Building the UK's AI workforce

Alexia Pedersen at O’Reilly describes how industry needs to build a future-ready workforce to keep pace with 2024 AI investments

The UK has firmly placed its stake in the ground in establishing the nation as a global AI superpower, following the first-ever global conference for AI Safety being hosted in Bletchley Park. It appears that company leaders feel the same, with nearly half of senior leaders agreeing that generative AI will impact their bottom line in 2024. 

While companies shouldn’t shy away from generative AI investments, they should empower their workforce to learn how to use them effectively and accurately. 

Given the speed and scale of generative AI, which has seen a more rapid adoption than any other technology in recent history, next year both companies and individuals must embrace new learning opportunities. For companies, increased focus on learning and development (L&D) will help to build a future-ready workforce; for individuals, it’s a way to stay future-ready themselves. Let’s dive into what best practice should look like in 2024. 

Workplace skills lag behind AI investments 

Our latest Generative AI in the Enterprise report found that a growing number of businesses are now going all-in on generative AI. In fact, two-thirds (67%) of technology professionals reported that their companies are currently using generative AI. Moreover, our UK-specific research indicates that more than two in five (44%) IT professionals say their company has plans to spend £25,001–£50,000 on generative AI solutions in the next 12 months alone.

Business leaders are clearly going full steam ahead with generative AI investments, which is understandable given its potential to drive growth, optimise operations and deliver exceptional customer experiences that set their organisation apart from the competition. 

Yet, we cannot ignore that a significant number (93%) of UK IT professionals are concerned with their C-suite’s ambitions for the use of generative AI tools, with workplace policies and training opportunities for staff failing to keep pace. 

Even with the UK government’s National AI Strategy to boost business use of AI and develop the next generation of tech talent, a lack of AI-related training for all employees emerged as a major concern. According to IT teams, staff outside of IT departments have been provided limited (32%) or no training opportunities at all (36%) about how generative AI will impact the workplace. 

As a result, more than a quarter (27%) of IT professionals identified the lack of training for employees as one of their biggest concerns around AI adoption, which is on par with their fears of more advanced cybersecurity threats posed by such technologies. 

Increased learning and development (L&D) opportunities will be pivotal in bridging the skills gap here – ensuring companies can continue to invest in AI tools but with greater assurance that deployments will be ethical and safe. But what should this look like in practice?

Future-proofing the workforce 

Generative AI, hailed as one of the most disruptive technologies since the smartphone, is expected to have wide-ranging effects on the workplace. As a result, employees are keen to invest time in their development and take on new opportunities that provide growth opportunities.

Looking at IT teams specifically, the majority (82%) of staff want more AI-related L&D opportunities to help advance their current roles. In fact, they feel so passionately about it that more than two in five (43%) IT employees have sought external training opportunities over the last 12 months, and a similar amount (61%) are considering moving companies over the next 12 months if their employer fails to provide upskilling opportunities around generative AI.

Clearly, if employers want to recruit and retain the best talent, they need to play their part in facilitating the continuous learning journey. Creating a culture of continuous learning will encourage employees to take on new challenges, seek out opportunities for growth and share their knowledge with others. 

To bridge the gap between learning and day-to-day responsibilities, employers can offer ‘in the flow of work’ learning opportunities. This concept was coined by Josh Bersin to describe a paradigm in which employees learn something new, quickly apply it and return to their work in progress. 

It’s different from traditional learning approaches like attending a seminar or conference. These learning formats are effective, but many employees simply don’t have the time to devote to them or they prefer to learn at a time that suits them best. 

Instead, it entails providing employees with tools that allow them to quickly find contextually relevant answers to their questions at a time that suits their schedule. Companies can offer ‘in the flow of work’ learning opportunities via an L&D partner to tailor materials to an individual’s unique learning style and objectives. 

In 2024, successful integration of generative AI solutions will require more than just deploying cutting-edge tools. Instead, companies must provide a continuous learning approach that focuses on equipping employees with the skills and mindset needed to leverage these technologies effectively.

Companies must ensure that staff are adequately trained and that robust workplace policies are in place to support innovation, which will be an effective strategy for improved recruitment and retention in the face of a widening skills gap. After all, a highly skilled workforce will be critical for the UK to deliver on its ambitions to become a global leader in AI.  

Alexia Pedersen is VP EMEA at O’Reilly

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