Coventry council to use Palantir AI in social work, Send and children's services

Public sector workers have voiced "deep concern" after Coventry city council signed a 500,000-a-year artificial intelligence contract with the US data technology company Palantir. The deal is the first of its kind between a UK local authority and the Denver-based company, which supplies technology to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and to help Donald Trump's mass deportation efforts. The contract follows a pilot scheme in the council's children's services department, including using AI for case-note transcription and to summarise social workers' records. The council is planning to extend the Palantir system to processes for providing support to children with special educational needs. The council's chief executive, Julie Nugent, said it aimed to "improve internal data integration and service delivery" and "explore the transformative opportunities of artificial intelligence".