The Open Innovation Team has launched the AI Adoption Accelerator, a practical programme to help civil servants apply generative AI safely and improve delivery. The offer blends expert‑led guidance with hands‑on coaching to build sustainable capability across departments.
Officials are already experimenting with AI, but uneven results, security concerns and worries about deskilling point to the need for structured support. The Accelerator is positioned to close this gap by focusing on real tasks and building confidence in responsible use.
Support can be commissioned as individual modules or as a package. It spans senior sessions to set guard‑rails and align tools with priorities; facilitated practice on live cases to refine workflows; practical resources on prompting, stakeholder analysis and safe data handling; and two‑day AI Pioneers bootcamps to train internal champions who continue support after the initial engagement.
Early activity with the Department for Education has reported increased confidence and tangible use cases for both policy and operations. Alice Douglas, Deputy Director for Support and Rewarding Teachers and Leaders, said the workshop mirrored day‑to‑day tasks and addressed both opportunities and risks.
GOV.UK records that the page was first published on 25 June 2025 and updated on 23 October 2025 to add an expression‑of‑interest form and an explanatory slide pack. An accompanying overview, Accelerating AI in the Civil Service (14 pages; 791 KB), sets out the approach and examples for teams considering engagement.
For policy professionals, the programme indicates a move from ad‑hoc trials to structured pilots grounded in real workloads. The planning sessions provide a forum to define acceptable uses, data boundaries and success metrics before any wider roll‑out.
Operational leaders should expect measurable workflow changes rather than parallel experiments. Facilitated practice on live cases is designed to test prompt patterns, reduce rework and document new steps so that improvements persist beyond the coaching period.
Risk management features throughout: materials and sessions emphasise safer handling of departmental data and critical review of AI outputs. This directly addresses common concerns around accuracy, confidentiality and the potential erosion of core skills as routine drafting is automated.
Teams interested in support can review the slide pack and submit the online expression‑of‑interest form; the Open Innovation Team will then scope delivery against current policy or operational priorities. Programme elements can be booked individually or sequenced as a multi‑week package.