UK news, articles and features | ��è��Ƶ

New rules confirm public has a right to see how UK government uses AI

Chris Stokel-Walker — Wed, 13 May 2026 11:00:25 +0000

Government departments and other public bodies in the UK must consider requests to release information about AI-produced content, regulators have confirmed. The move follows a successful request by ��è��Ƶ for the release of a minister's ChatGPT logs

The world is losing major ground in the fight against measles

Grace Wade — Thu, 17 Jul 2025 20:30:29 +0000

A wave of anti-vaccine sentiment has spurred measles outbreaks around the world, and could lead to outbreaks of other preventable illnesses

UK should expect summers above 40°C in next decade, warns Met Office

Madeleine Cuff — Tue, 17 Jun 2025 23:01:49 +0000

Hot weather during UK summers is likely here to stay

HENRY NICHOLLS/AFP via Getty Images

The UK should urgently prepare for summer temperatures in excess of 40°C (104°F), according to the Met Office, the country’s national weather service, which warns the likelihood of extremely high summer temperatures is increasing rapidly as the climate warms.

Temperatures in Lincolnshire, in the east of the UK, hit a record 40.3°C (104.5°F) in July 2022, the highest level ever recorded in the country. The heatwave was made at least 10 times more likely by climate change, scientists said at the time.

Now researchers are warning such extremes won’t be an isolated event. The team, led by at the Met Office, used a climate model to simulate more than 2500 UK summers to assess the kinds of extremes possible under 2023 climate conditions.

The results show there is a 50 per cent likelihood of temperatures above 40°C occurring in the next 12 years, with the south and east of England most vulnerable to heat extremes. The chance of such extreme heat has risen rapidly in recent decades, increasing sixfold from the 1980s and almost tripling since 2000, the research shows.

Meanwhile, temperatures over 42°C (107.6°F) have a 1 per cent likelihood of occurring in any given year, and the maximum possible temperature the UK could see under current climate conditions is 46.6°C (115.9°F) – although this peak would be “exceedingly rare”, says Kay.

The simulations also give meteorologists a sense of the weather conditions needed to produce extreme heat in the UK. The most likely scenario is a persistent heatwave settling over Europe, with the hot air then moving across the UK’s south and east coasts. This week the Met Office warned a fresh heatwave loomed for the UK, triggered by intense warmth across the European continent.

Heatwaves have become more persistent as the climate has warmed. The hot summer of 1976 saw daytime temperatures remain above 28°C (82.4°F) for a fortnight – under today’s climate, such conditions could persist for well over a month, the new research shows. Simulations show three or four consecutive days of temperatures above 40°C are also possible under current conditions.

“Temperatures several degrees above the 40°C that we saw in July 2022 are possible, and we should be preparing for those,” says Kay, pointing out that as the climate warms, such temperatures become increasingly likely. During the July 2022 heatwave, the UK struggled to cope with even a brief burst of heat above 40°C. More than , rail transport was disrupted, schools were closed and wildfires swept through the countryside.

Kay urged public authorities – particularly those responsible for public health – to “stress-test” their systems to ensure they can adequately cope with such extreme temperatures. “The Met Office and other similar organisations have said for a long time now that with climate change, we should be expecting more intense and more frequent heatwaves,” she says. “This is exactly what we’re seeing in the study.”

Prolonged heatwaves are dangerous. Not only do they strain environmental ecosystems – drying out soils, wilting plants, stressing animal life – but they also pile stress on the human body, especially if both daytime and nighttime temperatures remain high for a long period. Longer-lasting heatwaves significantly . The risk is highest in regions where persistent hot weather is unusual, such as in the UK, as homes rarely have air conditioning.

