One Big Thing 2026 - AI in Action

One Big Thing is back for 2026! 

One Big Thing is an annual initiative that drives upskilling and culture change through collective action on a single, shared priority, across the Civil Service. It’s about investing in equipping every civil servant with the skills, knowledge, and tools to deliver excellent outcomes for the public.

Following on from the success of last year’s One Big Thing – ‘AI for All’ , we are continuing the focus on AI, with the theme being ‘AI in Action’! 

Why AI in Action?

The potential of AI to transform public services is enormous, allowing us to deliver better, faster, and more innovatively for the public, and build a Civil Service fit for the future.

Across the Civil Service, we are already transforming ways of working by using AI, enabling civil servants to free up valuable time to dedicate to meaningful work, and carry out our roles effectively and efficiently.

Last year, a record-breaking 221,000 civil servants took part in One Big Thing. Through training and local activities, we built practical understanding for using AI safely and responsibly, explored real-world case studies, practiced our skills through guided exercises and explored the implications of AI in specific work contexts.

One Big Thing 2026 is about building on this foundation and turning our focus to the practical application of AI in daily work. Whether in policy, communications, corporate services or operational delivery, there are real opportunities to use AI to work smarter and deliver better outcomes for the people and communities we serve.

How can I get involved? 

One Big Thing 2026 launches in Autumn. Civil servants should keep an eye out for updates to this page, via central communications and on their departmental intranets.

In the meantime, last year’s ‘AI for All’ training continues to be live on Civil Service Learning. 

You can also access AI resources including prompting guidance, ‘how-to’ guides and more on the I.AI Knowledge Hub.