The UK government is working with Meta to launch a new $1 million program aimed at attracting AI engineering experts to develop tools for the public sector.

The project, called the Open-Source AI Fellowship, is led by the Allen Turing Institute, allows engineers and developers to apply for a 12-month government "service period" to develop tools around practical application scenarios in multiple public fields.

Downing Street revealed that this could include creating artificial intelligence language translation tools or solutions that use building planning data to speed up the housing development approval process.

Additionally, the government said researchers involved in the program could also help with the AI tool set extension "Humphrey", which is currently used by civil servants to reduce repetitive labor and improve work efficiency.

The Fellows Program will be launched in January 2026, and applicants are encouraged to register their interests in advance before formally launching their applications next week .

It is worth noting that the project will focus mainly on using open source artificial intelligence models such as Meta's Llama 3.5 series to create new solutions.

Tech Secretary Peter Kyle said the goal of the project is to develop an artificial intelligence solution that is "open, practical and in the public interest."

"This is not a paper talk, but a real tool that can improve the efficiency of government operations," he said.

Kelly noted that the government has seen the "potential" of artificial intelligence in the public domain application, especially Caddy, an AI customer service assistant developed with the Citizens Advice.

The tool has been adopted by the Cabinet Office team and has been put into use at six citizen consultation centers nationwide. It assists staff in dealing with issues ranging from debt management to legal advice and consumer rights information enquiry. Preliminary tests show that the tool has been able to reduce response time by half.

“The Fellows Program will further expand this impact and develop autonomous capabilities in key areas that the UK must lead – such as national security and critical infrastructure,” Kelly added.

Meta's chief global affairs officer Joel Kaplan said the idea that leveraging open source artificial intelligence tools has the potential to "completely change the way public services are delivered", which is also endorsed by Dr Jean Innes, CEO of the Allen Turing Institute.

"Open source technology has great potential to help governments improve productivity, assist decision-making and provide better public services," Innis said.

“These researcher positions will match AI experts in innovative ways to meet the real-life challenges faced by the public sector.”

With the help of large technology companies

Just a few days after Kelly said the government planned to use the help of large tech companies to promote public service innovation.

At Google Cloud London Summit, Kelly revealed that the government is working with the hyperscale cloud computing service provider to solve the long-standing legacy technical problems in the public sector, and called these systems "a shackle that drags down development."

As part of the cooperation, the government will work with Google Cloud to move various services to the cloud. He noted that the move would make it easier for public sector agencies to adopt cutting-edge technologies and improve operational efficiency.

Since the Labor government came to power in 2024, Kelly has actively advocated strengthening cooperation with large tech companies, and this Google Cloud meeting once again confirmed his determination to stick to this strategy.

"My message about tech companies is clear: bring you the best ideas, the most advanced technology, and provide us with the most reasonable price. In return, you will get the largest customer in the country, an increasingly intelligent and digital customer."

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