Stockton Council claims AI pilot saves staff time
Artificial intelligence programmes being piloted at Stockton Council are "fundamentally changing" how staff work, bosses have claimed.The local authority is one of 25 testing AI systems which transcribe and summarise meetings.Council officials said the pilot had already drastically reduced paperwork and saved staff time.Public sector union Unison urged local authorities to adopt AI to help staff and reduce working hours, but not as a means to cut jobs.
The two systems being tried out in Stockton are Minute and Magic Notes which can record, transcribe and summarise meetings attended by up to 40 people.Templates such as action plans or internal reports can also be completed automatically.
A simple guide to help you understand AIFive things you really need to know about A1
The council's deputy leader, Labour's Paul Rowling, said: "Speaking with the staff, it is fundamentally changing their day-to-day job."They can spend much less time doing admin and much more time delivering those public services that our staff are dedicated to."
Corinne Moore, the council's digital and website development manager, said it had reduced staff workload."One example is in public protection," she said."Some of the meetings in there take a significant amount of time and someone would have to transcribe that entire meeting by hand."Being able to record it has taken that time down from three hours of transcription to half an hour."
'Upskilling staff'
Unison's AI policy lead Kate Jones said many local authority workers were benefiting from artificial intelligence systems, but there was concern over the potential for job losses."If it is used, it needs to be used for the benefit of public services and to improve the working lives of workers," she said."There are definitely workers out there who are really concerned for their jobs."It is really important that any introduction of a transformative technology is accompanied by a serious plan for reskilling and redeployment."Rowling said the council was not intending to use it to reduce staff numbers."We see it as a way of upskilling our staff and improving their skills to make them ready for the future," he said."We certainly don't see it as a cost cutting or job cutting exercise."
Follow BBC Tees on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BreakingNews.ie
18 minutes ago
- BreakingNews.ie
Intel to cut up to 195 jobs at Leixlip plant
Up to 195 people could lose their jobs at the Intel plant in Leixlip, Co Kildare, according to sources briefed on the situation. The company is believed to have informed the Department of Trade, Enterprise and Employment about the move. A consultation process is expected to begin shortly. Advertisement The US chipmaker is undergoing a major restructuring at the moment but it is understood that the Leixlip plant, where almost 5,000 people are employed, will remain central to the company's operations. However, it will not be immune to job losses, and there are expectations that some 195 positions – under five per cent of the workforce at the plant – will be cut. Intel appointed a new chief executive, Lip-Bu Tan, earlier this year in an attempt to revive the struggling chipmaker after years of difficulties. Ireland Intel staff and families 'extremely concerned' at... Read More Tan so far has flattened the semiconductor giant's leadership team and taken direct oversight of its important data centre and AI chip group, plus its personal-computer chip group. He has brought in new engineering leaders. He has also aimed to cut what he viewed as Intel's bloated, slow-moving middle-management layer. Tan's moves follow years of manufacturing challenges at Intel and lost opportunity for mobile phone and AI chips. His predecessor, Pat Gelsinger, attempted an ambitious turnaround though he compounded some of Intel's problems. Intel reported an annual net loss attributable to the company - its first since 1986 - of $18.8 billion (€16 billion) in 2024. – Additional reporting: Reuters
Finextra
20 minutes ago
- Finextra
Moneythor debuts AI suite
Singapore-based Moneythor, the world-leading personalisation platform for banks, today announced the launch of its AI Suite, to enable banks to build deeper and profitable relationships with their customers. 0 The suite enables banks to leverage the full potential of their data to deliver experiences which resemble those of popular technology and media apps in terms of personalisation, proactivity and engagement - a challenge which many of the region's banks are currently struggling to deliver in practice. According to global research from Fintech Futures amongst banking and fintech decision-makers across the globe, only 23% of financial institutions would describe their acquisition approaches successful, nearly half (49%) admit that their current technology solutions are unable to provide engagement post onboarding, while a staggering 15% of newly acquired customers drop-off after the first 3 months. Martin Frick, Moneythor's CEO, explains that Moneythor's new AI suite will squarely address the challenges facing banks to deliver deeper customer engagement. 'Specific, built-for-purpose AI is fundamental to the delivery of deep banking experiences; namely, hyper-personalisation, anticipation, and a proposition that extends beyond traditional financial offerings. And with respect to the latter, the opportunity is particularly compelling. Banks are, literally, at the intersection of people's daily lives; whether around routine transactions or once-in-a-lifetime ones. Each provides an opportunity to connect with an additional service, or a complementary brand . . . . even beyond the finance space.' 