Thousands of small businesses across the UK have been testing the UK government’s Generative AI chatbot, as it moved to the next stage of testing at the end of last year – making it easier and quicker to find information on GOV.UK.
Up to 15,000 people were able to ask the tool for advice on business rules and support, with the chatbot linked from 30 of GOV.UK’s business pages, such as ‘set up a business’ and ‘search for a trade mark’. People with access to the trial asked questions about tax and the support available to them.
A team of in-house data scientists, developers and designers are building the experimental tool using OpenAI’s GPT-4o technology which aims to help people more quickly navigate complex advice to understand what matters to them. In response, they will receive straightforward, personalised answers that collate information that may otherwise be spread across dozens of pages.
Joe Phelan, money.co.uk business bank accounts expert, said: “You might be one of the 15,000 early access users who have already used the tool to seek advice on topics ranging from business rules to tax.
“While still in a trial phase, the chatbot promises to offer an accessible way for business owners to get the support they need from GOV.UK. For example, you can ask a question – what is public liability insurance? – and you’ll get a concise, specific answer. Given the sheer volume of content on GOV.UK, it’s a resource likely to be well received.
“But what makes this AI chatbot stand out? The answer lies not just in what the tool promises to deliver, but in the bigger problem it aims to address.
“Small business owners routinely have to juggle numerous responsibilities, leaving them with little time to keep up with tasks like finding new funding opportunities or understanding insurance policies. The day-to-day demands of running a business make it difficult to allocate time for research or strategic planning, which can result in missed opportunities or costly mistakes.
“And this brings us nicely to the reason why the government’s new tool has been designed at all.
The reality is that its existence is necessary because, as any small or aspiring business owner will attest, launching a company is rarely simple. This bot highlights the complexity and overwhelming nature of the business landscape. For entrepreneurs, navigating the vast amount of information, guidance, regulations and documentation can feel like a daunting, potentially insurmountable challenge. And that needs to change.
“Simplified, time-saving resources, such as AI chatbots or comparison tools, could help owners quickly access the information and solutions they need, reducing the time spent navigating various complexities.”
Despite exclusively linking to GOV.UK content, early stage users are being advised to keep a close eye on the results. A message displayed during the current trial highlights a key concern with AI tools: hallucinations. In this context, hallucinations are when AI generates incorrect or misleading information, but presents it as if it’s entirely factual.