AI skills for public servants, tackling fraud in government, and building transformation capability: GGF’s top webinars of 2025
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Global Government Forum’s regular webinars share insight on how governments around the world are tackling the range of issues they face – from undertaking transformation to deliver more responsive services that meet citizen expectations to using artificial intelligence to make government operations more efficient.
Here, we round up some of GGF’s most popular webinars of 2025, providing a chance to revisit the major themes that will continue to be relevant into 2026 and beyond.
Boosting the skills of public servants to use AI
Helping public servants make the most of the potential of artificial intelligence was a key theme in this year’s webinars. One webinar provided a step-by-step guide on how to deploy AI in government. Experts discussed how best to implement artificial intelligence in the public sector, and how civil servants could ready themselves for an AI future, with insights shared by public servants in Canada and the UK. As well as outlining the five-step approach, in one speaker’s words, “really realise the value of artificial intelligence” and create a “protective shield against fear”.
Another GGF webinar examined how cities are using AI to tackle their most pressing problems. AI offers huge potential for local and city governments to improve services for residents and to make operations more efficient. These public service organisations also often have the agility to move faster than their national counterparts, offering early indicators of success and of challenges.
To examine the potential for AI to deliver local services, Global Government Forum convened city and municipal government leaders from Canada, Denmark and the UK. The session focused on use cases and on how local authorities are approaching AI policy to enable safe experimentation and innovation, and speakers also discussed how to cut the time that public servants spend on administrative work through use of AI.
GGF webinars also provided taster training sessions for how to use AI, with one on mastering prompt engineering and another on harnessing agentic AI for the public service.
To make sure that you don’t miss these webinars – or any future webinars – sign up to GGF’s emails, and find out more about the upcoming training courses on mastering prompt engineering and harnessing agentic AI for the public service.
Tackling fraud across government
The threat that public sector organisations face from fraud is growing. In an era when technological advancements are rapidly transforming the landscape, public sector organisations face unprecedented challenges in combating fraud.
Two GGF webinars in 2025 examined how public service organisations can understand the threat they face – and how they can use technology to tackle it.
The first webinar – in June – shared insights from knowledge partner SAS on a survey of public sector agencies that found all agencies expect to see an increase in at least one type of fraud over the next five years.
The session heard from Dina Buse, the deputy director of financial market policy in Latvia’s Ministry of Finance, Shaun Barry, the global director of the risk fraud and compliance division at SAS, and a senior government official from the UK National Cyber Security Centre, and provided insight on how public sector agencies can prepare for AI-powered fraud. They also discussed how public servants can use technology to improve protections.
This webinar informed the GGF research report, supported by SAS, on New strategies for evolving public sector fraud threats: Fighting AI with AI.
The ‘Tackling fraud and error across the entire public sector’ webinar, held in October and supported by knowledge partner Unit4, looked at how government can tackle fraud and error across the full scope of their operations and across different public sector organisations through initiatives like the Public Sector Fraud Authority.
Skills for better government
GGF webinars this year also provided insights on how civil and public servants can improve their work. The ‘Confident decision-making for better outcomes in government’ webinar, supported by knowledge partner SAS, looked at how civil servants can be confident in the decisions they make every day.
From policy officials working to develop responsive services that meet users’ needs, to frontline officials who have to make choices on what tax cases to prioritise, the work of government requires the skills to make effective decisions.
This webinar brought together public servants from around the world to discuss how governments are streamlining the way they work to become more nimble. It looked at how governments are building systems that will provide more effective data on public service delivery – boosting effective decision-making and facilitating action.
The webinar informed GGF’s research report on how to empower public servants to make confident, informed decisions with data and AI. Download the report (Published September 2025).
Another GGF webinar looked at how governments can get the right skills mix they need.
Many services require digitally-savvy public servants to help deliver more citizen-focused services, while there is also a need for leadership and management skills to allow government to become more risk-smart and innovative.
This webinar brought together public servants from across the world to discuss how to build the skills that are needed – from the importance of core skills for civil servants to how government can invest in the skills and talent that they need.
The session also covered how government organisations can assess the skills they have and compare that with the skills they need – and how they can quicken recruitment to match transformation.
Making transformation happen
GGF webinars across 2025 also looked at how governments are working to make services better for users, and how to do so.
One session looked at how to measure – and improve – the citizen experience of government, with a focus on how organisations can understand the effectiveness of government services.
This webinar delved into how governments can best measure the effectiveness of their services, how they can use insights from users to better align services with their needs – and how digital services can be deployed to improve citizens’ experience of government.
Another webinar shared insights from GGF’s major research report Rewiring the State: Unlocking Government Transformation, which is unique in that it is based on interviews with 12 permanent secretaries from the UK’s major departments.
Led by former Cabinet secretary and head of the civil service Lord Gus O’Donnell, the study explores the key enablers to accelerating progress and the barriers that must be tackled if the government is to achieve its goal of “a complete rewiring of the British state” to deliver its priorities. The launch webinar heard directly from Lord O’Donnell and the report authors and knowledge partners Cognizant and Amazon Web Services on how to turn the findings into positive change.
Watch the webinar to find out more about the report, and read the report here.
This article is part of a series looking at GGF’s highlights of 2025. Read the rest of the series here:
Reform, efficiency drives, and overcoming data-sharing dilemmas: we look back at the government trends of 2025
From rewiring the state to making cross-sector collaboration work: GGF’s 2025 research highlights