Criminal gangs committing tens of millions of pounds worth of benefit fraud are being tracked down using newly-developed artificial intelligence, ministers have disclosed.

Experts at the Department for Work and Pensions have produced computer algorithms that have been gradually rolled-out over the course of the year to identify large-scale abuse of the welfare system.

The system, which is being trialed across the country, detects fraudulent claims by searching for patterns such as applications that use the same phone number or are written in a similar style. It then flags up any suspicious cases to specialist investigators.

It comes as part of a drive by ministers to make more use of artificial intelligence across government and turn the technology into a "world-leading future sector of our economy".

Launching the Government's industrial strategy last month, Theresa May identified artificial intelligence as one of "the big opportunities of our time".

The roll-out of new system is understood to have begun gradually over the course of the year, one category of benefit at a time.

Ministers believe it will enable authorities to track down and prosecute gangs each fraudulently claiming thousands of pounds in benefits from Britain's £170 billion welfare bill.

Until now investigators have largely targeted individuals, following concerns are raised by staff at job centres. The technology could later be used to aid the battle against individual benefit fraud.