Recommendation 2

Public trust is being jeopardised by slow progress on embedding transparency and establishing robust standards for AI adoption in the public sector. Public confidence that the AI technology used by government is fair, accurate, secure and safe is key to successful adoption. Transparency is fundamental to building that trust but as at January 2025, only 33 records had been published on the government website set up to provide greater transparency on algorithm–assisted decision making in the public sector. Some 67% of government bodies responding to the NAO’s survey said that support from the centre of government in fostering public trust in AI was very important. DSIT acknowledges that it has more to do to communicate effectively with the public and to be ‘demonstrably trustworthy’. Its work to strengthen its digital and data spend controls for high–risk AI and develop technical standards and guidelines must be progressed quickly to build public confidence that AI adoption by public sector bodies is safe and responsible. recommendation DSIT should write to the committee in six months to update us on: • Departmental compliance with the Algorithmic Transparency Recording Standard and further action it is taking to tackle gaps in transparency to strengthen public trust, including to address public concerns over data privacy and the sharing of sensitive data. • How its strengthened spend controls for high–risk AI use cases will support safe and ethical AI roll–out