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.
In finance, for example, soft skills are among the top 5 most in-demand skills as the industry adapts to new technologies. These include:
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Communication Skills |
Verbal Communication |
Analytics 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.