Journal reference:

Weather

See how the driest early spring in 69 years has parched a UK reservoir

Legacy content author — Wed, 14 May 2025 18:00:00 +0000

Low water levels at reservoirs like Woodhead in Derbyshire are raising fears of drought conditions over the summer

Is Keir Starmer being advised by AI? The UK government won’t tell us

Chris Stokel-Walker — Mon, 28 Apr 2025 10:32:41 +0000

The UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, wants to make the country a world leader in artificial intelligence

PA Images/Alamy

Thousands of civil servants at the heart of the UK government, including those working directly to support Prime Minister Keir Starmer, are using a proprietary artificial intelligence chatbot to carry out their work, ��è��Ƶ can reveal. Officials have refused to disclose on the record exactly how the tool is being used, whether the prime minister is receiving advice that has been prepared using AI or how civil servants are mitigating the risks of inaccurate or biased AI outputs. Experts say the lack of disclosure raises concerns about government transparency and the accuracy of information being used in government. After securing the world-first release of ChatGPT logs under freedom of information (FOI) legislation, ��è��Ƶ asked 20 government departments for records of their interactions with Redbox, a generative AI tool developed in house and trialled among UK government staff. The large language model-powered chatbot allows users to interrogate government documents and to “generate first drafts of briefings”, one of the people behind its development. Early trials saw one civil servant claim to have synthesised 50 documents “in a matter of seconds”, rather than a full day’s work.

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All of the contacted departments either said they didn’t use Redbox or declined to provide the transcripts of interactions with the tool, claiming that ��è��Ƶ’s requests were “vexatious”, an official term used in responding to FOI requests that the Information Commissioner’s Office as “likely to cause a disproportionate or unjustifiable level of distress, disruption or irritation”. However, two departments did provide some information about their use of Redbox. The Cabinet Office, which supports the prime minister, said that 3000 people in its department had taken part in a total of 30,000 chats with Redbox. It said that reviewing these chats to redact any sensitive information before releasing them under FOI would require more than a year of work. The Department for Business and Trade also declined, stating that it held “over 13,000 prompts and responses” and reviewing them for release would not be feasible. When asked follow-up questions about the use of Redbox, both departments referred ��è��Ƶ to the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), which oversees the tool. DSIT declined to answer specific questions about whether the prime minister or other cabinet ministers are receiving advice that has been prepared using AI tools. A DSIT spokesperson told ��è��Ƶ: “No one should be spending time on something AI can do better and more quickly. Built in Whitehall, Redbox is helping us harness the power of AI in a safe, secure, and practical way – making it easier for officials to summarise documents, draft agendas and more. This ultimately speeds up our work and frees up officials to focus on shaping policy and improving services – driving the change this country needs.”

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But the use of generative AI tools concerns some experts. Large language models have well-documented issues around bias and accuracy that are difficult to mitigate, so we have no way of knowing if Redbox is providing good-quality information. DSIT declined to answer specific questions about how users of Redbox avoid inaccuracies or bias. “My issue here is that government is supposed to serve the public, and part of that service is that we – as taxpayers, as voters, as the electorate – should have a certain amount of access to understanding how decisions are made and what the processes are in terms of decision-making,” says at the University of Staffordshire, UK. Because generative AI tools are black boxes, Flick is concerned that it isn’t easy to test or understand how it reaches a particular output, such as highlighting certain aspects of a document over others. The government’s unwillingness to share that information further reduces transparency, she says. That lack of transparency extends to a third government department, the Treasury. In response to the FOI request, the Treasury told ��è��Ƶ that its staff doesn’t have access to Redbox, and that “GPT tools internally available within HM [His Majesty’s] Treasury do not retain prompt history”. Exactly which GPT tool this refers to is unclear – while ChatGPT is the most famous example, other large language models are also known as GPTs. The response suggests that the Treasury is using AI tools, but not keeping comprehensive records of their use. The Treasury didn’t respond to ��è��Ƶ’s request for clarification. “If they’re not retaining the prompts that are being used, it’s hard to get any sort of idea of how to replicate the decision-making processes there,” says Flick.

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at UK law firm Mishcon de Reya says choosing not to record this information is unusual. “I find it surprising that the government says it can’t retrieve prompts inputted into its internal GPT systems.” While courts have ruled that public bodies don’t have to keep public records prior to archiving, “good information governance would suggest that it can still be very important to retain records, especially where they might have been used to develop or inform policy,” he says. However, data protection expert Tim Turner says the Treasury is within its rights not to retain AI prompts under FOI laws: “I think that unless there’s a specific legal or civil service rule about the nature of the data, they can do this.”

