Artificial intelligence could bring major benefits in helping provide care to Norfolk's most vulnerable people, the county's director of adult social care has said.

At a time when concerns over the use of AI - and the threat it poses to jobs - have been raised, the man at the helm of Norfolk County Council's adult social care department said it could bring benefits.

James Bullion, director of adult social care at Conservative-controlled County Hall, said: "In social care, because of the personal nature of the service, I do not think we fear AI, as it were, because all it will do is enable us to link information better between organisations, so we can take a personalised approach to care."

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Speaking to county councillors at a meeting of the people and communities committee on Friday (May 19), Mr Bullion said: "I do not see any robots coming any time soon in adult social care.

"But there will be digital approaches that will actually save time, get people information and alerts about risks that will help us with the logistics and organising the care workforce across such a widely distributed country like ours. It's all positive stuff."

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Mr Bullion said the county council's adult social department was already one of the most advanced in the country for using digital methods, including using data to predict risks to people and put in preventative approaches.

Eastern Daily Press: Prime minister Rishi SunakPrime minister Rishi Sunak (Image: PA Wire/PA Images)

Prime minister Rishi Sunak has said the UK’s regulation must evolve alongside the rapid advance of AI.

He has advocated the technology’s benefits for national security and the economy, but growing concerns have been raised with the prominence of the ChatGPT bot.

Former government chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance has said AI could have a comparable impact on jobs to the industrial revolution.