{"id":384980,"date":"2025-08-30T11:15:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-30T11:15:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/384980\/"},"modified":"2025-08-30T11:15:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-30T11:15:10","slug":"coventry-council-to-use-palantir-ai-in-social-work-send-and-childrens-services-coventry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/384980\/","title":{"rendered":"Coventry council to use Palantir AI in social work, Send and children\u2019s services | Coventry"},"content":{"rendered":"

Public sector workers have voiced \u201cdeep concern\u201d after Coventry city council signed a \u00a3500,000-a-year artificial intelligence contract with the US data technology company Palantir<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The deal is the first of its kind between a UK local authority and the Denver-based company, which supplies technology<\/a> to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and to help Donald Trump\u2019s mass deportation efforts<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The contract follows a pilot scheme in the council\u2019s children\u2019s services department, including using AI for case-note transcription and to summarise social workers\u2019 records. The council is planning to extend the Palantir system to processes for providing support to children with special educational needs.<\/p>\n

The council\u2019s chief executive, Julie Nugent, said it aimed to \u201cimprove internal data integration and service delivery\u201d and \u201cexplore the transformative opportunities of artificial intelligence\u201d.<\/p>\n

Palantir already has a number of public sector contracts in the UK, including providing AI to help tackle organised crime in Leicestershire and building the new NHS federated data platform<\/a>. Keir Starmer toured the company\u2019s Washington office in February with its chief executive and co-founder, Alex Karp. Palantir was also co-founded by Peter Thiel, the PayPal billionaire who helped fund Trump\u2019s 2016 election camapign.<\/p>\n

Keir Starmer touring Palantir\u2019s office in Washington DC in February. Photograph: Carl Court\/PA<\/p>\n

Trade unions representing teachers and other council workers have said the deal raises \u201cserious ethical questions\u201d, and the independent councillor Grace Lewis called for the council to cancel the contract immediately \u201cand ensure the \u00a3500,000 is spent right here in our community\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is indefensible that the council entered into a contract with Palantir, a company infamous for its role in providing weapons and surveillance to the IDF and its role in NHS privatisation, at a time when the council has made cuts to the public and voluntary sector,\u201d Lewis said.<\/p>\n

Coventry recently started using Palantir\u2019s AI to screen applications for household support funds. One senior official told a meeting of councillors in June: \u201cThere are very few areas that would not benefit from artificial intelligence.\u201d A councillor at the meeting responded: \u201cSounds a bit like Big Brother to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a letter to Nugent, the joint secretary of the Coventry branch of the National Education Union, Nicky Downes, highlighted Palantir\u2019s use of AI in surveillance and weapons systems, and raised concerns about its collection and storing of data on citizens, in particular with respect to its provision of predictive policing systems.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are some serious ethical questions regarding the business practices of Palantir Foundry, which is a subsidiary of Palantir,\u201d Downes said. \u201cThere are also questions relating to its use of, and sourcing of, personal data. We would question the procurement process, particularly regarding ethical considerations and accompanying risk assessments, that led to the decision to spend \u00a3500,000 on an AI package from Palantir Foundry.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Nugent replied: \u201cWe have appointed Palantir for 12 months to explore the transformative opportunities of artificial intelligence by running proof of concepts in a number of our key areas. This will build our business case for further future investment and our overall approach to AI. We understand that the ethical implications of AI procurement are of paramount importance. Please be assured that the council has undertaken a thorough and robust due diligence process in line with our procurement policies.\u201d<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Palantir said: \u201cWe are excited to help Coventry city council harness AI to improve the services that they provide to the public. The technology offers huge potential, such as enabling social workers and special educational needs professionals to spend less time on paperwork and more time directly supporting children who are vulnerable or have special needs. The early signs are extremely promising, showing the potential for a significant reduction in the admin burden.\u201d<\/p>\n

They said Palantir was non-partisan and had engaged with a number of US government administrations since it began working with the Department of Homeland Security in 2010.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the council said it was exploring how AI could help improve services and make them more efficient. \u201cAs part of this initiative, we are evaluating a range of AI solutions and technology partners, including Palantir, to support our AI objectives \u2026 As we continue to assess the value of AI for future investment, maintaining robust data protection and governance standards will remain our top priority.\u201d<\/p>\n

It said the contract was awarded in line with standard procurement procedures and met its \u201crigorous security and compliance requirements\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Public sector workers have voiced \u201cdeep concern\u201d after Coventry city council signed a \u00a3500,000-a-year artificial intelligence contract with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":384981,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3163],"tags":[323,1942,53,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-384980","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-artificial-intelligence","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-artificial-intelligence","10":"tag-technology","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115117432861788132","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384980","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=384980"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384980\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/384981"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=384980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=384980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=384980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}