Revealed: How the UK tech secretary uses ChatGPT for policy advice

Chris Stokel-Walker — Thu, 13 Mar 2025 12:04:17 +0000

Peter Kyle, the UK’s secretary of state for science, innovation and technology, has said he uses ChatGPT to understand difficult concepts

Ju Jae-young/Wiktor Szymanowicz/Shutterstock

The UK’s technology secretary, Peter Kyle, has asked ChatGPT for advice on why the adoption of artificial intelligence is so slow in the UK business community – and which podcasts he should appear on.

This week, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that the UK government should be making far more use of AI in an effort to increase efficiency. “No person’s substantive time should be spent on a task where digital or AI can do it better, quicker and to the same high quality and standard,” .

Now, ��è��Ƶ has obtained records of Kyle’s ChatGPT use under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act, in what is believed to be a world-first test of whether chatbot interactions are subject to such laws.

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These records show that Kyle asked ChatGPT to explain why the UK’s small and medium business (SMB) community has been so slow to adopt AI. ChatGPT returned a 10-point list of problems hindering adoption, including sections on “Limited Awareness and Understanding”, “Regulatory and Ethical Concerns” and “Lack of Government or Institutional Support”.

The chatbot advised Kyle: “While the UK government has launched initiatives to encourage AI adoption, many SMBs are unaware of these programs or find them difficult to navigate. Limited access to funding or incentives to de-risk AI investment can also deter adoption.” It also said, concerning regulatory and ethical concerns: “Compliance with data protection laws, such as GDPR [a data privacy law], can be a significant hurdle. SMBs may worry about legal and ethical issues associated with using AI.”

“As the Cabinet Minister responsible for AI, the Secretary of State does make use of this technology. This does not substitute comprehensive advice he routinely receives from officials,” says a spokesperson for the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), which Kyle leads. “The Government is using AI as a labour-saving tool – supported by clear guidance on how to quickly and safely make use of the technology.”

Kyle also used the chatbot to canvas ideas for media appearances, asking: “I’m Secretary of State for science, innovation and technology in the United Kingdom. What would be the best podcasts for me to appear on to reach a wide audience that’s appropriate for my ministerial responsibilities?” ChatGPT suggested The Infinite Monkey Cage and The Naked ��è��Ƶs, based on their number of listeners.

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As well as seeking this advice, Kyle asked ChatGPT to define various terms relevant to his department: antimatter, quantum and digital inclusion. Two experts ��è��Ƶ spoke to said they were surprised by the quality of the responses when it came to ChatGPT’s definitions of quantum. “This is surprisingly good, in my opinion,” says at Imperial College London. “I think it’s not bad at all,” says at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, UK.

��è��Ƶ made the request for Kyle’s data following his recent , in which the politician was described as “often” using ChatGPT. He said that he used it “to try and understand the broader context where an innovation came from, the people who developed it, the organisations behind them” and that “ChatGPT is fantastically good, and where there are things that you really struggle to understand in depth, ChatGPT can be a very good tutor for it”.

DSIT initially refused ��è��Ƶ’s FOI request, stating: “Peter Kyle’s ChatGPT history includes prompts and responses made in both a personal capacity, and in an official capacity”. A refined request, for only the prompts and responses made in an official capacity, was granted.

The fact the data was provided at all is a shock, says Tim Turner, a data protection expert based in Manchester, UK, who thinks it may be the first case of chatbot interactions being released under FOI. “I’m surprised that you got them,” he says. “I would have thought they’d be keen to avoid a precedent.”

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This, in turn, poses questions for governments with similar FOI laws, such as the US. For example, is ChatGPT more like an email or WhatsApp conversation – both of which have historically been covered by FOI based on past precedent – or the results of a search engine query, which traditionally have been easier for organisations to reject? Experts disagree on the answer.

“In principle, provided they could be extracted from the department’s systems, a minister’s Google search history would also be covered,” says Jon Baines at UK law firm Mishcon de Reya.

