OMG - AI to be let loose on our tax returns

We Beavers need to be afraid, very afraid.

News has reached us that our tax returns may now be the plaything of Microsoft's AI Copilot.

Remember Microsoft's unloved and much derided Clippy that no-one wanted, yet we were forced to use?

Copilot is Clippy on speed and he or she is about to be let loose on our tax affairs.

HMRC is rolling out Clippy Copilot to thousands of its staff.

Haven't we suffered enough?

Apparently, and I'm not making this up, it's being used because a Whitehall trial estimated it saved each user roughly 26 minutes per day!

And on the back of that revelation, the department has splashed out on about 28,000 Microsoft Copilot licenses.

Now, call me cynical, but what's 26 minutes to people who take years to answer enquiries, never answer the phone, miscalculate what you owe and set the dogs on you if you fail to pay within half-an-hour of the demand?

Here's a thought, take what you spend on 28,000 giant tech licences and use that to make some basic improvements to how you operate. Once you get that right, and only then, think about some refinements.

HMRC even has a Chief AI Officer who trilled that they wanted "...the most AI-enabled tax authority on the planet."

I'm not going to mention his name, but here's another suggestion, how about first making your place the most efficient tax authority on the planet?

The AI supremo also said: "We have rolled out 28,000 Copilot licenses...some fairly potent AI tools that they can safely play with."

Er, "play with?"

Not sure of the choice of words there. Last thing I want is someone playing with my tax return.

Okay, not being a total Luddite, AI might be good at some of the grunt work, but AI has not yet been fully proven and is prone to mistakes, hallucinations and stupidity. Er, hang on, so no change there then!

I have a feeling some Government flunky will be standing at the dispatch box in the not too distant future, explaining why Copilot was a misguided idea and that the Chief of AI will be spending more time with his family.

And Copilot will be on someone's screen saying: "I appear to have wiped out the UK's entire tax database. I'm sorry, I will try better next time."

OMG!

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