UK justice ministry adopts ChatGPT to cut red tape
OpenAI has signed a new agreement with the UK Ministry of Justice (MoJ) that will see 2,500 civil servants gain access to ChatGPT, as the government prioritises rolling out AI to modernise public services.
Announced on Thursday at the OpenAI frontiers conference in London, the move forms part of a broader deal signed earlier this year to advance the UK’s ‘AI Action Plan’ and expand “sovereign AI” capabilities across the economy.
The MoJ will become the first government department to adopt OpenAI’s new UK data residency option, allowing sensitive information from ChatGPT Enterprise, ChatGPT Edu and API users to be stored on British servers.
The feature launches on 24 October and is designed to meet local compliance and data protection requirements – a key concern for both government and regulated industries.
Deputy prime minister and lord chancellor David Lammy said the partnership “places Britain firmly in the driving seat of the global tech revolution, leading the world in innovation and using technology to deliver fairness and opportunity for every corner of the United Kingdom.”
The government claimed the rollout would save an estimated 240,000 staff days a year by automating routine work, allowing probation officers and civil servants to focus on frontline tasks.
Sam Altman, chief executive of OpenAI, said usage of its tools in the UK had “increased fourfold in the past year.”
He added: “Civil servants are using ChatGPT to improve public services and established firms are reimagining operations. We’re proud to continue supporting the UK and the government’s AI plan.”
Cutting red tape
The partnership builds on earlier pilots within the MoJ that demonstrated time savings across document analysis, compliance and policy research.
It comes as the government accelerates AI use across departments, from “Humphrey”, an AI assistant used in Whitehall to reduce admin workloads, to “Consult”, which helps officials rapidly process public consultation responses.
The new measures are part of the government’s broader ‘plan for change’, aimed at cutting bureaucracy, improving efficiency and supporting the growth of the UK’s AI sector.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) estimates AI could add between £70bn and £140bn to the UK economy by 2030.
Tech secretary Liz Kendall said the deal was “a step further in delivering the infrastructure we need to power AI here in Britain, transforming public services, driving growth and unlocking opportunities for every community.”
The government also plans to create AI growth zones across the UK to attract private investment and upskill over seven million workers by the end of the decade.
OpenAI deepens UK presence
For OpenAI, the agreement represents a major step in expanding its British footprint.
The tech behemoth recently announced ‘stargate UK’, a partnership with Nvidia and British data firm Nscale to build domestic AI infrastructure capable of hosting OpenAI’s most advanced models on UK soil.
Phase one of the project will see up to 8,000 Nvidia GPUs deployed early next year, scaling to 31,000 over time.
The initiative, centred in the North East’s new ‘AI growth zone’, is part of a wider push to make Britain a hub for trusted, sovereign AI development.
Industry analysts say the MoJ’s adoption of ChatGPT Enterprise, coupled with the new local data residency, could set a precedent for other departments and heavily regulated industries, including finance and healthcare, to adopt similar systems.
While the MoJ has not yet disclosed the full commercial terms, public procurement records list the total contract award at £6.75m, covering two years from October 2025.
As the UK seeks to balance innovation with accountability, the government’s embrace of AI reflects a broader trend among advanced economies of leveraging AI to boost productivity while keeping data and decision-making within national control.