Social workers’ AI tool makes ‘gibberish’ transcripts of accounts from children

One social worker said the AI tool she used to create a summary of a case incorrectly suggested the person was experiencing suicidal ideation. Photograph: Dominic Lipinski/PA

AI tools are making potentially harmful errors in social work records, from bogus warnings of suicidal ideation to simple “gibberish”, frontline workers have said.

Keir Starmer last year championed what he called “incredible” time-saving social work transcription technology. But research across 17 English and Scottish councils shared with the Guardian has now found AI-generated hallucinations are slipping in.