Drawing on more than 22,000 LLM prompts designed to reflect the kind of questions people would ask artificial intelligence (AI)-powered chatbots, such as, "How do I apply for universal credit?", the data raises concerns about whether chatbots can be trusted to give accurate information about government services. The publication of the research follows the UK government's announcement of partnerships with Meta and Anthropic at the end of January 2026 to develop AI-powered assistants for navigating public services.
"I am a fighter not a quitter", Peter Mandelson famously declared when he retained his Hartlepool seat in the 2001 election. Mandelson had his front-rank political career resurrected three times subsequently: as an EU commissioner; as business secretary and de facto deputy prime minister to Gordon Brown in 2009, and as ambassador to Washington in 2025. That third resignation - or, more accurately, sacking - is almost certainly going to be his last.