GOV.UK Chat is a new AI-powered chatbot, designed to give users quick and personalised answers to their questions based on approximately 700,000 pages of GOV.UK material. GOV.UK Chat is separate from HMRC’s digital assistant and does not currently use information in HMRC’s manuals. This may limit its usefulness for agents and businesses with more complex queries.
The government is testing and scaling GOV.UK Chat in stages. In January 2024, the government published the results of an exercise which involved testing by 1,000 users. The government reported that nearly 70% of users found the responses helpful. Just under 65% of users were satisfied with the experience.
Up to 15,000 people will be able to use GOV.UK chat in the current phase of testing, which is expected to run for four weeks. The chatbot can be accessed from 30 GOV.UK pages, including Set up a business. The government says that significant changes have been made to the chatbot since the last trial to improve the user experience.
The government warns that the chatbot may give inaccurate answers. Before asking their question, the user is presented with a screen explaining the chatbot’s limitations. It encourages users to check the answer using the GOV.UK links included with the results. The user must indicate that they understand this before progressing.
The results from this phase of testing will be used to make further improvements ahead of testing on a larger scale.
ICAEW’s view
Stephen Relf, Technical Manager Tax, ICAEW, said: “We welcome increased use of technology by government, and by HMRC in particular, as this is essential if the quality of services is to be improved. The chatbot may be part of this and we encourage people to use it so that the government can continue to gather evidence. This will help the government to make further improvements and to decide if and how the chatbot will be used in the future. However, it is vital that users understand the chatbot’s limitations and that they thoroughly check the answers they are given.”
For further information, see the government’s press release announcing the current phase of testing and a blog post from the Government Digital Service.
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