A new AI Accelerator Programme has been launched today, aiming to train data scientists across the civil service to become AI specialists.
The “bootcamp” will take forward the prime minister’s goal of doubling the number of digital experts in government departments by 2030, in a bid to fix public services and drive growth.
The 12-week programme will “upskill droves of data scientists across the public sector into in-demand machine learning engineers”, according to a joint statement from AI and digital government minister Feryal Clark, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and Government Digital Service.
Bringing together participants from several government departments and agencies, including the Welsh Government, the Scottish Government, Ministry of Justice, UK Health and Security Agency and Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency, will allow officials to work on cross-cutting projects in a bid to drive efficiency, the statement says.
The programme promises to “train up 25 machine learning engineers through hackathons, where the coders will help tackle live government challenges”.
In an announcement earlier this month, the PM set out his intention to find £45bn in productivity savings from AI and digital technology, and to trim down the “flab” from the civil service. "If we push forward with digital reform of government, and we are going to do that, we can make massive savings,” Starmer said. “And AI is a golden opportunity for efficiency."
Feryal Clark said today that although changes have started to take shape around the way people interact with the state – such as AI chatbots and “tools to help get the views of citizens on policy proposals much more quickly” – there is much more that can be achieved with the help of AI.
“There is no reason people shouldn’t expect the same experience from public services as they get from the most innovative businesses,” Clark said. “By building AI skills across government, we’ll be able to deliver just that – all while finding efficiencies and transforming services.”
The programme has been designed to address the ethics of AI as well as providing the tools to drive efficiencies and savings, according to today’s statement. “Learners will explore the frameworks needed to ensure that AI technologies are used responsibly and ethically within public services,” it said. “This includes tackling issues like transparency, accountability, and bias.”
Issues around ethics were highlighted by officials who are starting on the programme today, including a DVLA participant who said: “It will be fantastic to collaborate with other data scientists across the civil service to produce machine learning models that are streamlined, responsible, effective, and explainable.”
This was echoed by a data scientist from UKHSA, who said: “There is so much potential to use AI to improve how we work in my agency and in healthcare more widely.” The UKHSA official hoped to learn “how to manage data safely and be transparent in our work”.
The AI Accelerator Programme is being delivered with Decoded, a training company specialising in building AI skills. Richard Peters, Decoded's chief exec, said: “This initiative will empower civil servants with the skills to effectively implement AI solutions, helping government departments unlock the power of data to improve services, decision-making, and security.”