UK Government Offers Free AI Training to 10 Million Workers, But Experts Question If It's Enough

Government offers UK adults free AI training for work

But the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) has warned workers will need to know more than "just how to prompt a chatbot" as the workforce adapts to the growth of AI. "Skills for the age of AI can't be reduced to short technical courses alone," said Roa Powell, senior research fellow at the IPPR. "Workers also need support to build judgement, critical thinking, physical skills, leadership and the confidence to use these tools safely." Tech giants including Amazon, Google and Microsoft have helped design the AI skills training courses, with 14 courses giving those who complete them a virtual badge. Technology Secretary Liz Kendall said the move was designed to help people feel confident using the tech in the workplace. "We want AI to work for Britain, and that means ensuring Britons can work with AI," she said. "Change is inevitable, but the consequences of change are not. We will protect people from the risks of AI while ensuring everyone can share in its benefits." Some courses are free - but others are paywalled - and lessons, which are accessible to any adult in the UK, vary in length with some lasting 20 minutes and others several hours. The NHS, the British Chambers of Commerce and the Local Government Association are among those who have committed to encouraging their staff and members to sign up. Sharron Gunn, head of BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT, welcomed the move - but said the onus should not only be on workers to adapt to AI. "Alongside dedicated AI professionals, with degrees in computer science or digital apprenticeships, UK businesses of all sizes need their teams to have a benchmarked level of AI skills," she said. "We also need to see far greater understanding of technology at board level, so those involved in governance of organisations, who are often giving their time unpaid, have the knowledge and confidence to scrutinise executive decisions."

Will the UK Government's latest 'free skills training for all' offer provide the national boost needed to ramp up AI adoption rates?

Is the UK edging ever closer to the National Skills Platform that it so badly needs if the country is to have any chance of meeting its regularly-voiced ambitions of AI leadership in the world? Well, if we think about journeys of a million miles and single steps and all that, then the UK took another pace forward, albeit still not embracing the obvious national solution. The latest announcement by the UK Government is excitedly headlined, 'Free AI training for all'. It's an expansion of existing schemes with the goal of up-skilling 10 million people through a variety of courses, these ranging from full-day events through to things you can knock off in under 20 minutes. The goal is to make the UK "the fast adopting AI country in the G7". In terms of adoption levels at present, 2025 research from Microsoft puts France at the top of the share of working population using AI league table with 44%, up 3.1% year-on-year, followed by the UK on 38.9%, but only a 2.5% growth rate. Canada on 35% has a 1.5% rate, Germany's 2.1% growth rate took it to 28.6%, while the US on 28.3% boasts two percent. Italy is at 27.8% adoption with 1.8% growth, while Japan comes in at 19.1% and 1.4%. According to the UK Department for Science, Innovation and Technology: In order to make Britain the fastest adopting AI country in the G7, the UK is setting ambitious targets to ensure the workforce is adequately skilled, confident and ready to grasp the full opportunities of AI. This could create more higher-skilled jobs and free workers up from routine tasks, with increasing the adoption of AI potentially unlocking up to £140 billion in annual economic output as part of our plans for national renewal. You'll note the words 'could' and 'potentially' doing a lot of heavy lifting there... The courses are open to anyone with online access, which is, of course, the vast majority of the population, although approximately three percent of UK adults have no online access, according to AgeUK data, which amounts to around 1.7 million people. Administration saves the nation You can't, of course, have a new government initiative without some new administrative body being in the mix. So it is that UK Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, Liz Kendall is also announcing a new AI and the Future of Work Unit, which, apparently, will keep Britain "front-footed". What does an AI and Future of Work Unit do? According to the official blah blah: Backed by a panel of experts from business and trade unions, the unit will provide the best analysis and evidence on AI's impact on the economy and labour market to provide timely advice on when new policies should be implemented across government. It will ensure the AI transition boosts economic growth, supports workers to adapt, protects communities from the mistakes of past industrial change, and delivers a fair, dignified future of work for everyone, where people are supported into better jobs in a more productive economy. It will have an expert panel of industry, academia, civil society and trade union representatives will support the Unit, "providing strategic insight to its work, supporting external collaboration, and enabling the effective delivery of the work programme". Founding members include representatives from the Institute for the Future of Work, the Confederation of British Industry, and the Prospect trades union. Given the paranoia around AI and the future of work, the emphasis placed in the formal announcement of trades union representation is an interesting one, not perhaps something that would gain such prominence in, for example, a US equivalent where private sector employers would be very much steering the ship. Prospect General Secretary Mike Clancy says: The world of work is changing rapidly, with AI and other technologies altering the content, nature, and pace of work in almost every corner of the economy. Workers can benefit from this transition, but only if steps are taken to prepare people and organisations for change, and if the workforce is given a real voice in the process. We also need a coordinated workforce plan to make sure short-term AI-related job cuts, particularly in lower level or graduate jobs, do not leave us with higher level skills shortages further down the line. The Unit will also "lead across government" on the AI and the Future of Work Programme and "provide timely advice" to departments on when new AI-centric policies should be implemented. For anyone who sat through the rise and fall of the UK's Government Digital Service (GDS), that's an interesting remit to keep an eye on, given how individual government department heads kicked back at any attempt to dilute their personal fiefdoms with 'advice' from an external body! Will Sir Humphrey be more obliging this time around? Hmmmmm.... My take Back in June last year, the UK Government launched its Skills for Life initiative to offer access to free or taxpayer-subsidised courses for essential digital skills. That was backed up by a coterie of tech sector partners, including Amazon, BT, Google, IBM, Microsoft, Sage and Salesforce among others. Their ranks have now been fleshed out with the addition of Cisco. Sarah Walker, UK and Ireland Chief Executive Cisco, says: AI presents an enormous opportunity to unlock human potential, but only if we improve basic digital literacy and support people with AI skills across the UK. The DIST pitch here is that this is the "the biggest targeted training programme since Harold Wilson started the Open University". For non-UK readers (those that didn't watch The Crown at any rate), Wilson was twice the UK Prime Minister, first from 1964-1970 and then again from 1974-1976. The Open University was established in 1969 as a public research university and is in fact the largest university in the United Kingdom if measured by number of students, the majority of whom study off-campus and in their own time. That was a roaring success and a roaring academic UK success story. Wilson was also the man who delivered one of the seminal speeches in the UK tech industry's history when in 1963 he spoke about "the white of technology" and the Britain that would be forged by this and lead the way. This was bold, ambitious, visionary, and ultimately a failure when the 'white heat' failed to get much above a rolling boil. The biggest contribution that speech has made today is being cited far too often by other politicians hoping to perch unsteadily on the bleeding edge of modernity (as most of them are wont to do at some point when climbing the greasy pole). Look, don't get me wrong. Anything that can be to address the decades-long skills crisis in the UK is to be welcomed and so yes, thumbs up to this expansion of earlier initiatives. It does occur to me that the timing is a bit off, coming the week after Davos when all the talk was about national cred when it comes to AI leadership. This might have been a decent proof point of ambition at an international forum, no? (Mind you, there were, of course, other loud noises off to be dealt with last week at Davos...) But...and yes, there's still a but, a very, very big but - is it enough? And the answer is no, no it's not. The only funding number being mentioned here is £27 million to "kickstart" a TechLocal scheme, which is intended to create "up to" a thousand jobs in local areas across the UK. Again, good, well done, a thousand people in work, but can't we try harder? I've made no secret of my backing and that of diginomica for the notion of a National Skills Platform in the UK. One of the most vocal advocates of that idea is Salesforce UKI CEO Zahra Bahrololoumi, who has in the past been vocal in her frustration that this is an idea that can't seem to make it past ministerial in-boxes. When I checked in on her this morning, her response to today's announcements is positive: This exciting step will unleash the potential of AI in the UK economy. By ensuring our population is skilled and able to use AI responsibly, the AI Skills Hub marks essential progress toward harnessing AI as a force for good. So, maybe we are a step closer to doing the right thing? But we can take bigger steps - and we have to if the political soundbites for national ambition are to be realized.

