Alan Turing Institute fellowship programme boosted by $1m from Meta

Building on the CustomerFirst unit, which was unveiled last week, the UK government has announced that Meta is investing $1m through the Alan Turing Institute (ATI) to boost public sector artificial intelligence (AI) expertise.

Led by Tristan Thomas, formerly of Monzo, and Greg Jackson, CEO of Octopus Energy, CustomerFirst’s goal is to bring together the best civil service operators and leading private sector disruptors and transformation specialists. The plan is to use CustomerFirst expertise to rewire government services, making use of AI and best practices from the private sector.

The investment in the ATI’s latest fellowship programme aligns with the government’s ambition to build AI expertise in the public sector, supported by the private sector.

Mark Girolami, acting CEO and chief scientist at the Alan Turing Institute, said: “AI has huge potential to help us anticipate risks, improve decision-making and boost productivity, strengthening the UK’s resilience and prosperity. The new fellows will play an important role in putting effective AI tools into the hands of our public servants to realise these benefits.”

In July 2025, during his tenure as secretary of state at the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), business and trade minister Peter Kyle called on the Alan Turing Institute to concentrate on developing a coherent programme of work that furthers the government’s defence, national security and sovereign ambitions.

This led the institute to streamline its strategic focus, resulting in the closure, spinning out or completion of 78 research projects that did not align with its new strategic direction.

Overall, it now focuses on supporting government AI initiatives and national security. Among these is a transport project, which is seeking to develop AI models that will analyse images and videos to enable councils to prioritise infrastructure repairs more effectively. This project appears to be more aligned with Labour’s stated plans to showcase the deployment of AI to improve the efficiency of public services.

Rob Sherman, deputy chief privacy officer for policy at Meta, said: “Advanced AI is already woven into daily life – powering the UK’s economy, driving innovation and enhancing quality of life for citizens. By placing AI experts at the heart of government institutions, we’re accelerating meaningful change and ensuring these benefits reach everyone.” 

Discussing the fellowship programme at the ATI, minister for data and modern digital government Ian Murray said: “Having met the fellows, I know they will play a pivotal role in rewiring our healthcare, police, transport systems and more, to make sure hardworking people benefit from the opportunities that only technologies like AI can deliver.”

Along with Meta, the government has also unveiled a partnership with Anthropic to help build and pilot a dedicated assistant tool for public services. The AI assistant will support people through crucial life moments, starting with job seekers, for whom it will provide custom career advice and help to lock down a job.

Anthropic said the partnership with the UK government demonstrates how frontier AI can be deployed safely for the public benefit, setting the standard for how governments integrate AI into the services their citizens depend on.