The government department charged with backing British business is practising what it preaches on AI, investing in specialist skills training before switching on its own in-house tool. For SME owners weighing their first AI purchase, the sequence matters as much as the software.
Figures obtained under a freedom of information request show that between 2023 and 2026 the Department for Business and Trade invested in a range of specialist AI courses, combining data science, AI governance and generative AI skills. Programmes included AI Law, Policing and Governance and AI Fundamentals, with subscriptions delivered through universities and digital learning platforms including Pluralsight and O’Reilly for digital and data teams.
That groundwork preceded the arrival of Ask DBT, the department’s new in-house AI-powered tool, built to tackle a problem familiar to any growing firm: a large and constantly evolving intranet that staff struggle to navigate. Employees can ask questions in plain English and receive clear, sourced responses drawn entirely from intranet content.
The early numbers are encouraging. During its trial, over 30 per cent of the cohort used the tool, and 61 per cent of queries were answered immediately, cutting the time spent fielding routine questions about IT, travel and expenses.
Those are the sorts of low-value, repetitive queries that quietly drain smaller firms too. Research has found employees at UK companies lose two days a week to manual tasks, part of a wider picture in which 72 per cent of UK firms report skills gaps in AI, data and cybersecurity.
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