UK rolls out free AI training, but will it save your job?

Free artificial intelligence training is being made available to everyone in the UK as the government steps up efforts to prepare the workforce for rapid technological change. However, ministers acknowledge the programme will only succeed if businesses and workers choose to adopt it. From today, adults can access short, practical courses through the government's upgraded AI Skills Hub, designed to help people use AI tools in the workplace. The training covers everyday tasks such as drafting text, creating content, and automating administrative work - with some courses taking less than 20 minutes to complete. The programme is a joint effort between government and major tech firms, including Google, Microsoft and IBM, and has already delivered more than one million courses since last summer. For some small business owners, the training has already had a tangible difference. Tracey Kasongo, founder of 20 MGMT, a UK company involved in management consultancy, video production, and sound recording, said the courses helped her quickly build confidence in using AI. "Being able to do a programme like that really fast-tracked me to learning and building skills in AI, and then applying it to the business," she said. "It helped us use the systems to create more efficient workflows and processes." Zunera Diwan, business founder of Money Circuit, a financial decision-making consultancy, said learning how to use AI properly transformed how she ran her business. "Before, I was sceptical and only really used it like a search engine," she said. "Now I use AI for invoicing, contracts and creating policies. It's saved me four or five hours a week, which I can put back into growing the business or looking after my wellbeing." Despite those examples, uptake remains a challenge. Research published alongside the announcement shows only 21% of UK workers feel confident using AI at work, while just one in six businesses currently use the technology. Ministers argue that improving skills and adoption could unlock up to £140bn a year in economic growth, while freeing workers from routine tasks and creating more high-skilled roles. 'We want to make AI work for Britain' Technology Secretary Liz Kendall said the government's aim was to ensure people benefit from AI rather than being left behind by it. "We want to make AI work for Britain, and that means Britons who can work with AI," she said. "We're announcing a big, bold goal of upskilling 10 million workers in AI skills by 2030. "We're working closely with companies, the NHS and local government to make sure people from all walks of life have the skills they need, because that's better for them, their families and the future of the country." Read more from Sky News: Why PM's reset with China 'carries consequence' ICE agents to have role at Winter Olympics Those who complete the courses will receive a government-backed AI foundations badge, intended to give employers confidence that staff have basic, recognised AI skills. Ministers insist the technology should support workers rather than replace them, but concerns remain about the pace of change and the risks of job displacement. The challenge now is whether businesses will invest the time and resources to encourage staff to train, and whether workers will take up the opportunity.