Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy used the OpenAI Frontiers conference in London on 23 October to set out how ministers intend to put artificial intelligence to work across the state. He confirmed OpenAI will offer a UK data residency option and announced a further rollout of the Ministry of Justice’s Justice Transcribe to 1,000 probation officers, with the department estimating 240,000 days of administrative time saved each year.
OpenAI said the UK data residency capability will be available from Friday 24 October for customers using the API Platform, ChatGPT Enterprise and ChatGPT Edu. The company also referenced a new agreement with the Ministry of Justice to support secure use of its tools, positioning the UK option as a route to meet local data protection preferences.
Reuters reported the UK residency launch alongside the government’s partnership with OpenAI, noting that the move aims to bolster privacy assurances for public bodies and regulated sectors. For procurement teams, the timing is immediate: provisioning for a UK-at-rest option begins this week.
Justice Transcribe, trialled in probation, automatically records and transcribes supervision sessions to reduce paperwork and improve the quality of case notes. According to the Deputy Prime Minister, 80% of surveyed officers reported better engagement with people on probation; today’s expansion equips 1,000 additional officers, with time savings redeployed to rehabilitation and risk management.
Two other operational examples were highlighted. Consult, built by the government’s i.AI team, uses topic modelling to process consultation responses at speed; officials describe potential savings of tens of thousands of analysis days per year, with recent use on the independent water review. DERM, a NICE‑endorsed AI for skin‑lesion triage, is being used in NHS teledermatology pathways to free specialist capacity and reduce waiting times.
The speech situated these deployments within the Prime Minister’s AI Opportunities Action Plan, which the government adopted in January, and within new transatlantic initiatives. The UK‑US Technology Prosperity Deal, signed in mid‑September, commits both governments to deepen cooperation on advanced technologies, while Whitehall’s AI Growth Zones policy aims to channel investment and jobs to regional hubs.
The first AI Growth Zone in the North East is projected to support over 5,000 jobs and attract up to £30 billion in private investment, with partners including NVIDIA, OpenAI and British firm Nscale to expand compute capacity. Officials pitch the zone as a practical platform for skills, research and industrial adoption.
Infrastructure constraints will be central to delivery. Independent reporting has already flagged water and energy pressures associated with data centre build‑out, including concerns near early growth‑zone sites; ministers say sustainability requirements will be embedded as schemes progress.
For data protection leads, OpenAI’s residency option addresses a common blocker but does not remove the need for diligence. OpenAI’s documentation notes that some categories of metadata and certain features can involve processing outside the chosen region; organisations should check scope, feature compatibility and auditability before enabling the UK region.
Within justice, the Ministry of Justice’s Justice AI Unit is scaling secure AI assistants (including ChatGPT Enterprise and Microsoft tools) across the department under an “AI for All” campaign, targeting general availability by end‑2025. Early pilots report material time savings for staff handling transcription, drafting and summarisation tasks.
The government frames this programme as part of a wider push to lift public‑sector productivity and service quality, while anchoring private‑sector investment via the Tech Prosperity Deal and regional growth policy. Industry leaders have argued the UK can build a leading position if it matches talent with infrastructure; recent commentary from NVIDIA has been supportive of that direction.
Policy Wire analysis: today’s commitments give delivery teams immediate actions. Departments can begin residency checks with vendors, refresh DPIAs and procurement baselines, and schedule evaluations of Justice Transcribe and Consult against local workflows. In parallel, watch for the formal activation of UK data residency, further Growth Zone designations, and MoJ performance data on admin time released back to the frontline.