The Government has launched a trial version of its new AI-powered chat. It is early days for the GOV.UK Chat. As AI Large Language Models (LLMs) are known to hallucinate, i.e. make up stuff, they should be used with extreme caution. Initial tests show it's not too bad on that front.
We have a new 'player' in the tax advice market and it comes from the Government. 'GOV.UK Chat' is "An experimental new way to find answers to your business questions, powered by AI."
As we noted in our previous piece, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and your tax practice: the story so far, LLMs are a form of AI which takes predictive text to new levels. However, they have shortcomings and must be 'trained' on specific and accurate data to achieve the best results.
Generative AI is generative, which means it is great at making new content, writing poetry and novels etc. It will not always produce identical output, as it generates text based on the probability of use and, effectively, makes things up. When it makes things up this is known as 'hallucination'.
Can you rely on GOV.UK Chat to provide you with enough information to allow you to take a filing position for a Self Assessment return?
Or, is this just going to be a massive distraction and time waster for your team?
Whatever course you take, it would be reckless to rely on its guidance without taking time to verify the accuracy of its answers.
Testing testing (but trying not to waste too much time)
We were creating an Employment-Related Securities (ERS) What's new? (Subscriber guide) this week and we tested GOV.UK Chat to hear its take on this tricky topic.
This is what happened.
Getting started:
- Hello 👋 I’m GOV.UK Chat.
I’m an experimental tool that uses AI to answer questions and help you find information about business and trade.
I have limitations that you need to be aware of.
• The biggest limitation of AI tools like me is a problem known as ‘hallucination’.
This means we sometimes make up false information or facts but present them to you confidently.
• To check if my answers are right, use the links I provide for official guidance on GOV.UK.
Never act on what I’ve told you without checking GOV.UK.
• Great. You can always find information about my limitations in about GOV.UK Chat.
• One more thing - please do not include any sensitive or personal information in your questions.
You can read the privacy notice to find out how your data is used.
Great, that was easy to understand. Now testing with a question.
Q& A with GOV.UK Chat
We asked: When I form a company are my shares employment related? I am a director but I am giving myself the right to acquire shares on a personal level because I am me.
GOV.UK Chat: I’m sorry, I can’t answer your question. Could you please clarify what you mean by ‘shares employment-related’ or provide more context?
We asked: Are my shares employment-related for the purposes of Part 7 ITEPA 2003?
GOV.UK Chat: I’m sorry, I can’t answer your question. Could you please clarify what you mean by ‘employment-related’ in this context or provide more details?
Initial conclusions
As can be seen from the very, very brief interaction above, GOV.UK Chat is being very 'good' and is not hallucinating at all. That is an impressive step. The last thing you need with a tricky topic is a made-up answer.
On the other hand, it was not very helpful at all. It's early days, we are not going to be 'judgy' about it at this stage. The model will continue to learn as people continue to ask it questions.
External links
