Taxpayers charged for "Queer AI" chatbot

"Educating even the most well-intentioned allies about queer identities and experiences can be emotionally burdensome", claim researchers

Today I can reveal that taxpayers funded a research project titled “Queer AI for the Ally” under an entity titled “The Digital Good Network”. The network was launched in 2022 “with a £4 million investment from the [taxpayer-funded] Economic and Social Research Council [ESRC] and £1 million from collaborating organisations.”

A webpage about the project, awarded funding in 2025, reads:

“Educating even the most well-intentioned allies about queer identities and experiences can be emotionally burdensome. It can require disclosures that risk precarity and even danger. And as regressive politicking further threatens the safety and wellbeing of queer individuals, allyship – encompassing all positive ways of supporting the rights of marginalised communities – has become more vital than ever.