Anthropic has been commissioned by the UK Department for Science, Innovation, and Technology to develop and test an AI-powered assistant for the government’s central service portal, GOV.UK. The project uses an “agentic” system based on Anthropic’s Claude model. It is designed to guide citizens through complex public services rather than just answering frequently asked questions. The initial focus is on providing support in finding employment, including access to training and referral services.
The assistant is designed to maintain context across multiple sessions and allow users to control their data in accordance with UK data protection laws. The phased rollout follows a “scan, pilot, scale” approach to ensure safety and effectiveness.