UK government yet to trial OpenAI tech months after signing partnership

When the UK government signed a memorandum of understanding with OpenAI, the tech firm behind ChatGPT, the partnership was hailed as one that could harness artificial intelligence to “address society’s greatest challenges”.But eight months on from the fanfare of that announcement, the government has yet to hold any trials involving the firm’s tech.A freedom of information (FoI) request asked the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) for information about trials conducted under the memorandum, which said the company would work with civil servants to “identify opportunities for how advanced AI models can be deployed throughout government and the private sector”.The department replied that it held none of this information and had “not undertaken any trials under the memorandum of understanding with OpenAI”.In response to a query from the Guardian, DSIT pointed to an agreement under which the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) last October enabled civil servants to use ChatGPT “with an option for UK-based data storage for customers”.Tarek Nseir, the CEO of Valliance, the AI consultancy that filed the FoI, said: “Either there’s been a huge failure in execution, or it was a failure of intent in my view.“There are unquestionably pockets of government that are engaging with these frontier models and these providers … We just have so little to show for it.“Rolling out ChatGPT in a department hardly reflects the ambition of the MoU.”He added: “We use PowerPoint – that doesn’t mean we have a strategic relationship with Microsoft. If this was the intent of the MoU then our government is not taking the impact of AI on our economy seriously.”The agreement for the MoJ to use ChatGPT appeared to be part of a larger “AI Action Plan for Justice” rolled out separately last July. DSIT also pointed to continuing work with the UK AI Safety Institute to test AI models and develop safeguards in collaboration with OpenAI.It said: “We are pleased with the progress we are making on the memorandum of understanding with OpenAI. This work is active, ongoing and focused on delivering real results for public services and the economy.”The department also pointed to work with Nvidia and Nscale to “deploy GPUs for Stargate UK, focusing on strengthening the UK’s AI capabilities”.None of this – apart from ChatGPT in the MoJ – appeared to amount to deploying advanced AI models throughout the government as was described.OpenAI said the scope of the FoI did not capture the full scale of its activities in the UK and that it was “proud of the progress we have made on our MOU with the UK government”.A Guardian investigation found that, though Nscale promised to build the UK’s largest supercomputer by the end of 2026, deploying Nvidia’s GPUs, it will almost certainly not complete the project on time – and has publicly misrepresented its progress on the site.Nscale is also to collaborate with OpenAI on Stargate UK, an initiative to potentially deploy 8,000 Nvidia chips to sites across the UK – although the precise language of the press release was noncommittal.Contacted by the Guardian, OpenAI said it had “nothing to share” on the progress of this deployment, which it had previously suggested would take place this quarter.The government’s memorandum with OpenAI was one of a series of high-profile agreements in which it outlined how AI could change “how people live, learn, work, and access public services”, and “be a powerful tool to drive productivity, accelerate discovery, and create opportunity”.Matt Davies, the economic and social policy lead at the Ada Lovelace Institute, said: “AI could transform how people interact with public services, but government experimentation with these technologies must be open and transparent. Voluntary partnerships with big AI companies don’t follow the usual procurement rules, raising real questions about accountability and scrutiny.“The memorandum with OpenAI doesn’t clearly explain how progress will be measured or how it will deliver public benefit, and the risks of ‘lock-in’ – becoming dependent on a company’s product and services – aren’t addressed anywhere.“The public are worried about the government’s approach to AI. In our polling, 84% said they are concerned about the government putting the sector’s interests ahead of protecting the public. The government needs a positive vision for how AI can genuinely improve people’s lives; just aiming at ‘more AI’ isn’t good enough.”The government has also concluded similar agreements with Anthropic, Google DeepMind and Nvidia. The Guardian understands the Google memorandum, concluded in December, is in the early stages of planning.Anthropic said it was planning to build an AI assistant to help navigate government services, and was also working with the UK AI Safety Institute to conduct safety research.Nvidia did not respond to a request for comment.