Bringing GPT-5 to the SMART: Unified AI Platform

Affordable, flexible and safe AI for every public-sector employee

Over the last two years, UK public services have shown that AI can shorten queues, free staff time and improve the experience for the people they serve. We’re now taking the next step: we’re introducing support for GPT-5 in the SMART: Unified AI Platform - our single platform that spans the SMART: Front Door for service users and SMART: Staff Copilots for employees.

This upgrade keeps everything our customers value about SMART: - governance, grounding in local content and end-to-end automation - while unlocking the newest reasoning capabilities for both frontline and back-office work.

Why this matters now

Most organisations are stuck in “pilot purgatory”: powerful models in isolated tools, rising costs, and a growing governance headache. SMART: was built to solve exactly that:

• One platform from first contact to case closure

• One governance model across channels and teams

• One knowledge core grounded in your local policies, guidance and data

Adding GPT-5 to SMART: simply makes those foundations work harder.

What GPT-5 unlocks inside SMART:

• Smarter triage at the Front Door - Better intent understanding, form-filling and deflection across phone, webchat, email, social and live chat - so service users (residents, students, patients) get faster, more accurate answers

• Richer assistance for staff - Larger context windows mean copilots can work with substantial local documents - policy manuals, case histories and guidance—without losing track

• More capable agentic workflows - Orchestrate multi-step processes (permits, revenues & benefits, social care triage, campus services) with auditable hand-offs between AI and people

Affordable for every employee

AI only moves the needle when everyone can use it. We’ve introduced pricing options that make organisation-wide access realistic - so customer services, operations, finance, planning, social care, IT and academic/admin teams can all benefit, not just a small group of specialists.

Model-flexible by design (no lock-in)

SMART: has always been LLM-agnostic. GPT-5 is a powerful new option, but it’s not the only one. You can:

• Mix models by use case (e.g., GPT-5 for complex reasoning, a smaller model for routine tasks)

• Switch models as costs, performance or policy requirements change

• Keep your workflows and guardrails exactly the same

This protects budgets, preserves choice and keeps you on the best available capability without expensive rebuilds.

Governance first, always

Public services can’t compromise on safety. SMART: applies the same guardrails everywhere:

• Grounding in local content via our Organisational Language Model (OLM)

• PII redaction and policy-based access

• Per-answer citations and full audit trail

• Data-residency options for UK/EU requirements

• Configurable risk controls for both public-facing and staff use

  
  

What this means for the future of UK public services

• From pilots to platform - unify fragmented point tools into one governed platform across channels and directorates.

• End-to-end automation - connect the Front Door to back-office systems so processes complete faster, with clear accountability.

• Workforce uplift at scale - with affordable access, every employee gets a trustworthy Copilot and the time savings compound.

• Resilience and value - a model-flexible core ensures you can adopt improvements in AI without disruption or vendor lock-in.

  
  

A note from our CEO

“Our mission is AI for everyone, not just a few specialists. By bringing GPT-5 into SMART: - and keeping it guardrailed, grounded and model-flexible - we’re helping UK public services modernise safely and affordably. That means faster answers for the people you serve and real productivity gains for every team.”

Martin Neale, CEO, ICS.AI

Getting started

We’re rolling GPT-5 support into SMART: in phases. Timelines may vary by product area, governance requirements and model availability. Speak to your ICS.AI team to plan the right enablement path for your organisation - starting with a high-value journey and scaling confidently as you go.

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