'Moneythor has been applying technologies such as big data, machine learning and AI to support the delivery of more personalised, predictive banking experiences for more than 13 years. Our new AI suite builds upon this 'muscle memory' with the addition of generative, conversational and agentic AI capabilities.' adds Martin Specifically, Moneythor's AI suite will enable banks to intuitively develop, test, deploy and adapt personalised customer content and recommendations, 'on the fly' by integrating with any (or multiple) Large Language Models (LLM), without the requirement to train each one separately. Resulting campaigns are not only deeply personalised, but self-adapting - thanks to the incorporation of Agentic AI - enabling them to adjust and respond to individual customer situations in real time. Moneythor's clients in South East Asia include Standard Chartered, DBS, Trust Bank, and RHB Bank. Martin goes on to explain that, in markets such as Singapore (and others) where the typical customer holds multiple bank accounts, the delivery of deep banking now represents a vital differentiator. 'In Singapore, for instance, the average citizen holds nearly 2.5 separate bank accounts. This reality presents a distinct challenge to financial service providers to ensure that the client remains fully aware of and engaged in their offering. Our own research confirms, for instance, that 15% of newly opened accounts remain dormant after the first 3 months, while 'strengthening digital engagement' represents one of the sector's biggest challenges,' he says. 'The launch of our AI suite is a direct and practical response to this reality, enabling banks to rapidly transform their customer experience into something that resembles the type of consumer or lifestyle app that they are familiar and comfortable with. This is the promise of deep banking. While few would question its potential, our AI suite can make deep banking a reality, at a time when customer expectations have never been higher.'
Leader Live
21 minutes ago
- Leader Live
Human rights group loses legal challenge over exports of jet parts to Israel
Al-Haq took legal action against the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) over its decision to continue licensing exports of components for F-35 fighter jets, telling a hearing in May that it was unlawful and 'gives rise to a significant risk of facilitating crime'. In September last year, the Government suspended export licences for weapons and military equipment following a review of Israel's compliance with international humanitarian law in the conflict. But an exemption was made for some licences related to parts for F-35s, which are part of an international defence programme. The DBT defended the challenge, with its barristers telling a four-day hearing in London that the carve-out is 'consistent with the rules of international law'. In a 72-page ruling on Monday, Lord Justice Males and Mrs Justice Steyn dismissed the legal challenge. The senior judges said that 'the conduct of international relations' is a matter for the executive, rather than the courts, and that it would be unnecessary to decide whether there was a 'significant risk' that the carve-out could facilitate crimes. They added: 'The grave risk to life in the ongoing military operations in the Gaza Strip is not created by the F-35 carve-out, and would not be removed by suspension of the export from the UK of F-35 parts into the F-35 programme.' The High Court was previously told that the decision to 'carve out' licences related to F-35 components followed advice from Defence Secretary John Healey, who said a suspension would impact the 'whole F-35 programme' and have a 'profound impact on international peace and security'. The F-35 programme is an international defence programme which produces and maintains the fighter jets, with the UK contributing components for both assembly lines and an international pool. Israel is not one of the 'partner nations' of the programme, the court heard, but is a customer and can order new F-35 aircraft and draw on a pool for spare parts. The two judges later said they agreed with barristers for the DBT, who said it was not possible for the UK to 'unilaterally' ensure that UK-made parts did not reach Israel. Lord Justice Males and Mrs Justice Steyn said: 'In short, the Secretary of State reasonably concluded that there was no realistic possibility of persuading all other partner nations that F-35 exports to Israel should be suspended.' 'Accordingly he was faced with the blunt choice of accepting the F-35 carve-out or withdrawing from the F-35 Programme and accepting all the defence and diplomatic consequences which would ensue,' they added. The two judges also said the case was about a 'much more focused issue' than the carve-out itself. They continued: 'That issue is whether it is open to the court to rule that the UK must withdraw from a specific multilateral defence collaboration which is reasonably regarded by the responsible ministers as vital to the defence of the UK and to international peace and security, because of the prospect that some UK manufactured components will or may ultimately be supplied to Israel, and may be used in the commission of a serious violation of international humanitarian law in the conflict in Gaza. 'Under our constitution that acutely sensitive and political issue is a matter for the executive which is democratically accountable to Parliament and ultimately to the electorate, not for the courts.' Following the ruling, Al-Haq director general Shawan Jabarin said the long-running case had caused a 'significant impact'. He continued: 'Despite the outcome of today, this case has centred the voice of the Palestinian people and has rallied significant public support, and it is just the start. 'This is what matters, that we continue on all fronts in our work to defend our collective human values and work towards achieving justice for the Palestinians.' A Government spokesperson said: 'The court has upheld this Government's thorough and lawful decision-making on this matter. 'This shows that the UK operates one of the most robust export control regimes in the world. We will continue to keep our defence export licensing under careful and continual review.'
