The Role of Digital Credentials in AI Skill Development

The accelerating role of artificial intelligence in the workplace is rapidly shifting the skills landscape for employers and talent.

Four out of five leaders say their company needs to adopt AI to remain competitive, and 41% of those expect to redesign business processes from the ground up to harness AI’s potential. That means organizations’ skill needs are changing.

Some roles will change as AI takes on routine and repetitive tasks, and people are asked to focus more time and energy on activities that are strategic and require greater use of soft skills. 

Other roles, however, will require AI-specific skills as companies strengthen their AI capabilities. Among postings on tech job websites, for example, listings requiring AI skills have grown 10-fold — from less than 1% of jobs in January 2023 to 10% in February 2024.

However, adding AI capabilities to your workforce involves more than just changing job descriptions or hiring a few technology pros with AI skills. AI presents several challenges to learning and development leaders grappling with what specific new skills their workforces need and how to upskill and reskill workers to address those needs.

AI Challenges for L&D Leaders 

As organizations integrate AI into their operations, leaders face unique challenges in preparing their workforce. The rapid evolution of AI technologies and the complexity of AI applications necessitate a strategic approach to training. Addressing these challenges effectively is crucial for ensuring that employees acquire the skills needed to leverage AI advancements and stay competitive.

Complexity

The term ‘artificial intelligence’ encompasses several technologies — machine learning, deep learning, natural language processing, computer vision, robotics and more. The “killer application” for a specific company, industry or role will vary. L&D professionals need to sort through that complexity and figure out what their organization’s critical AI skill needs.

Rapid pace of change

AI capabilities grow and change continuously. That makes it challenging to develop AI learning programs that will remain optimal for even the next quarter, much less the next year. Alongside that rapid change, is the need for individuals to continuously update their skills. In the AI era, skill training is not a one-and-done, but rather an ongoing process that may require new ways of structuring L&D programs. 

Lack of standard skill metrics

The newness of AI uses in the workplace, as well as their rapid evolution, mean that standards for skills metric are still under development. This makes traditional indicators of skills, such as educational credentials or job experience, less useful, because it’s more difficult to know what those might mean in the dynamic AI skills landscape.

Credibility and trust in learning credentials

The rapid advancement of AI technologies means that the landscape of training options is constantly shifting, making it difficult for learners and organizations to identify credible programs. This uncertainty can lead to skepticism regarding the value and validity of emerging training credentials. Ensuring that AI skills training is both high-quality and recognized requires careful vetting of educational providers and a clear understanding of how training programs align with industry standards and practical applications.

Ethical Concerns

Understanding ethical frameworks is one thing; implementing them in the complex, nuanced situations of real-world AI projects presents an entirely different challenge. Ensuring that AI systems are developed and deployed responsibly requires not only a grasp of ethical guidelines but also practical strategies for addressing ethical dilemmas as they arise.

How Digital Credentials Address AI Education Challenges

Digital credentials allow people to show they’ve developed knowledge and/or learned specific skills. Unlike traditional learning credentials — such as degrees from educational institutions — digital badges provide detailed metadata about when the credential earner learned those skills and how they learned them.

Digital credentials can help address many challenges AI upskilling and reskilling initiatives face.

• Clear Skill Definitions with Detailed Metadata: Digital badges have detailed metadata that clearly defines the skills and competencies they represent. Anyone reviewing that credential can understand exactly what skills have been learned and what activities and learning processes the learner has completed. Check out the IBM badge example below. It outlines the criteria for earning the badge, explains its meaning, and details the skills developed.
  

• Tailored Skill Development Through Microcredentials: Microcredentials can be used to recognize skill development for specific subfields and topics, one at a time. This allows organizations and individuals to stitch together the right mix of skills for their needs.
  
  
• Flexibility and Real-Time Adaptation with Microcredentials: By breaking skill development into smaller chunks, microcredentials enable employers and education providers to align training with emerging technologies in near real time. This also makes continuous learning easier, as it allows individuals to pick the right mix of skills for their roles and learn them at a pace that works for them. Microcredentials can lead to more comprehensive learning offerings and certifications because they can be stacked so that, as multiple credentials are earned, they add up to a more complex certification.
  
  Using the Google Cloud Prompt Design in Vertex AI badge as an example, this skills badge, also recognized as a microcredential, requires earners to demonstrate the real-life application of their skills to earn the badge.

• Enhanced Trust and Transparency in Digital Credentials: Digital credentials are accompanied by detailed data about skills learned, verification, the learning process, and the organization that provided the training. This ability to review exactly what a digital credential represents makes AI skill recognition simpler. And digital credentials platforms like Credly has a robust badge verification process, ensuring their trustworthiness.

The State of AI Badges on Credly

There is a robust set of AI-related skills that can be verified by Credly badges. To date, more than 2 million AI-themed digital credentials have been issued on the platform. Some of the world’s most authoritative companies and educational providers — Microsoft, IBM, Google and Amazon, Harvard and Oxford universities, and many others — are using Credly to issue verifiable credentials to learners.

Here’s why your organization should issue its AI skills badges on Credly.

• Visibility and engagement: A large, active network of badge-holders ensures that your organization’s badges are visible to a wide audience. This helps validate your learners’ achievements and makes your organization’s contributions to the field more visible.
• Security: Multi-layered verification makes Credly digital credentials secure and blockchain technology on the platform protects them from tampering.
  
• Transparency and detail: Credly’s comprehensive metadata allows stakeholders to see exactly what each digital badge represents.
• Social media sharing: Sharing badges on social media boosts employee engagement and motivation by showcasing their achievements and dedication. Credly badges have been shared over 56 million times and have generated 440 million views.
  
• Resource sharing: Just as AI is changing fast, so is the L&D field. The Credly team shares insights on industry trends and best practices, helping L&D professionals stay on top of trends and deliver the best possible outcomes to their organizations.

To effectively address the AI skills gap, organizations must proactively invest in upskilling and reskilling initiatives. Start with our 'Top 10 In-demand AI Skills For 2024 & Beyond' report, where we outline the top 10 in-demand AI skills across the UK, US, and Australia, along with the essential human skills required to thrive in the age of AI. Complete the form below to download the report.