One Big Thing 2025 - ‘AI for All’ is live. This year’s initiative is about all civil servants becoming more confident and responsible users of AI.
AI is already transforming how we serve the public, with real, tangible benefits. Whether that’s making services accessible at a fraction of the cost, speeding up life-saving decisions in healthcare, or handling repetitive, time-consuming tasks so that we can spend more time doing the things only we can do - engaging with people, innovating, making strategic decisions, and delivering the services AI can’t. Our research shows that only 28% of civil servants feel confident using AI at work; so ‘AI for All’ is here to change that!
Taking part in One Big Thing 2025 will help civil servants build foundational knowledge of AI and learn from examples of impactful AI use from across the Civil Service and beyond. We must also learn to use AI responsibly, and the One Big Thing training will cover this.
How to take part if you are a civil servant
- Visit your department’s One Big Thing hub - Check your intranet to understand your department’s tailored user journey for One Big Thing, what tools you have access to, and the guidelines for using them.
- Start the training - You can access the One Big Thing courses via your Civil Service Learning account. The learning is designed to be bite-sized, with four 15-minute modules. You can stop and start at any point and break the learning up into smaller chunks rather than complete it in one go.
- Take part in departmental activities: Each department will be running its own tailored activities to help you understand implications and applications in your local context, collaborate with others, and hear from leaders and experts.
How are public servants already using AI?
AI is making information easier to find. GOV.UK Chat is a pilot tool that uses relevant website content to generate responses, aiming to simplify navigation across more than 700,000 pages on GOV.UK and help users find the information they need. Feedback from testing with hundreds of users suggested a preference for GOV.UK Chat over traditional search and navigation methods. This highlighted the convenience of direct question-answering systems, particularly for users with more complex questions.
● AI is enabling a better standard of teaching. A centralised content store including guidance, lesson plans, and anonymised pupil assessments is being used to train AI models to produce high-quality, accurate, and legally compliant educational tools tailored to schools. 16 education technology providers are using the content store to develop AI-powered tools for teachers, supported by £1 million in Innovate UK funding. Early tests by the Department for Education show that supplying generative AI models with targeted educational data can increase accuracy to 92%, compared to 67% without such data.
● AI is driving innovation in healthcare, with the ultimate goal of improving patient outcomes and enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of the NHS. An example is a world-leading trial to tackle breast cancer to research how multiple cutting-edge AI tools can be used in the breast cancer screening pathway, with almost 700,000 women across the country taking part. If the trial is successful, it could free up hundreds of radiologists and other specialists to see more patients. This will help tackle rising cancer rates, save more lives, and cut waiting lists.
● AI is facilitating collaboration and reducing duplication. The NHS user research finder allows users to both upload and search for user research. User research is summarised using a large language model (LLM), with summaries reviewed and edited by users. This makes user research more easily findable and visible. It can save considerable time for user researchers and minimise the risk that relevant user research is neglected or work is duplicated.
● Secure, bespoke tools are empowering civil servants to be even more efficient and effective in their roles by helping to brainstorm, create first drafts, and review work. For example, the Government Communication Service developed ‘Assist’ - a tool built by government communicators, for government communicators. Over 5,800 communicators are now using Assist, with users saving 3 hours a week on average. This is equivalent to annual productivity savings of over £7.5 million.
● AI is helping make public services more inclusive and cost-effective. For example, Swindon Borough Council is using Simply Readable, an AI-powered tool to generate Easy-Read documents. Co-created with residents with learning disabilities, it features larger fonts, clear language, increased spacing, and supporting visuals to meet real user needs. This reduced the cost of creating 5-10 page documents from £600 to circa 7-10 pence.
● It’s making services easier to access. Limbic Access is an AI-powered chatbot that streamlines the referral process for NHS talking therapies. Excellent results included a 30% increase in the number of patients completing their referral process, assessment time reduced by 23.5% and an 18% decrease in the number of patients dropping out of treatment.
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