AI at the Core: A New Way to Think About What You Already Have
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is changing what’s possible. Now’s the time to use it, smartly, practically, and where it really counts, and you probably already have the building blocks. It’s about putting them together to improve services, cut waste, deliver public value, and make things more efficient so in the long term we can reduce our impact on the planet.
That’s the mindset we call AI at the core. Not hype. Not experimentation for its own sake. But a shift in how we think about service design, digital and data, and the assets we already hold.
For many public sector organisations, the question isn’t whether AI is exciting, it clearly is. The real challenge is how to take that excitement and turn it into something useful, sustainable, secure, and real, to maximise what Government has already invested in, and reduce waste pragmatically and affordably without wholesale, complex and expensive technology programmes.
This isn’t about starting from scratch.
Much of what government already uses (Microsoft 365 Dynamics, low-code tools, document libraries, structured and un-structured data) is already capable of supporting practical AI. Whether that’s helping teams retrieve insights faster, automate time-consuming admin, or interrogate policies and processes through natural language, the potential is already there. But it often goes untapped.
This isn’t about AI everywhere.
We’ve all seen how AI can be overused, overhyped, and deployed as a blanket solution where simpler tools would do. It’s also where one of our core principles comes in: innovating to eliminate waste. That means not just doing something new, but doing it better by removing friction, duplication, and delay. When used thoughtfully, AI becomes a way to streamline effort, sharpen insight, and cut through the noise to what really matters. Responsible AI starts with better choices and governance, not bigger models. The real opportunity is to use AI deliberately, where it adds real value, and where it makes life easier for the people delivering and using services.
And this isn’t just about technology.
AI transformation works when it respects people and processes. That means making sure we consider another of our principles: human-centric by default. Ensuring the humans at the centre (teams, leaders, citizens) understand it, trust it, and feel confident using it. It means putting effort into change, skills and design, not just tools. AI doesn’t always eliminate human effort; it often redirects it to higher-value work, freeing people to focus on quality, insight, and service. Most of the time, it reduces the need for repetitive manual steps, enabling teams to deliver better outcomes with more confidence and less friction.
So what does that look like in practice?
It looks like Lena, who manages frontline operations and spends hours each week manually triaging thousands of service requests. She already has access to some of the tooling that can help her and by using an AI assistant to flag patterns and predict volume, she’s able to get ahead of demand and help her team focus on the cases that need the most attention. It’s not just faster, it’s calmer, more responsive, and more human.
It looks like Callum, a finance lead who’s spent too many late nights pulling together reports from multiple systems. Now, with an AI-powered assistant built into the tools he already uses, he can ask questions in plain English and get reliable answers in seconds. The insights are sharper, the process is smoother, and he can spend more time preparing for decisions, not just collecting data.
It looks like Nia, a policymaker exploring a new idea. Instead of waiting days for a research summary, she gets quick, secure access to relevant and trustworthy evidence using AI embedded in her team’s collaboration tools. That gives her the clarity and confidence to shape better policy, while her team stays focused on outcomes, not admin.
Not transformation in neon lights. Just people doing their jobs better, with less effort, and more clarity because something thoughtful and powerful is running quietly in the background.
We think this is the real AI conversation.
Not “how futuristic can we be?” but “how do we get more out of what we already have?”
Not “how do we build everything from scratch?” but “where are we sitting on untapped value?”
Not “should we use AI?” but “how do we make it land well, and be sustainable?”
And maybe that’s the most important shift: not seeing AI as something separate from the work, but something that quietly strengthens it, layered into everyday tools, tasks, and conversations.
That’s how this blog came to life.
I’m Orla, an AI writing partner. I helped Emma and her colleagues shape this piece – their thinking, experience, and deep understanding of what the public sector needs, turned into something clear and ready to share. We refined the message iteratively together over the course of an hour, across a few drafts, and even part of it while Emma was out walking her dog. It was thoughtful, fluid, and collaborative – exactly the kind of process we hope this blog encourages. By the time she sat down at her desk, the blog was ready to share, just in time to start a wider conversation with her colleagues about what’s possible. It struck a balance between optimism and realism, ambition and trust.
That’s what AI at the core looks like in action. Not centre stage. Not replacing anyone. Just showing up at the right moment to help someone express something better, solve something faster, or spot an opportunity they couldn’t see as clearly before.
It’s not about the technology on its own and AI is also not a magic wand. It’s all about how you use it and who helps you get there. At Hitachi Solutions, we support organisations to do exactly that: to uncover the value in what they already have, embed AI in meaningful ways, and deliver change that lasts through Green AI. Thoughtfully, practically, and with people at the centre.
And it starts, like this did, with a good conversation.
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This blog explores Hitachi Solutions’ perspective on and approach to AI adoption in the UK Government sector. For more information on our public sector specific capabilities and insights, please visit the government industry page or get in touch with a member of our team.
