UK government coders trial AI coding assistants (GitHub Copilot and Gemini Code Assist) across 50 departments
UK Department for Science, Innovation and Technology· United KingdomGitHub Copilot · Gemini Code AssistDevelopers across 50 UK government departments trialled GitHub Copilot and Google Gemini Code Assist from November 2024 to February 2025. The press release reports time savings of almost an hour a day, only 15% of AI-generated code used without edits, and 72% of users agreeing the tools offered good value.
Overview
Developers across 50 UK government departments trialled GitHub Copilot and Google Gemini Code Assist from November 2024 to February 2025. The press release reports time savings of almost an hour a day, only 15% of AI-generated code used without edits, and 72% of users agreeing the tools offered good value.
This entry has 14 published fields tied to exact passages in an immutable source capture.
Inspect the highlighted sourceThe challenge
Public services have been slow to adopt new technology, and government aims to save time on tasks AI can do better and more quickly as part of a £45 billion efficiency target from technology and AI across the public sector.
The solution
The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology ran a trial from November 2024 to February 2025 in which developers and engineers across 50 government departments used AI coding assistants from Microsoft (GitHub Copilot) and Google (Gemini Code Assist). Developers were told to understand any code written with an assistant and take responsibility for it.
Reported business value
Trial results show time savings of almost an hour a day, equivalent to 28 working days a year. 72% of users agreed the tools offered good value, 65% reported completing tasks faster and 56% said they could solve problems more efficiently. Findings will inform decisions on wider AI adoption across government.
Sources
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This record was researched and written with AI assistance, and its claims were checked against the sources above. (EU AI Act art. 50 transparency notice.)
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