The Festival of AI in Practice is a week-long virtual event from 26th - 30th January 2026, showcasing how councils are already using AI to improve services, reduce pressure, and rethink how things get done - right across local government.
This isn’t about emerging tech or glossy sales pitches. It’s about councils learning from councils, sharing what’s already happening, what worked, what didn’t, and what others can build on.
You’ll hear how councils are using AI to:
• Triage citizen contact • Speed up assessments • Automate repetitive admin
• Improve access to services • Support overstretched teams • And spark new ways of working
Discover more
about the festival
The programme features a mix of keynote speakers, case studies, panel conversations, and on-demand demos, all designed to spark ideas, save time, and build confidence.
Who is it for?
This is open to anyone working in or with a West Midlands local authority, including:
- Senior leaders and Chief Executives
- Heads of Service and team managers
- HR, OD and workforce professionals
- Digital, data and transformation teams
- Service leads across housing, planning, social care and more
- Elected members
- Curious colleagues with no tech background
Why attend?
AI is no longer a future concept, it’s here, and it’s already reshaping how public services are delivered.
This week is your chance to:
- Discover what others are already doing
- Save time by learning from their experiences
- Connect ideas across service areas
- Understand the risks, guardrails and real potential
- Build confidence
Whether you're leading a service, advising on policy, building solutions, or supporting teams, there's something here for you.
Get your
Festival Pass
Your council will receive:
- A Festival Pass for all shareholder council staff and elected members
- A Festival Map with all session details and links (shared in November)
- A Promo Kit to help spread the word internally
Explore AI FEST!
Click on a pin on the festival map below to discover more about what's happening at AI FEST
Who's already on the line up?
We're adding new sessions every week but here's a sneak peek at what's already confirmed
Session:
Monday 26 January 2026, 10:00–11:00am, Virtual
Title:
MANUAL OVERRIDE 2030 - Leading Humans in an AI World
Session summary: AI is reshaping work, but no one knows how or what will happen this week let alone in 2030. But leaders still need to lead and teams need clarity and confidence now. This session will cover overwhelm, managing tech, connecting with people, intergenerational change and, crucially, creating the space to think deeply.
It will share five models to help you scan the horizon, make human-centred calls and keep confidence high while the tech evolves. It is "compass, not crystal ball": principles, analysis, experiments and skills to create a team that's more in charge of the tech than tangled up in it.
Bio: Christine Armstrong studies the world of work. She writes, researches, speaks and vlogs on what the trends and data tell us is and isn’t working. Ranked 6th among the world’s top 50 Future of Work influencers and named a Top 50 Workplace Leader 2023, Christine writes regularly for national, international and business media and co-founded Jericho Chambers, an early pioneer of flexible and hybrid working.
Her weekly vlog is watched in more than 20 countries, with over 3 million viewers on topics from AI to burnout. She’s also the author of The Mother of All Jobs (Bloomsbury). Christine’s sessions blend data, stories and energy to leave audiences informed, energised and ready to rethink how work works.
Session:
Friday 30 January 2026, 10:00–11:00am, Virtual
Title:
What’s Next for AI in Public Services: Trends, Insight & Readiness
Session summary: In this closing keynote, Heather Murray will shine a spotlight on what’s coming next in AI — beyond tools and hype — with practical insight that councils can use right now. Drawing on her global work across sectors, Heather will explore:
- What leading organisations are already doing with AI
- What questions councils should be asking (and what to be concerned about)
- How to prepare and get curious even if you’re not in the tech team or digital lead
- The realistic opportunities ahead and the human challenges we’ll all face
Attendees will leave with a clearer sense of the landscape, some key ideas to carry into their teams, and the confidence to lean into what’s coming.
Bio: Heather Murray, WME’s very own AI associate, Top 5 MarTech influencer globally, international speaker and Founder of AI for Non-Techies, regularly features in Forbes magazine. Her accessible, jargon-free approach helps people overcome confusion, reluctance and fear when it comes to where to start. Heather has formed powerful working partnerships with the likes of Toyota, Mitsubishi and Salesforce, and drove $75m in client pipeline in 2023, all with the help of AI.
Heather advises clients including the UK Government, BBC, Channel 4, and Google, and offers AI training and consultancy, helping non-technical business leaders and managers integrate generative AI into their roles, businesses, and client offerings. Her goal is to optimise operations and enable scaling in ways that were previously impossible.
She brings 20 years of hands-on marketing and sales experience, backed by a First-Class marketing degree earned as a mature student in 2018. Since the release of ChatGPT in 2022, Heather has dedicated over four hours a day to mastering the tools, trends, and use cases that matter most — especially for those without a tech background.
Session:
Wednesday 28 January 2026, 10:00–11:00am, virtual
Title:
Ethics, Governance & the New Reality of AI in Public Services
Session summary: In this powerful keynote, Jazz Rasool will unpack the often-overlooked question for local government: not just what AI can do, but how we should govern it, who it serves and what risks we still face. Drawing on international insight and decades of leadership development work, he will explore:
- The governance frameworks and ethical guardrails that public services must contend with
- How other sectors are starting to operationalise AI and what local government can borrow
- Key questions councils should be asking now about workforce, accountability and service design
- A forward-looking view of what really matters as AI becomes embedded in everyday services
Attendees will leave with clarity on how to move from curiosity to action, using governance and ethics as enabler not barrier.