“Personally, I wouldn’t see ChatGPT as being the same as a Google search,” says , an FOI expert. That is because Google searches don’t create new information, he says. “ChatGPT, on the other hand, does ‘create’ something based on the input from the user.”

With this uncertainty, politicians might want to avoid using privately developed commercial AI tools like ChatGPT, says Turner. “It’s a real can of worms,” he says. “To cover their own backs, politicians should definitely use public tools, provided by their own departments, as if the public might end up being the audience.”

Is the UK about to force Apple to reveal all of your encrypted data?

Matthew Sparkes — Fri, 07 Feb 2025 16:24:21 +0000

A report in The Washington Post says that the UK government has ordered Apple to reveal encrypted data held by any user, anywhere in the world – here is what you need to know

UK plans to favour AI firms over creators with a new copyright regime

Chris Stokel-Walker — Tue, 17 Dec 2024 11:38:57 +0000

One of the biggest uncertainties in the ongoing AI revolution is whether these systems can legally be trained on copyrighted data. Now, the UK says it plans to clarify the matter with a change to the law

Making roofs white or reflective is the best way to keep a city cool

Madeleine Cuff — Thu, 04 Jul 2024 13:00:31 +0000

If London’s roofs were white, it would help keep the city cool in a heatwave

NagyxMe/Imago/Alamy

Painting rooftops white or covering them with a reflective coating is the best way to reduce air temperature in a city like London during a heatwave. These “cool roofs” should perform better than solar panels, green roofs or adding more trees at ground level.

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at University College London and his colleagues ran climate simulations to see how London’s temperature during the two hottest days of summer in 2018 would have changed if the city had made widespread use of cooling measures, from cool roofs to air conditioning, along with solar panels, which have a cooling effect. Temperatures that summer (96.1°F). Cool roofs outperformed all other interventions, the team found, lowering average outdoor temperatures in the city over the two-day period by 1.2°C, and by as much as 2°C in certain locations. By comparison, additional tree cover only curbed air temperatures by about 0.3°C, while solar panels lowered temperatures by 0.5°C. The study also found that widespread use of air conditioning might keep internal temperatures cool, but would boost outdoor air temperatures by up to 1°C in parts of central London. “For London, what worked the most for reducing outdoor temperatures at a pedestrian level was the cool roofs,” says Brousse. Although the study uses only two days of data for the simulations, Brousse says it is broadly in line with . Installing reflective coatings, or lightening roof surfaces across the city, would be a relatively easy and low-cost climate adaptation, says Brousse. “I think, actually, this is probably the most easily deployed intervention of all,” he says. “I see barely any reason not to start doing it widely.” There are reasons beyond cooling to deploy other technologies too, he says. Trees and green roofs can boost biodiversity and resident well-being, for example, while solar panels provide clean power.

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by the Greater London Authority suggested that cool roofs may become an increasing policy focus for city officials as summer temperatures rise under climate change. “With temperatures in London projected to increase, and with more occurrences of heatwaves, reflective roofs are likely to be a key component of climate adaptation strategy,” the report says.

Journal reference

Geophysical Research Letters

UK ban on quantum computer exports is pointless, say researchers

Matthew Sparkes — Thu, 06 Jun 2024 14:00:43 +0000

The UK government has set limits on the capabilities of quantum computers that can be exported from the country and has declined to explain these limits on the grounds of national security. Experts say this make no sense

UK news, articles and features | ��è����Ƶ

New rules confirm public has a right to see how UK government uses AI

The world is losing major ground in the fight against measles

UK should expect summers above 40°C in next decade, warns Met Office

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See how the driest early spring in 69 years has parched a UK reservoir

Is Keir Starmer being advised by AI? The UK government won’t tell us

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Revealed: How the UK tech secretary uses ChatGPT for policy advice

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Is the UK about to force Apple to reveal all of your encrypted data?

UK plans to favour AI firms over creators with a new copyright regime

Making roofs white or reflective is the best way to keep a city cool

UK ban on quantum computer exports is pointless, say researchers

UK news, articles and features | ��è��Ƶ