Cutting Recruitment Workload: The Royal Navy’s AI Strategy

The Royal Navy is deploying an AI-powered avatar, named Atlas, to spearhead its recruitment efforts, marking a significant step in leveraging artificial intelligence within the public sector. Atlas, driven by a large language model (LLM), will initially focus on engaging with potential submariners, answering their queries and guiding them through the initial stages of the application process.

This initiative underscores the growing trend of AI’s potential to transform traditional recruitment processes, moving from conventional, often slow, text-based interactions to more dynamic and immersive automated support systems. While public sector IT projects are frequently criticized for delays and unclear objectives, the Royal Navy’s deployment of Atlas is rooted in concrete operational metrics and a well-defined business case: streamlining the candidate selection process for demanding roles while simultaneously alleviating the administrative load on human recruiters.

The Data Driving the Deployment

The Royal Navy’s venture into AI-assisted recruitment is not a sudden leap. In collaboration with WPP Media’s Wavemaker, the Navy has spent several years meticulously refining its automated recruitment entry points. Prior to Atlas, a text-based AI assistant was implemented and rigorously tested.

This initial system, recently upgraded with a complete LLM and retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) architecture, demonstrated the model’s efficacy. It managed over 460,000 inquiries from more than 165,000 unique users, boasting a reported satisfaction rate of 93%. This high satisfaction rate suggests an effectiveness of the system to answer questions effectively and in a way that user found useful.

Perhaps more crucially, from a cost-efficiency perspective, the text-based system led to a substantial 76% reduction in the workload for human recruitment teams. This highlights how AI can remove pressure on human employees to deal with answering simple questions to many candidates, freeing their time. Moreover, it generated 89,000 expressions of interest, indicating that automation could effectively widen the candidate pool without overwhelming the human recruitment staff. Atlas represents a visual enhancement of these successes, designed to capture the attention of a younger generation that interacts differently with digital platforms. This attention is critical in increasing possible candidate pool.

Under the Hood: The AI Recruitment Avatar’s Architecture

The architecture behind Atlas is built on a multi-vendor approach, prioritizing specialization and avoiding reliance on a single provider. Wavemaker spearheaded the strategic direction and conversational design, ensuring that the LLM driving Atlas was trained on a comprehensive and accurate knowledge base. Voxly Digital handled the construction of the front-end and back-end infrastructure, with Great State, the Navy’s digital agency, providing crucial support.

Atlas’s capabilities extend beyond simply reciting pre-programmed responses. Its conversational interface is multimedia-enabled, allowing for richer and more engaging interactions. For instance, if a candidate inquires about the realities of life on a submarine – a well-known concern that often affects recruitment conversion rates due to the unique challenges of the submarine lifestyle – Atlas can provide spoken answers, on-screen captions, and relevant video clips or testimonials from current serving personnel. This multi-modal approach adds an element of realism and transparency that can improve candidate engagement.

The aim is to prolong user engagement within the recruitment ecosystem. Atlas will be tested at recruitment events and seamlessly integrated with the NavyReady mobile application and the Enterprise Customer Relationship Management (e-CRM) program to ensure data continuity across platforms. A seamless transition to a e-CRM platform makes it easier for recruiters to follow up and stay in touch with potential good candidate from the AI’s initial engagement.

Augmentation, Not Replacement: A Workforce Enhancement Tool

Despite the advanced level of automation involved, the Royal Navy emphasizes that Atlas is intended as a workforce augmentation tool, designed to support and enhance the capabilities of its recruitment teams, rather than replace them.

Paul Colley, Head of Marketing at the Royal Navy, clarified the technology’s boundaries: “When it comes to AI, our focus is on how we can use it responsibly and strategically to better arm the teams we have. It’s not about replacing human support. It’s about giving the best support we can wherever and whenever candidates need it.”

“We’re excited to launch Atlas and see if it can provide a new, different kind of support for those who would be considering the submarine service but need some more time to explore and discuss.” said Colley.

Caroline Scott, Head of e-CRM and Innovation, added: “By trialling new interfaces and adopting a test-and-learn mindset, the Royal Navy can be better equipped to understand how these technologies can transform the way people connect, apply for roles, and engage with us, while also creating more meaningful digital experiences.”

The Atlas pilot provides business leaders with a prime example of a mature and strategic approach to generative AI adoption. The Navy initiated the process with a data-driven approach and a simpler, text-based interface. Only after achieving a significant 76% efficiency gain did they proceed to scale up to the more intricate and resource-intensive visual medium, Atlas. This strategy demonstrates that when implementing AI, it is best to test simple implementations and use measured success to implement more sophisticated and complex solutions.

The result is an AI-assisted recruitment system that efficiently filters high volumes of routine inquiries, freeing up human recruiters to concentrate on the serious and qualified candidates. This enhances the productivity of human workers, improves time efficiency, and ultimately supports the growth of the company.