Hello and welcome to today’s tech briefing. The UK Government Digital Service has just released a trial showing civil servants saved an average of 26 minutes a day by using Microsoft 365 Copilot. In a study of 20,000 employees from September to December 2024, 70 percent of users agreed that Copilot “reduced time spent searching for information, performing mundane tasks, and increased time spent on more strategic activities.”

If those savings ran through a full year, the report claims workers could save up to 13 days. More conservative estimates put that figure at between four and seven days annually. The study didn’t track whether that extra time went toward more work, longer lunches, or an early pint—“due to experimental constraints it was not possible to identify how time saved was spent.”

It even works out that a £19 per month Copilot Pro subscription could pay for itself through productivity gains. Looking further afield, the Alan Turing Institute found roughly 40 percent of public sector tasks could be supported by generative AI. As Youmna Hashem from the Institute notes, “generative AI has the potential to greatly support the delivery of public sector work,” freeing time-pressed staff for higher-value projects. That’s all for now—thanks for listening.
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