UK government programmers trialed AI coding assistants from Microsoft, GitHub, and Google, reporting huge time savings and productivity gains - but questions remain over security and code quality

"As part of an AI trial across government, more than 1,000 tech workers across 50 different departments trialed AI coding assistants from Microsoft, GitHub Copilot, and Google Gemini Code Assist between November 2024 and February this year. Figures published following a review of the scheme shows developers are saving around one hour each day, equivalent to around 28 working days a year. Technology minister Kanishka Narayan said the trial scheme highlights the benefits of rolling the technology out across government."

""For too long, essential public services have been slow to use new technology - we have a lot of catching up to do," said Narayan. "These results show that our engineers are hungry to use AI to get that work done more quickly, and know how to use it safely." Most of the time savings from the AI assistants came from using them to write first drafts of code that experts then edit, or using them to review existing code."

"With only 15% of code generated by AI assistants being used without any edits, engineers have been taking care to check and correct outputs where needed, the government said. The trial appears to have been popular with government coders, with 72% of users agreeing they offered good value for their organization. Nearly two-thirds (65%) reported that they were completing tasks more quickly and 56% said they could solve problems more efficiently."

More than 1,000 tech workers across 50 government departments trialed AI coding assistants from Microsoft, GitHub Copilot, and Google Gemini Code Assist between November 2024 and February 2025. The trial produced average time savings of about one hour per day per developer, equivalent to roughly 28 working days per year. Most savings came from generating first drafts of code and reviewing existing code, with only 15% of AI-generated code used without edits. User feedback was positive: 72% said the tools offered good organizational value, 65% reported faster task completion, 56% reported more efficient problem-solving, and 58% preferred to keep the tools.

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