Highlights from working with public servants to make our governments smarter

1. 250,000 inspiring public servants are now sharing and learning on Apolitical.

Some of the smartest, busiest public servants and policymakers in the world still find the time to share best practice and answer questions for others, in their backyard and on the other side of the world. Thank you for supporting the global public service!

2. Governments around the world helped scale the Government Climate Campus – which was named one of Fast Company’s World Changing Ideas 2024 and nominated for the Earthshot Prize.

Since its launch last year, the Climate Campus has trained more than 70,000 public servants in Brazil, South Africa, the USA and the UAE. We are partnering with these and other governments to support the implementation of their climate policies. 

3. American public servants told us they wanted ‘Apolitical America’. We listened and opened an office in DC.

We officially opened Apolitical’s office in Washington DC, and welcomed digital government expert Cori Zarek as Vice President for North America to reflect our growing community, partnerships and impact in the US and Canada.

4. The World Bank asked us to collaborate on co-hosting the 2024 Public Administration Global Forum, bringing global insights from our community.

In May, we co-hosted this prestigious event with the World Bank to explore the role of transformative governance in building sustainable and liveable environments across the globe. A stand-out meeting was with the visionary head of India’s Capacity Building Commission. We’re honoured to now be working with the CBC.

5. Public servants have less and less time for learning. So we built an AI assistant to help them learn smarter, and faster.

We launched an AI Course Assistant on select courses. The Assistant is trained on the course content and provides summaries and feedback to learners. The Course Assistant has already answered thousands of questions as public servants become more comfortable safely integrating AI into their work.

6. The best things in governments are often powered by communities. So we created Communities to give them a home online.

Nothing in government is done alone, and the most effective policy design and implementation is often supported by connected, collaborative communities. Our Communities of Practice are vibrant, helpful spaces where public servants around the world can connect, share and learn. Our AI in Government community has over 5,000 members already and there are new Communities being launched all the time! Got a question? Join 12,500 other public servants and ask it in one of our 40+ Communities. Have a community that needs a home? Let us know. 

7. Every public servant, everywhere in the world, wants to learn about AI. Designed with and for governments, the Government AI Campus began training 1 million public servants.

Nearly 70% of public servants are already using AI. But only 15% have received training. This year, the Government AI Campus launched the 'AI Fundamentals for Public Servants: Opportunities, Risks and Strategies' course,  powered by content from Stanford Online. We’re expanding the AI Campus through five new courses, convenings and briefings for senior decision-makers, a thought leadership series, and new tools and frameworks for governments, supported by a $5 million grant from Google.org. We’re also adapting the AI Campus content to different country contexts, partnering with government ministries in key regions, including translation into 10 languages, and we launched the Government AI 100, showcasing 100 visionaries working on AI from around the world.

8. In an increasingly virtual world, in-person time is precious. So we held the very first Apolitical Day, bringing together the public servants who inspire us.

Apolitical Day brought together more than 100 global thought leaders to explore the most pressing challenges facing government today — from AI to climate change to political leadership in a rapidly evolving world. We’re already excited for Apolitical Day 2025!

9. Learning from AI, governments want to be prepared for the next technology wave. So we launched the Emerging Technologies Campus.

We announced the Government Campus for Emerging Technologies, created to close the urgent knowledge gap that exists globally for public servants. Apolitical is already developing a “Quantum Computing for Policymakers” course, which will launch in 2025, in collaboration with Google Quantum AI and featuring voices from governments leading the way on quantum development. Future target courses include space, synthetic biology and geoengineering. 

10. We grew our team

We welcomed new hires to our engineering and partnerships teams, and we’re excited to build on 2024’s successes to bring you a bigger and better Apolitical!

💜 Thank you - to you!

As we wrap up this momentous year, we want to express our gratitude to every single one of you. Thank you for working with us to make governments smarter to deliver for people and the planet.