There has been a surge in the number and type of AI tools being tested and deployed within both national and local government in the UK, including within the social care sector. Given the many ongoing and planned future developments, the time is ripe to review and reflect on the state of AI in social care. We do so by conducting semi-structured interviews with UK-based social work professionals about their experiences and opinions of past and current AI systems. Our aim is to understand what systems would practitioners like to see developed and how. We find that all our interviewees had overwhelmingly negative past experiences of technology in social care, unanimous aversion to algorithmic decision systems in particular, but also strong interest in AI applications that could allow them to spend less time on administrative tasks. In response to our findings, we offer a series of concrete recommendations, which include commitment to participatory design, as well as the necessity of regaining practitioner trust.

Artificial intelligence is to be used to check if carers are likely to quit their jobs. Any issues employees have had with pay, punctuality, or problems with their manager will be among the data fed into the algorithm. The technology is meant to combat the staffing crisis in social care by giving bosses an early chance to persuade workers to stay. Private healthcare company Cera claims its AI could prevent around 50,000 staff leaving every year. The firm said it has been shown to detect carers who are at risk of quitting three times more accurately than human managers can.

The National Robotarium, hosted by Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, has unveiled an AI-powered telepresence robotic solution for remote health consultations. Using the solution, health practitioners would be able to assess a person's physical and cognitive health from anywhere in the world. Patients could access specialists no matter whether they're based in the UK, India, the US, or anywhere else. "It was fascinating to visit the National Robotarium and see first-hand how virtual teleportation technology could revolutionise healthcare and assisted living. Backed by £21 million UK Government City Region Deal funding, this cutting-edge research centre is a world leader for robotics and AI, bringing jobs and investment to the area."

Many disabled people choose to employ their own personal assistants to help them with tasks such as getting out of bed in the morning and supporting them through the day so they can work. There are currently more than 100,0000 vacancies in the social care sector and with more competitive salaries being offered in other sectors this means that some disabled people are now struggling to get the support they need. The BBC's disability correspondent Nikki Fox met 16-year-old twins, Alex and Sam, who are on the search for a personal assistant.

Each year, national and local governments determine the relative priorities of services to allocate funding. How would AI spend the cash? What makes more sense for a vibrant society -- spending on economic development or growth, spending on education, international development, social care, libraries? What would ideal balance look like? If this question sounds familiar, it's not the first time we've tried to apply artificial intelligence (AI) to making this decision.

Efforts to use artificial intelligence in social care should start small and include the early adoption of data standards, according to public sector IT association Socitm. It has published a series of guides, How AI meets social care, to coincide with its virtual President's Conference this week. They are broken down to cover the technical, legal and commercial, professional practice and trust elements of the issue, with another document providing an introduction. Socitm says the guidance is based on the experience of key stakeholders and should act as a resource for social care providers in adopting the technology. The technical guide places a focus on ensuring the interoperability of AI in existing digital architecture to support the integration of health and social care, along with the sustainability and ease of use of the technology.

Wigan Council has set its sights on using artificial intelligence and the internet of things in delivering services, with an early emphasis on social care. Chief executive Alison McKenzie-Folan referred to the plans in a follow-up of the launch earlier this year of the Deal 2030, which sets out making the borough more digitally friendly as one of its key priorities. She said in a blogpost that Wigan is currently exploring ways in which it can use the technology for adult social care, health and wellbeing. This is part of its effort to embed digital in everything it does and transform its delivery of services. One project involving the IoT covers the development of smart homes, using data to reduce energy consumption in social housing.

A delegation of members of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) visited three Finnish technological hubs to assess the potential benefits and dangers of artificial intelligence for our society. They stressed that all future developments must encompass three pillars: product safety, consumer trust, and solidarity in health and social care. Artificial intelligence applications can increase people's wellbeing, but the potential risks need to be taken seriously. The products that are emerging as a result of new technologies and the digital revolution are in general extremely helpful and can have a wide range of uses in all areas of our lives, from dispensing medicines to curing loneliness. However, they need to be handled with care, as they are not always as straightforward as they may seem.

A delegation of members of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) visited three Finnish technological hubs to assess the potential benefits and dangers of artificial intelligence for our society. They stressed that all future developments must encompass three pillars: product safety, consumer trust, and solidarity in health and social care. Artificial intelligence applications can increase people's wellbeing, but the potential risks need to be taken seriously. The products that are emerging as a result of new technologies and the digital revolution are in general extremely helpful and can have a wide range of uses in all areas of our lives, from dispensing medicines to curing loneliness. However, they need to be handled with care, as they are not always as straightforward as they may seem.

In a country where removing children from their parents is perhaps the most severe intervention the state can make in relation to its citizens, it's no wonder that involving computerised decision-making in the process causes disquiet. Over recent years there have been regular stories in the national media raising alarms over resource-starved councils plugging citizens' data into systems – including within children's services – that seek to predict futures, and advise professionals what to do next. Just a few weeks ago, one of the schemes that has attracted most controversy – Hackney council's Early Help Profiling System (EHPS), commissioned from private provider Xantura – was dropped after it did not "realise the expected benefits". The grant-funded pilot project, profiled last year by Community Care, was intended to help social workers identify children most at risk of harm. Hackney did not respond to an interview request for this piece but, according to a council statement, problems with data quality meant further investment could not be justified.