AI for All

And the Human Intelligence Behind It

Why the future of government innovation depends on how we learn, not just what we learn, and how Hacking For programmes build AI literacy, application, and leadership.

This year’s ‘AI for All’ initiative arrives at a moment when the Civil Service must learn faster, innovate confidently, and deliver complex public services with limited resource. Across government, AI has shifted from an emerging possibility to an everyday expectation, and the challenge now is how to build the human capability required to use it responsibly and effectively.

Our Hacking for Transport pilot shows what that capability looks like in practice. By engaging students directly with Department for Transport policy teams, the programme created a safe, structured environment for experimentation, deep discovery, and ethical adaptation. Instead of starting with tools, teams began with people and problems; using AI only were it sharpened insight or strengthened understanding. The article explores how H4Transport advances the three pillars of AI for All: literacy, by helping civil servants ask better questions of their data; application, through hands-on exploration of complex challenges; and leadership, by grounding technology decisions in evidence and public needs. The programme demonstrates that meaningful AI adoption is not a technical upgrade, but a human one rooted in curiosity, collaboration and learning at pace.