by conventional thinking

Traditional methods of cybersecurity usually rely on fixed concepts such as firewalls, patching, and monitoring. While all these techniques have their benefits and are vital, they also have their limitations when it comes to GenAI. These systems are dynamic and adaptive, which makes them hard to secure using conventional techniques.

One example of this is social engineering. Just like human beings, GenAI models can be manipulated to share sensitive information though methods such as prompt attacks. Traditional cybersecurity measures are usually static, which makes them ill-suited to address dynamic threats like these. If we are to address this, we need to explore new options.

Harnessing language as a firewall

Language can serve as a powerful defensive layer when it comes to GenAI. This is especially important given these technologies’ unique vulnerabilities to prompt attacks and various forms of linguistic manipulation.

Carefully developing metaprompts or system prompts can provide a strong first line of defence against these attacks. These are instructions that guide the AI’s behaviour. By creating precise prompts, we can limit the scope of the AI’s responses, which reduces the risk of sharing sensitive information or making damaging statements. For example, well designed metaprompts should respond, in a polite but firm way, to any questions that aim to extract confidential data or provoke inappropriate responses.

Another vital element involves integrating a distinct AI for natural language processing, which evaluates both the input prompts and the resulting outputs to identify contentious or offensive material. This is not solely about screening incoming data, but also thoroughly examining the generated content. For instance, in the scenario where GenAI is responsible for addressing public inquiries, the discrete, specialised AI should intercept any responses it generates that might be seen as contentious or harmful, enabling human intervention in the conversation.

By treating language as a firewall, organisations can introduce an additional security layer tailored to address the specific challenges presented by these emerging technologies. This strategy offers comprehensive oversight and filtration of both inputs and outputs, providing enhanced protection against both traditional and innovative cyber threats.

Comprehensive strategies for governance

Ensuring the security of GenAI systems requires a multifaceted strategy which covers technical, ethical and legal considerations. The implementation of a comprehensive governance plan can assist in formulating principles, guidelines, and standards to promote the secure and responsible utilisation of these technologies.

Collaboration is of utmost importance here. Cybersecurity experts, technologists, and AI ethicists need to join forces to create robust governance frameworks that specifically tackle the distinct challenges presented by these solutions..

Staff training and education

Effective training is essential for navigating the unique challenges brought about by GenAI. It’s imperative to provide updated cybersecurity training to all employees, not limiting it to just technical teams, in order to enhance their awareness of emerging risks. Cultivating critical thinking skills is equally vital, particularly in the context of scrutinising and verifying the generated outputs.

Staff should also be provided with training in requesting source references and comprehending the reasoning process behind AI-generated content. Furthermore, emphasising the significance of data quality and reliance on trusted sources is vital, as these factors hold considerable sway over the quality of outputs and contribute to reducing potential vulnerabilities. As well as this, GenAI presents opportunities for inventive cybersecurity approaches, rendering staff education a two-way exchange between learning and innovation.

Auditing and AI ethics

Conducting audits and ethics reviews serves as key instruments in guaranteeing that these systems function within acceptable limits, particularly as they progress and change over time. Routine evaluations can play a crucial role in pinpointing vulnerabilities and ethical issues unique to these systems. Armed with these findings, supplementary controls and safeguards can be put in place to help alleviate potential risks.

Preparing for the age of GenAI

As GenAI systems become progressively vital in the public sector, creating greater efficiency, productivity, and process compliance, the intricacy of their security likewise escalates. While traditional cybersecurity measures are fundamental, they fall short in addressing the distinctive challenges presented by these dynamic technologies.

The notion of “language as a firewall” is a transformative change in the realm of cybersecurity thinking. It underscores the significance of meticulously designed metaprompts and system prompts as the initial line of defence. Moreover, the inclusion of a discrete AI system tasked with scrutinising both input and output layers adds a comprehensive layer of security, fortifying protection against both traditional and emerging cyber threats.

Frequent audits and ethics reviews continue to be essential in the process of pinpointing vulnerabilities and ethical issues. A comprehensive governance approach, encompassing technical, ethical, and legal aspects, guarantees that all relevant considerations are addressed. Collaborative efforts among cybersecurity experts, technologists, and AI ethicists are pivotal in the creation of sturdy governance frameworks.

Within this ever-changing landscape, cybersecurity experts must perpetually refine their skills and approaches. An active strategy that encompasses linguistic precision, real-time review, routine audits, and comprehensive governance is pivotal for the secure and responsible deployment of GenAI systems. The field must retain its flexibility, continuously learning and adapting to keep pace with emerging challenges in this swiftly advancing technological future.

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