Government must redesign websites for AI systems it cannot control
The UK government's Department for Education is seeing more traffic from AI-mediated search and fewer direct page visits, according to Mark Edwards, head of design for the department's digital services. This shift requires a fundamental change in how government websites publish information.
AI tools that summarize official material risk giving users misleadingly narrow or incomplete versions of it. The problem runs deeper than incomplete answers. AI systems only respond to the specific question asked, which can limit discovery and reinforce gaps in understanding.
A teenager leaving school may not know to search for apprenticeships or T-levels specifically. AI tools meet users where they already are, rather than helping them discover options they didn't know existed.
Current AI overviews show promise. When tested on broad questions like "What are my options leaving school?", Google's AI overview included apprenticeships, T-levels, vocational pathways, A-levels, university, and employment-drawing on government sources alongside charity websites and school resources.
But the real challenge lies ahead. Government digital teams must now design content for people who may never visit their websites directly.
"We need to design with the expectation that much of what we publish will be read indirectly, atomised, summarised or reinterpreted by systems we don't control," Edwards wrote in a blog post on GOV.UK.
This means writing in plain English with clear structure becomes even more critical. A paragraph pulled from context must still be safe and accurate on its own.
Government teams should test how their content appears after passing through AI tools and design it to work for both machines and people. If AI-mediated answers become the primary entry point, those with low confidence or limited familiarity with government services risk being disadvantaged further.
The Government Digital Service is piloting its own AI-driven chatbot using only GOV.UK material. The system achieves 90 percent accuracy but users report its 10.7-second response time is too slow. The service is considering breaking answers into smaller pieces to provide faster initial responses.
For AI for Government professionals, this signals a shift in how digital strategy must work. Content design now requires understanding how AI systems interpret and repackage information-skills that fall outside traditional web design training.
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