Bridging the AI expertise hole with alternatives for studying

Over the previous few years, firms around the globe have seen a paradigm shift in how people devour content material and attain new expertise—adjustments that may solely proceed to speed up and evolve within the AI period. A international IDC survey¹ discovered {that a} lack of expert employees is the most important problem for enterprises implementing AI expertise inside their organizations. This shift highlights the necessity for steady adaptation to rising applied sciences and collaborative efforts to bridge the AI expertise hole.

The 2024 Work Pattern Index Annual Report from Microsoft and LinkedIn additionally discovered that 66% of leaders say they wouldn’t rent somebody with out AI expertise. As we rejoice Nationwide AI Literacy Day within the US on March 28 this 12 months, it’s clear that nobody firm will seemingly have the ability to meet the alternatives of tomorrow. We imagine it’ll take progressive partnerships to meaningfully impression the lives of individuals around the globe with AI literacy and expertise improvement.

Empowering learners with important AI expertise

Microsoft and Pearson, the world’s lifelong studying firm, introduced a strategic collaboration to assist handle one of many prime challenges going through organizations globally: skilling for the period of AI. The partnership will concentrate on offering employers, employees, and learners with AI-powered services to assist put together the present and future workforce throughout industries for the evolving panorama of labor in an AI-powered economic system. By combining Pearson’s experience in studying and evaluation with Microsoft’s cloud and AI applied sciences, this partnership will play a foundational function in serving to organizations notice the total worth of AI by reskilling.

Microsoft and Pearson are addressing the challenges and alternatives round reskilling on the ASU-GSV Summit in San Diego, US, April 6-9, 2025. The summit is devoted to the scaled improvements within the supply of training and workforce expertise which might be important to making a world by which all folks have equal entry to the long run.

At ASU-GSV, Microsoft Company Vice President of Worldwide Studying, Jeana Jorgensen, will be a part of Pearson President of Workforce Abilities, Vishaal Gupta, for a dialogue on remodeling expertise improvement and expertise planning for the AI period. They’ll speak about how speedy intervention is required or we threat the AI expertise hole changing into a expertise chasm, threatening the flexibility of people and organizations to thrive in an AI-powered future.

I’ll be additionally becoming a member of Vishaal and Jeana for a dialogue at ASU-GSV on skilling for the AI period. We’ll dive deeper into how the Microsoft and Pearson collaboration will rework and scale AI skilling and assist organizations equip learners and employees with the important expertise they want to achieve a technology-driven world.

Rethinking reskilling

Given the pressing have to rethink studying and reskill employees, Microsoft and Pearson will collaborate in a number of methods, together with:

• Personalised studying at scale – Pearson will energy its trusted and world-renowned content material, evaluation, upskilling, and certification providers with Microsoft Azure cloud computing and AI infrastructure. This partnership will assist Pearson additional scale AI and expertise capabilities throughout the enterprise, increasing personalised studying and AI-enabled providers to tens of millions of learners, at completely different levels of their studying journey throughout the globe.
• Progressive collaboration – Pearson and Microsoft will launch a strategic collaboration geared toward serving to folks construct AI proficiency and technical expertise by new AI credentials and certifications. Moreover, Pearson and Microsoft will collaborate on a sequence of copilots, brokers, and AI instruments focused at serving to folks develop expertise—corresponding to English language studying—and establish expertise gaps seamlessly whereas they work.
• Investing in technology-driven careers – Microsoft will lengthen its present partnership with Pearson VUE, a key supplier of Microsoft Cloud and Workplace certifications, by 2029. These certifications have already helped tens of millions of younger folks, educators, and employees put together for jobs that use Microsoft’s world-class expertise. This growth will open these important credentials to scores of extra learners and employees around the globe.
• Powering the Pearson workforce – After having piloted and examined Microsoft 365 Copilot, Pearson will broaden its use by deploying it to its international workforce. That is a part of an ongoing effort to introduce office AI instruments that improve effectivity, creativity, and productiveness and drive higher operational efficiency.

The partnership extends the efforts of each Microsoft and Pearson to offer AI skilling to folks throughout the globe. In 2024, Microsoft and its companions educated and licensed over 23 million folks in digital expertise. Pearson launched its Generative AI Foundations certification to equip professionals and college students with the important expertise wanted to work with generative AI applied sciences. Moreover, organizations around the globe use Pearson VUE, together with Pearson’s AI-powered Faethm functionality, and Credly badging to diagnose, assess, and certify expertise.

Develop your AI expertise

Interested in extra methods to develop AI literacy and construct AI expertise? Get began in the present day and be a part of the Microsoft AI Abilities Fest. Registration is open now to interact in deep dives, experiential content material, hackathons, and sensible classes that may improve your AI expertise over 50 days of discovery and studying, beginning April 8, 2025.

There’s a major alternative to work collectively to construct AI expertise and empower the long run workforce. Whether or not you, your staff, or your college students are simply getting began or seeking to refine your capabilities, uncover assets to assist your journey.

¹ IDC InfoBrief: sponsored by Microsoft, 2024 Enterprise Alternative of AI, IDC# US52699124, November 2024