The government department charged with backing British business is practising what it preaches on AI, investing in specialist skills training before switching on its own in-house tool. For SME owners weighing their first AI purchase, the sequence matters as much as the software.
Figures obtained under a freedom of information request show that between 2023 and 2026 the Department for Business and Trade invested in a range of specialist AI courses, combining data science, AI governance and generative AI skills. Programmes included AI Law, Policing and Governance and AI Fundamentals, with subscriptions delivered through universities and digital learning platforms including Pluralsight and O’Reilly for digital and data teams.
That groundwork preceded the arrival of Ask DBT, the department’s new in-house AI-powered tool, built to tackle a problem familiar to any growing firm: a large and constantly evolving intranet that staff struggle to navigate. Employees can ask questions in plain English and receive clear, sourced responses drawn entirely from intranet content.
The early numbers are encouraging. During its trial, over 30 per cent of the cohort used the tool, and 61 per cent of queries were answered immediately, cutting the time spent fielding routine questions about IT, travel and expenses.
Those are the sorts of low-value, repetitive queries that quietly drain smaller firms too. Research has found employees at UK companies lose two days a week to manual tasks, part of a wider picture in which 72 per cent of UK firms report skills gaps in AI, data and cybersecurity.
Stuart Harvey, CEO of Datactics, said the department’s approach was a model worth copying. “Department for Business & Trade investment in specialist AI skills, matched with the rollout of Ask DBT is showing other businesses what modern digital services need to succeed.”
“AI tools are built on the data beneath them, so strengthening capability in areas in governance and analytics is key to build reliable, well-structured AI that can improve employee experience and service delivery.”
The point is worth dwelling on. Plenty of SMEs have bought AI tools that underwhelmed, not because the technology failed but because the data feeding it was a mess and nobody in the building understood how to govern it. DBT’s answer, unglamorous training in governance and analytics before deployment, is one any firm can replicate at modest cost.
Nor is DBT alone in Whitehall. The government’s Humphrey suite of AI tools has already delivered measurable efficiency gains, analysing 50,000 consultation responses in around two hours, while HMRC has spent £150m on digital skills and launched its own training academies. The pattern across departments is consistent: capability first, tools second.
The launch of Ask DBT follows recent improvements to digital transformation by the Trade Remedies Authority, a non-departmental public body of DBT, which last month rolled out an upgraded Trade Remedies Service platform designed to make it simpler for UK businesses to take part in trade remedies cases.
For business owners, the takeaway is refreshingly practical. Before signing up for the shiniest AI assistant on the market, ask whether your data is in order and whether anyone on the team has the skills to manage it. On the evidence from DBT, that is where the return really comes from.
