AI apps such as ChatGPT could play a role in Whitehall, says science secretary

Artificial intelligence systems such as ChatGPT could play a role in Whitehall and represent a "massive opportunity", the new science secretary has suggested. Michelle Donelan, who took over the new role after the prime minister's departmental reshuffle last month, said the civil service should rely on its own experts but did not rule out a role for artificial intelligence in the future. ChatGPT can generate articles, essays, jokes, poetry and job applications in response to text prompts. OpenAI, a private company backed by Microsoft, made it available to the public for free in November. It can respond to questions in a human-like manner and understand the context of follow-up queries much like in human conversations, as well as being able to compose longform pieces of writing if asked.