UK’s best AI engineers can apply now to build tech for public services in $1 million fellowship
The UK government, backed by a $1 million Meta grant to the Alan Turing Institute, is launching a 12-month Open-Source AI Fellowship to bring top AI experts into government to build open-source AI tools that improve public services, boost productivity, and support national security.
$1 million fellowship to build AI in the public sector.
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AI experts can apply for a 12-month tour of duty in government building AI for the public good and backed by $1 million from Meta to the Alan Turing Institute.
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In an innovative approach to attracting top talent, fellows will use open-source AI models like Meta’s Llama 3.5 to help create new tools to deliver the Plan for Change - from unblocking planning delays and bolstering national security to slashing the cost of AI across government.
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Comes as “Caddy” – the AI customer service assistant that could cut queue times in half — has started being used in government to help staff access expert guidance on grant decisions - improving speed, consistency, and value for money.
A new $1 million programme will bring the UK’s top AI experts into government to build cutting-edge AI tools, helping to make the state more agile so it can deliver the Plan for Change.
Fellows could join government to build AI tools for high-security use cases across the public sector such as language translation in a national security context, and making use of construction planning data to speed up the approvals process and get more homes built.
They could also help expand “Humphrey”, a bundle of AI tools that help civil servants more effectively deliver on the requests of ministers – taking away the admin burdens involved in summarising documents, taking notes and summarising consultation responses.
Fellows will be focused on using open-source AI models, which could reduce costs to the taxpayer when using AI widely, and help unlock up to £45 billion in productivity gains across the public sector.
The “Open-Source AI Fellowship” has been funded by a grant from Meta to the Alan Turing Institute, with fellows set to join DSIT’s Incubator for AI, the team behind “Humphrey.
Today’s announcement follows the Prime Minister setting out that he is “determined to seize” the opportunity of AI to transform the state, making clear that no one in government should be doing something AI can be better and cheaper.
Technology Secretary Peter Kyle said:
This Fellowship is the best of AI in action - open, practical, and built for public good. It’s about delivery, not just ideas - creating real tools that help government work better for people.
We’ve already seen the potential. Caddy - developed with Citizens Advice and now helping Cabinet Office teams - shows how open AI tools can boost productivity, improve decision-making, and support frontline staff.
The Fellowship will help scale that kind of impact across government, and develop sovereign capabilities where the UK must lead, like national security and critical infrastructure.
Joel Kaplan, Chief Global Affairs Officer, Meta, said:
Open-source AI models are helping researchers and developers make major scientific and medical breakthroughs, and they have the potential to transform the delivery of public services too.
This partnership with the Alan Turing Institute will help the government access some of the brightest minds and the technology they need to solve big challenges – and to do it openly and in the public interest.
We hope these fellows will make a big, positive difference and help show just how valuable open-source AI can be to governments and society more broadly.
Dr Jean Innes, CEO of the Alan Turing Institute, said:
Open-source technologies have great potential to help government increase productivity, support decision-making and deliver better public services. These fellowships will offer an innovative way to match AI experts with the real world challenges our public services are facing.
The fellowship comes alongside the news that ‘Caddy’, an AI assistant that helps call centre workers, has been open sourced, meaning call centres across the world could benefit from the tech.
Having been tested in Citizen’s Advice to date, who built the technology in partnership with government, it is also now for the first time being used by central government – with a Cabinet Office team using it to quickly access expert guidance on grant decisions, improving speed, consistency, and value for money.
Caddy works by providing call handlers with key information from guidance documents. Currently being used across six Citizen’s Advice call centres, it helps experts answer calls on everything from managing debt to getting legal help or knowing your rights as a consumer.
Early tests across 1,000 calls showed that it could halve response times. Results also showed that 80% of Caddy-generated responses were ready to use with no revisions, and advisors using Caddy were twice as confident in providing accurate answers.
Today, the government is also launching the next phase of the AI Knowledge Hub – a growing platform that shares real examples, tools, and tips to help teams use AI in the right way.
The Hub is designed to help departments learn from each other, avoid duplication, and move from small pilots to real results.
As part of its next phase, new features will be added including a Prompt Library to help teams use AI to boost everyday productivity and deliver faster, better services.
Notes to editors
Applicants can find more details and register their interest ahead of applications going live next week.
The fellowships will begin in January 2026 and will last for 12 months during which all use cases will be developed, announced, and open-sourced for wider public use.
Fellows will work on high-impact problems identified by departments, which could include:
- Secure AI assistants for processing sensitive documents entirely on government systems—crucial for work like national security translation, where data must never leave secure environments
- Planning and regulatory tools trained on UK law and policy to support faster, fairer decision-making for citizens
- AI systems that can support emergency responders or NHS staff during power outages or network failures—by working fully offline when it matters most
Knowledge Hub
Caddy
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