Overview

• The Alan Turing Institute has opened applications for ten 12-month fellowships funded by Meta, with placements set to begin in early 2026.
• Fellows will be embedded in government departments to develop open-source tools for tasks including classified document translation, planning approvals, emergency response support and administrative automation.
• The scheme aligns with the Prime Minister’s AI maker not a taker strategy and builds on prototypes like Caddy, which halved call waiting times at Citizens Advice.
• A parallel Google Cloud partnership will provide free cloud and AI services to public bodies such as the NHS.
• Observers warn that reliance on Meta’s Llama model raises concerns over true openness, potential vendor lock-in, data privacy and regional skill disparities.