Artificial intelligence (AI) is a rapidly growing technology, becoming more embedded in society and business every day, but is the world ready for such rapid adoption?

Calling AI skills adoption in the tech sector a “paradox”, David Savage, group technology evangelist at Harvey Nash parent company Nash Squared, pointed to Harvey Nash research to highlight the gap between the rising demand for AI skills and the lagging behind of organisations in providing them.

Presenting the most recent of Harvey Nash’s Tech Flix documentaries, titled The AI skills paradox, Savage said there has been an 82% year-on-year (YoY) rise in demand for AI skills, but “while demand is skyrocketing, less than half the organisations we talked to are investing in their people”.

The AI skills divide

There is already a divide when it comes to AI skills, with access to AI depending in many cases on salary, gender and company size, affecting who develops AI skills or takes part in training – and without proceeding with caution, this divide is only set to widen.

“There’s still a big gap between government, industry and the lived reality that many of us have,” said Savage. “AI is an everywhere tech rapidly reshaping just about every business function. Without fundamental AI literacy, we really do run the risk of leaving so many people behind.”

The UK government has been attempting to develop an AI-ready population through initiatives such as its AI Skills Boost programme, which aims to upskill 10 million workers in AI by 2030.

According to Laura Gilbert, senior director of AI at the Tony Blair Institute, this is not a situation where we can “wait and see”, adding: “There’s no reason to think that AI, if you just ‘wait and see’, won’t deepen the digital divide. There’s no particular reason to think that if you wait, the people on the ‘not have’ side of it will just be magically swept up and supported. We will have to make active choices, provide opportunities and build solutions that are accessible to those people.”

While many may see AI accessibility as an ethical issue, Gilbert said it is a concern of “national growth” as people’s overall wellbeing improves and the UK is more likely to prosper if the population is educated in AI skills.

While developing government policies aiming for this future plays a part, Gilbert puts the onus on technologist and consumers themselves to aim for a future where the digital divide is lessened and instead technologies are used to level the playing field.

“[There’s] a real responsibility on us as technologists and on the consumer to build technology that creates the future that we want, and to reject the things we think are bad for us,” she added.

Developing understanding

But to build with the “intent” that Gilbert urged, organisations need to know what they’re doing.

Phillip White, managing director of Audacia, claimed one of the biggest issues with AI adoption is around people assuming AI is “one thing” when in reality it is “a multifaceted technology, and there’s a combination of the drive to AI being a big fear of missing out coupled with a big push from vendors” without thinking of AI’s capabilities.

When looking at some of the places in an organisation where AI can be most helpful, White said many marketing tasks can be automated to produce outcomes faster, but automating tasks poses a risk of skills displacement.

The fear that technology will replace certain roles is nothing new, with White pointing out the “skills at risk of AI” are different now than they were five or 10 years ago. Worryingly, there’s a risk of automation replacing more junior members of an organisation, making it more difficult for young people to enter the world of work.

White said: “A job of a responsible employer is to do the best for the career path of any individual that works for them. So yes, employers have a duty of care to support people in what will be a big shift in the workforce over the next five-to-10 years.”

Arguing against a future where junior positions are on the decline, Josh Nesbit, CTO of Genio, claimed that investing in future talent is more important than ever, and one of the ways people can future-proof themselves is by focusing on soft skills – especially where AI, in some cases, doesn’t require a “technical skillset”.

“I don’t think you can afford to not invest in that more junior starting skillset within an organisation, or otherwise we’re going to have big issue with top heavy senior talent with no one to support the work after that,” he added.

The evolving world of work

Like with any push for technology skills, there’s an entire pipeline to consider – children need to be trained not only to use the technology as consumers in their day-to-day lives but also to take on a tech role in the future, while those already in technology roles need to develop an understanding of how to deploy AI.

There are two avenues to consider – roles developing AI and the people using it, either for work or in their personal lives.

Addressing some of the issues earlier in the pipeline, Nicky Danino, head of the School of Computing and creative industries at Leeds Trinity University, claimed the education centres build skills into their courses regardless of whether those courses are fundamentally technical, which is done to ensure students are prepared for what may lie ahead.

As an example, even photography, psychology or English courses should include essential information about the use of AI, she said, adding: “It’s not going to be the same level as somebody who is on a computer science course, but we know that there’s a minimum level of knowledge and awareness that students need.” 

The university includes the concept of “responsible computing” in all of its computing courses to ensure future technologists consider what they should make, not just what they can make.

But at an employee level, Justine Nixon-Saintil, chief impact officer at IBM, said that IBM’s own research found that half of workers currently “don’t have even the basic tech skills they need to be upskilled in AI” and nearly 40% of current skills could be outdated in the next five years.

IBM has its own upskilling goals over the next five years, both for AI skills and other digital skills, to ensure people at all levels have the tech skills to match the future working climate.

While Harvey Nash’s research poses concerns that organisations are not investing in their talent to prepare them for AI, Will Abbey, executive vice-president and chief commercial officer from ARM, said that although different markets and geographies have different stances on the topic, the companies he has interacted with are definitely preparing their workforces.

“The promise of the benefits of AI are so profound that companies are equipping their workforce to make good on this exciting and powerful trend, and the benefits are huge,” he concluded.

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