Bio: Jazz Rasool is a globally recognised thinker, coach and consultant at the intersection of artificial intelligence, ethics and human potential. With a background in physics and molecular biology, and over 20 years’ experience supporting executives and organisations, Jazz founded his own consultancy and created AI-curated coaching tools and frameworks used across sectors. He serves as research lead in technology-enhanced learning, and his work focuses on how organisations can navigate the complexity of AI governance, human-machine collaboration and digital transformation in an ethical, inclusive and practical way.
What's happening at the campfire?
Date/Time: Thursday 29th January 12pm-1pm
Led by: Pete Jackson and Keymn Whervin WM ADASS
Featuring voices from: Local authorities and citizen contributors In this powerful Campfire Chat, Pete Jackson and Keymn Whervin (WM ADASS) bring together a panel of colleagues and members of the community to explore AI through the lens that matters most - the people we serve.
With the launch of a new AI Playbook co-designed with citizens, this session will explore how local government can ensure AI is developed with communities, not just for them. Expect a grounded, honest conversation about:
• How people with lived experience can shape decisions around AI
• What developers and councils need to consider from the very start
• The risks of exclusion and bias and how to avoid them
• The practical ways to build trust, inclusion and transparency into AI-enabled services This is a session for anyone who wants to make sure the benefits of AI are real, meaningful and equitably felt, especially by those who need our services most.
Bio: Pete Jackson is Improvement Director at West Midlands ADASS, where he leads regional strategies to improve adult social care in partnership with local authorities, health systems, and communities. With extensive experience in transformation, inclusion and system leadership, Pete brings deep insight into how councils can balance innovation with accountability, always keeping the citizen experience at the centre.
Take a look at our Festival Case Studies?
‘Assist’: The AI Writing Assistant Built for Government, by Government
Time/Date: Monday 26th Jan 2-3pm (doors open 1.45pm)
Session Summary: Developed by the Government Communication Service (GCS), Assist is a custom-built AI writing tool designed to help public sector teams produce faster, clearer and more consistent content - aligned with government tone, language and style. In this session, you'll hear how it was developed with public sector needs in mind, how it’s supporting teams across departments, and how risks like accuracy and tone were managed along the way. Perfect for comms teams, customer service leads, content designers, and digital or transformation professionals exploring practical AI tools that improve quality and save time without compromising on trust.
Bio: Abby Wade, Applied Innovation Manager, Cabinet Office - UK Government
Abby leads the development and scaling of 'Assist', a multi-award-winning AI tool transforming government communications. Alongside driving broader AI and data driven innovation across government communications, Abby is at the forefront of implementing cutting-edge technologies that enhance how the government connects with citizens whilst maintaining the highest ethical standards.
With over six years as a Government Digital and Data professional in the Civil Service, Abby has delivered modernisation of the criminal justice system through strategic technology adoption, including the application of artificial intelligence. She brings deep expertise in translating complex AI capabilities into practical solutions, understanding both the transformative potential and the ethical responsibilities that come with deploying AI in the public sector. A professional member of the British Computing Society and with certification in Scrum Product Management, she combines technical expertise with proven delivery methodologies
Transforming Customer Service with AI: The Birmingham Approach
Time/Date: Tuesday 27th January 2-3pm (doors open 1.45pm)
Sheraz is driving large-scale innovation using AI, automation, and digital platforms, helping one of the country’s biggest councils moderniseat speed while improving citizen outcomes and experience.
In this session, Sheraz Yaqub shares how Birmingham City Council is using AI to reshape the way residents interact with local government. From voice and chatbot platforms to redesigned, automated workflows, you’ll hear how Birmingham is making AI work for people, not just systems. This session will be especially valuable for anyone in customer service, digital transformation, or service design, with practical insight on:
• Boosting accessibility and experience at scale
• Using AI to reduce pressure on frontline services
•Navigating the risks and realities of data-sensitive automation
Rolling Out Magic Notes in Social Care – A Real-World Pilot Neil Hammond, Making Prevention Real Programme Officer
Time/Date: Thursday 29th Jan 2-3pm (doors open 1.45pm)
In this honest and practical session, Telford and Wrekin Council shares their experience piloting and rolling out Magic Notes — an AI-powered note-taking and knowledge hub tool — within adult social care.
You’llhear what it took to move from cautious curiosity to live use and roll out, including how they navigated risks, responded to staff concerns, and worked through the real-world challenges of aligning AI tools with data governance and multi-agency environments. This isn’t just about efficiency, though they’ll share early indicators of that too.
It’s about:
• Improving the quality and consistency of notes
• Reducing duplication and admin
• Supporting more ‘present’ frontline practice where practitioners can prioritise conversation over transcription
• And enabling staff to instantly draw on a trusted knowledge base, with content rooted in the council’s own policies and materials, ensuring accuracy and confidence at the point of use
Whether you're exploring AI in adult services, testing note-taking tools, or thinking about how sensitive data, human-centred care and AI can come together, this is going to help.
Get your
Festival Pass
Your council will receive:
- A Festival Pass for all shareholder council staff and elected members
- A Festival Map with all session details and links (shared in November)
- A Promo Kit to help spread the word internally
All you need to do is choose the sessions that matter to you, and dial in.
No pressure to attend everything. No tech knowledge required. Just insight, ideas and practical learning from people like you.
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