HMRC rolls out 29,000 Copilot licences as AI chief targets world’s ‘most AI-enabled tax authority’

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is rolling out 29,000 Microsoft Copilot licences to staff and preparing to activate AI agents as part of an ambition to become “the most AI-enabled tax authority on the planet”, according to its head of AI, James Mitton.

Speaking at Think AI for Government in London, Mitton (pictured) said the department is taking a “T-shaped strategy” to adoption: giving AI tools to staff across the organisation while simultaneously developing deeper, high-impact use cases for large-scale operations.

“We have rolled out 29,000 Copilot licences,” he said. “We were about to switch on agents in Copilot Chat next week… and the intention is to give the entire organisation some fairly potent AI tools that they can safely play with.”

Mitton said the department wants staff to use AI tools at “Official Sensitive” level, helping reduce friction in day-to-day work while building confidence and familiarity with the technology.

£8 billion benefit from existing AI tools

He also revealed that HMRC has already seen an estimated £8 billion benefit in the last couple of years from more established forms of AI used to help close the tax gap.

While distancing these tools from the current excitement around gen AI, he said machine learning, robotic process automation and natural language processing had been delivering value for years.

“We’ve been, like many departments, working in it for years,” he said. “Even just in the last couple of years, we’ve seen an £8 billion benefit through the less exciting side of AI… helping us close the tax gap.”

Mitton said AI should be treated as integral to organisational design rather than a separate programme

“When I’m designing a new tax regime, when I’m designing a new service… how do I have AI sitting at the heart in the beginning of it?” he said.

That approach, he added, should still keep humans in control through “human-centred design” from design through delivery and continuous improvement.

Centre of Excellence to tackle fragmented AI activity

Mitton also revealed that HMRC is establishing an AI Centre of Excellence after discovering numerous separate AI initiatives across the department.

He said it was “almost impossible” to keep track of all AI activity underway, with multiple teams sometimes procuring similar tools independently.

In response, HMRC is creating a single front door for AI initiatives, using AI itself to power an internal portal to improve visibility and coordination.

Mitton stressed that maintaining public trust is critical. He said HMRC is considering publishing more information externally about where it uses AI, where it does not, and why.

“We need to think about AI as a tool that can help us, but we must never forget that we have to do it through kindness and operating in the open,” he said.

Hiring ‘pirates’ with resilience

Asked about talent, Mitton said government should recruit a small number of disruptive outsiders – which he described as “pirates” – but warned that many private sector technologists struggle inside Whitehall institutions.

Successful hires, he said, need “incredible resilience”, curiosity and patience, alongside respect for the complexity of long-established public bodies such as HMRC.

“You don’t want a whole bunch of pirates,” he said. “You just want a few people that can really spark and provoke your thinking.”