Scottish Government social media channels posts and comments: FOI release

Information requested

1. Do the Scottish Government have any contracts with social media companies to utilise artificial intelligence algorithims with regards to posts and or comments generated by all government agencies on social media?

2. Can the Scottish Government confirm posts generated on social media that are from official government accounts are NOT generated by artificial intelligence algorithims and therefore all posts made viewable to the public are in fact input by a human employed by the government to do so?

Response

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have some of the information you have requested. Your request refers to all government agencies. The Scottish Government does not hold this information for all government agencies and as such, we can only provide the information relating to the Scottish Government itself and its core directorates.

You can request information directly from other public bodies via contact details found here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/national-public-bodies-directory/

For the Scottish Government and its core directorates:

1. No. The Scottish Government does not hold any contracts with social media companies for the purpose of utilising artificial intelligence to generate social media posts or comments.

Some social media tools used by the Scottish Government may include features that utilise artificial intelligence in a broader sense, but these are not used to generate published social media posts or comments. Examples of these features might include generating initial drafts, analytical reports or recommending optimal times to post.

2. Yes. Content is generated for Scottish Government social media accounts by civil servants and/or contracted agency workers. We do not use artificial intelligence algorithms for the creation of social media posts.

The Scottish Government’s artificial intelligence strategy can be found online at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/scotlands-ai-strategy-trustworthy-ethical-inclusive/

We also refer you to the UK Government’s guidance to civil servants on the use of generative AI which can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-to-civil-servants-on-use-ofgenerative-ai

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.