All adults in the UK are eligible to take a new benchmarked course for free to learn practical AI skills for their jobs. This comes as a joint government-industry program is set to expand significantly to upskill 10 million workers.
To make the UK the first country in the G7 to adopt AI, the UK has set ambitious targets to ensure its workforce is well-skilled for AI opportunities. This has the potential to create more high-skilled jobs and free up workers from day-to-day tasks.
Industry-developed selection A.I. Newly available for government courses A.I. Matched with Skills Hub, Skills England A.I. Basic skills for benchmarking your work. Completing these courses will give you virtual skills. A.I. Foundation badge.
Available online to all UK adults, this course takes less than 20 minutes to develop the skills needed to effectively use simple AI tools in the workplace, teaching you how to use AI for tasks such as drafting text, creating content and completing administrative tasks, freeing up your time to focus on other tasks.
This training aims to give both workers and employers confidence in their new skills and set the standard for what good AI upskilling looks like.
NHS workers and local civil servants will also benefit. The recruitment of key public sector, business representative organizations and industry partners, including the NHS, the UK’s largest employer, will enable the Government to meet its target of reaching 10 million workers this decade. This equates to upskilling almost a third of the country’s workforce and includes reaching at least 2 million small business employees.
Recognizing that AI will transform work and work as we know it, the Technology Secretary is also launching a new AI and the Future of Work Department to stay at the forefront of tackling the inevitable challenges.
Supported by a panel of experts from business and trade unions, the department will aim to provide the best analysis and evidence on the impact of AI on the economy and labor market, and provide timely advice on when new policies should be implemented across government. We can ensure that the transition to AI drives economic growth, supports worker adaptation, protects communities from the mistakes of past industrial changes, and provides a future of fair and dignified work for all, where people are supported to get better jobs in more productive economies.
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Liz Kendall, Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, said: “We want AI to work for Britain, and that means enabling Britons to work with AI.”
“Change is inevitable, but the consequences of change are not. We will protect people from the risks of AI while ensuring everyone shares in its benefits.”
“It starts with giving people the skills and confidence they need to seize the opportunities presented by AI, and putting power and control in their hands.”
New partners joining the initiative include the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), Cisco, Cognizant, Confederation of British Industry (CBI), Department for Education (DfE), Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), Institute of Directors (IOD) – Local Government Association (LGA), Multiverse, NHS, Pax8 and techUK to upskill even more workers with AI.
These companies join founding partners Accenture, Amazon, Barclays, BT, Google, IBM, Intuit, Microsoft, Sage, SAS, and Salesforce to take the AI Skills Boost program to the next level and upskill 10 million employees with AI skills by 2030.
