Millions of pounds are being spent by the UK Government to develop 'welfare robots' that will help process benefit claims.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) department has hired nearly 1,000 new IT staff over the last year and a half to push forward its 'intelligent automation' drive.
Around £8million a year is funding the work in which computer scientists are developing over 100 welfare robots for use in the welfare system, according to the Guardian.
The DWP’s “intelligent automation garage”, a unit based at Benton Park View in Newcastle and Manchester where 32 programmers design, build and run automations, is reportedly the centre of the development.
But there are fears that increased automation may push claimants further into poverty, after the current 'digital by default' system was blasted for being 'hostile' and 'ruled by algorithms'.
The DWP claims automation improves accuracy and speeds the system up.
It is also using artificial intelligence to judge the likelihood that citizens' claims about their childcare and housing costs are true when they apply for benefits.
Frank Field, chairman of the Commons work and pensions select committee, however, said Universal Credit claimants may be "left at the mercy of online systems" which already "leave all too many people teetering on the brink of destitution”.
UiPath, a New York-based firm co-founded by Daniel Dines, is one of the firms working on introducing robots into the benefit system.
Machines that can check claims for fraud are in development, as well as ones which will process applications in full at a much quicker rate than a human could.
Much of the work being undertaken at the centres is being kept secret by the DWP, but one anonymous worker told the Guardian that they already “have ways of creating a digital image of somebody”.
A spokesperson for the DWP insisted it was using AI to help people find work, to reduce the burden on claimants to prove their circumstances, and to help vulnerable people access welfare more easily without having to provide evidence of their digital identity.
“We want to be supporting staff and citizens with the information they need, at the right time, and not disadvantaging those who are vulnerable,” they said.
