Approved work: Prison populations
This POSTnote will outline current figures on prison populations, implications of an increasing UK prison population and prisoners’ welfare and safety.

Advances in robotics and digital technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI), are enabling greater levels of automation across many sectors, including defence. The UK Government expects automation to be crucial to maintain military advantage in the future. In June 2022, the Ministry of Defence published its Defence AI Strategy, which sets out how it plans to adopt and exploit AI; automation was cited as a key application. This POSTnote discusses current and future applications of automation and AI, their impact on militaries and global stability, and the challenges around their development and implementation.
Automation in military operations (423 KB , PDF)
Automation refers to the use of systems to perform tasks that would ordinarily involve human input. Automation and autonomy are often viewed as being on a spectrum relating to the level of human supervision a system has. This can range from manually controlled systems to those that independently make decisions about how to achieve certain human-set goals. Although automation has been used in various forms for decades, it has attracted growing military interest as technology has improved. Many military systems can feature automation, including robotic systems that carry out physical tasks, and entirely software-based systems for tasks such as data analysis.
The Government has recognised the military advantages of autonomous systems and artificial intelligence (AI), which can include increased efficiency and reduced risk to personnel. In its 2021 Integrated Review and 2020 Integrated Operating Concept, the Government stated its commitment to embracing new and emerging technologies, including autonomous systems and AI. It has also established a Defence AI Centre (DAIC) to coordinate the UK’s development of AI-enabled technologies for defence, including via collaborations with academia and industry. Globally, the UK, US, China, and Israel have some of the most advanced autonomous and AI-based military capabilities.
While there are a wide range of potential benefits of using automated technology in the military, there are associated challenges, including those relating to processing data, cybersecurity, and communication between systems. AI-enabled autonomous systems require suitable training data, which may be challenging to prepare. In addition, AI and automation create different testing and assurance challenges to traditional software systems. Automated and autonomous systems also raise ethical concerns, particularly in the context of autonomous weapons systems, which are the subject of extensive international debate.
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Acknowledgements
POSTnotes are based on literature reviews and interviews with a range of stakeholders and are externally peer reviewed. POST would like to thank interviewees and peer reviewers for kindly giving up their time during the preparation of this briefing, including:
*denotes people and organisations who acted as external reviewers of the briefing.
Automation in military operations (423 KB , PDF)
This POSTnote will outline current figures on prison populations, implications of an increasing UK prison population and prisoners’ welfare and safety.
This POSTbrief will be a technical explainer introducing AI technologies. It will explain the main types of AI, give examples of their current and potential future applications, and provide a glossary of common terminology.
This POSTbrief summarises the most recent and relevant evidence on the use and effectiveness of short prison sentences. It outlines the key trends, alternative sentencing options and wider considerations.