Minute — the UK's Incubator for AI Trials Generative-AI Meeting Notes in 25 Councils

Minute is a generative-AI tool built by the UK government's Incubator for AI (i.AI) that converts recorded meetings into structured notes and lets officials correct and adjust the summaries. It is one of the tools in the 'Humphrey' package being developed for the civil service.
On 23 May 2025 the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology announced that 25 local authorities, including West Berkshire Council and Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council, would trial Minute, with uses in planning approvals, social care supervision meetings and general council administration. It was also used for the first time in the Prime Minister's Council of Nations and Regions.
The headline figure is that in central-government tests officials saved on average about one hour of admin per one-hour meeting, and nearly half of those tested described note-taking as the least enjoyable part of their job. The government itself calls this an early-stage trial and early research; no independent evaluation, accuracy audit or cost-benefit study had been published in the sources reviewed.
The local-government context matters: the Local Government Association's 2024 survey cited insufficient funding (64%) and limited staff capability (53%) as the main barriers to AI adoption, and each of the 320 authorities procures technology separately. A central, reusable tool trialled across many councils is therefore a plausible route to transfer, but the evidence of measured public value, and details on data protection, remain thin.
It is included as an early-stage, promising but unproven practice.

Read the full analysis: https://www.wired-gov.net/wg/news.nsf/articles/AI+experiments+see+Humphrey+help+townhalls+cut+costs+and+improve+services+23052025171500