Mr Patsy McGlone (Mid Ulster): To ask the Minister of Finance to detail the (i) use; and (ii) development, by (a) his Department; and (b) its arm’s-length bodies, of Artificial Intelligence products.
Minister of Finance: (a) Department of Finance
(i) Use of Artificial Intelligence
The Department of Finance has utilised Artificial Intelligence (AI) in several areas to improve efficiency and support service delivery:
AI-powered productivity tools have been deployed to provide real-time assistance for tasks such as drafting documents, summarising meetings, analysing data, and streamlining communications. These tools help civil servants generate content, identify action items, and automate repetitive processes while maintaining departmental security and privacy standards.
Officials are currently exploring the use of AI to support and promote learning and development activities. This includes exploring how AI can assist in creating learning content and materials and how it can be utilised to increase awareness and engagement with learning opportunities across NICS.
Additionally, AI coding assistants have been used to help developers become more efficient in writing code, quickly identifying and rectifying errors, and increasing productivity.
Teams are increasingly using modern programming languages and tools to process and present statistical data. Staff have leveraged AI to assist in translating code from legacy systems into languages such as R, SQL, HTML, and JavaScript in line with the NISRA Reproducible Analytical Pipelines (RAP) Strategy. Beyond migration, AI has supported the development of new functionality, improvements to existing processes, and the creation of interactive, user-focused outputs that are accessible and mobile-friendly.
(ii) Development of Artificial Intelligence products:
The Department is currently designing and implementing a new cloud-based technology solution (Oracle Fusion) which will incorporate AI components to support Finance and HR delivery.
(b) Arm’s-Length Bodies: Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB)
(i) Use of Artificial Intelligence
Microsoft Copilot is used to assist staff with administrative tasks.
(ii) Development of Artificial Intelligence products:
Testing is underway to develop an AI chatbot on the SEUPB website to assist with PEACE PLUS Programme queries.
ENDS
Your MLA 