A new report is now available that explores how artificial intelligence can help address the major challenge of the rapidly growing volume of born-digital government records (emails, PDFs, spreadsheets, audiovisual files, and social media records). "Sifting the Digital Heap: A scoping study of AI for government archives – access, backlogs, and responsible practice ” draws on workshops organized in collaboration with the UK Cabinet Office and 27 interviews with stakeholders across the United Kingdom and the United States; the study examines how AI can support the accessibility and management of digital government records.

This research forms part of the GLOW (Government Records and AI) initiative, led by Professor Lise Jaillant at Loughborough University in collaboration with the UK Cabinet Office. It builds on the LUSTRE project (Unlocking our Digital Past with Artificial Intelligence), that explores how AI can improve preservation, accessibility, and use of born-digital government archives, and is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council in the UK.

Full report (open access): https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18935870 Project website: https://lustre-network.net/

-Diane Goldenberg-Hart, CNI