The public sector holds enormous potential for the use of artificial intelligence, which is also recognized and supported by the government. To realize this potential, however, it is imperative that civil servants have the necessary knowledge to recognise and optimally exploit the application and utilisation possibilities of AI. Massive open online courses (MOOC) are a promising way to help civil servants gain that required knowledge. But how can such a course be designed to become accepted by this target group? In this paper, we present a human-centered development approach to develop a MOOC about AI for civil servants. Using an analysis of the target audience’s mental models, knowledge needs, and attitudes, we iteratively developed short learning units that ground the abstract AI topics in concrete case scenarios taken from the public sector. First results of an expert evaluation (expertise in adult education, public sector, and AI) look promising and further evaluations with the target group are planned.