Meta launches new fellowship for AI experts to work with the UK government

Meta teamed up with the UK government to launch a new AI fellowship program for AI experts to work in government departments.

Image depicting artificial intelligence — *Image by cottonbro studio via Pixabay*

Meta has joined hands with the UK government and the Alan Turing Institute to announce the Open Source AI Fellowship. The company is pumping $1 million to fund the fellowship aimed at placing UK AI experts within government departments to solve challenges in the public sector and boost productivity.

Fellows will work on a variety of high-impact use cases, such as translating languages in a national security context or speeding up the home approval process by making efficient use of construction planning data.

AI experts can also help expand the "Humphrey" bundle of AI tools that the UK government launched this year to take meeting notes, analyze public consultation responses, and perform other tasks.

They will work on AI systems that can support NHS staff or emergency responders during power outages or network failures by operating fully offline. However, a focus of the initiative is that fellows deployed across government departments will have to use open-source AI models.

Unlike proprietary ‘closed’ models, the design of open source models is publicly shared, allowing others to study, use, modify, and/or distribute them, according to the British think tank Social Market Foundation (SMF). SMF released a joint report with Meta earlier this month, arguing for greater use of open-source AI models in the public sector.

"Importantly, anything built through the program using open source models is government-owned, so sensitive government data sets can remain within the government, models can be freely adapted to the government’s needs, and they are not tied into contracts or systems provided by closed AI model providers," Meta said in a press release.

While governments are catching up with the fast pace of technology, they might still deal with outdated workflows or a lack of innovation and technical expertise. The UK government estimates that using open source AI models could save taxpayer money and help unlock up to £45 billion (approx. $60.6 billion) in productivity gains across the public sector.

The Open Source AI Fellowship will start in January 2026 and will last for 12 months. The Alan Turing Institute will manage it, and the applications will be live next week.