Anthropic to build Claude AI assistant for GOV.UK

The UK Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) has selected Anthropic to develop and pilot an AI-powered assistant for the official GOV.UK portal. Powered by Anthropic's Claude model, the tool is designed as an agentic system that goes beyond simple question-answering to actively guide citizens through complex government processes. The initiative builds on a Memorandum of Understanding signed between the two entities in February 2025.

The pilot phase of the project will focus on employment services, helping job seekers find work, discover training opportunities, and navigate available resources. The assistant will maintain context across multiple user sessions so citizens do not have to restart their inquiries from scratch. To address privacy concerns, users will retain full control over their data, including the ability to opt out of memory features, with all data handled under UK data protection laws. The project will follow DSIT's "Scan, Pilot, Scale" framework to test and refine the tool before any wider rollout.

For AI practitioners and public sector developers, this partnership highlights a collaborative deployment model. Anthropic engineers will work directly alongside civil servants and software developers at the Government Digital Service. This co-development model aims to transfer technical expertise, ensuring the UK government can independently maintain and update the system. Additionally, Anthropic is collaborating with the UK AI Security Institute to evaluate the safeguards of its models before public deployment.

This project is part of a broader push by Anthropic to integrate its models into public and educational sectors globally. The company has established similar initiatives with the London School of Economics, the Ministry of Education and Children in Iceland, and the Rwandan government.