It’s universally agreed that businesses that embrace artificial intelligence (AI) today will be the ones still operating in the future. But as organisations grapple to wrap their heads around this new technology and figure out the best use-case scenarios for their business, they’re missing a crucial foundational step: bringing their people on the journey.
Our State of AI in Australia research report, released today, provides valuable insight into AI adoption across industries and departments. The research unpacks the barriers to implementation, outlines how businesses can overcome them, and highlights the opportunities AI presents to drive efficiency and competitive advantage.
The report paints a stark picture, with many businesses seemingly falling into the same trap. Despite more than four-fifths (86%) of the more than 400 professionals we surveyed, at varying levels of seniority, agreeing we should be embracing AI, their resounding feedback highlighted that people’s skills were lacking. Respondents noted that to effectively leverage AI technology and realise its benefits, there exists an urgent need for businesses to roll out comprehensive AI training and recruit the right teams to equip their workforce with the relevant skills needed.
Despite many organisations dabbling and experimenting with an array of AI tools, it’s rare to see that the average employee has been provided with the appropriate education to be able to apply AI technologies effectively. When asked about the current level of AI skills of the people in their organisation, the results were disappointing, with just 4.5 out of 10 being the most common answer. Employees simply don’t understand AI or know how to use it, meaning businesses have no hope of being able to widely apply it at a rapid rate.
Of more concern was that the research demonstrated current upskilling efforts are inadequate to fix this. With a clear gap in AI skills, you would expect business leaders to be quickly knocking on the door of HR and professional development departments to bring them into the tent and focus efforts on upskilling their workforce. However, when asked about their organisation’s AI training, Aussie professionals offered an average rating of just 3.17 out of 10.
Business leaders need not worry that they might face an uphill battle in encouraging their employees to embrace AI and utilise it to improve their individual outputs. Respondents across all industry sectors acknowledged that they need to upskill in AI if they want to succeed professionally.
Those surveyed rated the importance of up-skilling in AI for future career prospects at 7.5 out of 10. Younger respondents aged 18 to 44 rated the need higher (7.64 out of 10). This highlights that AI training isn’t just good for business, it’s also what employees want.
While business leaders acknowledge the benefits of AI, they’re too busy with other projects for it to take precedence. Too many competing priorities was the number one barrier (43%) to organisations adopting AI, followed by lack of skills (38%).
It seems that listening to your people can solve this conundrum. When respondents were asked to nominate all the ways their organisation plans to overcome their relevant AI adoption barriers, the highest-rated answer was to start a training program (42%), followed by allocating budget (40%) and recruiting AI skilled staff (33%).
For organisations to keep pace with AI, they need to review and implement business-wide training programs to support existing employees in growing their skills and carve out budgets and resources to support AI adoption efforts. Forming the right innovation or AI squads will help remove fear, uncertainty, and doubt while adding new key ingredients for business success.
The time to implement AI training programs is now. Businesses stand to gain immense benefits from upskilling their teams in this technology that is reshaping every industry. Fostering a culture of continuous learning around AI will be welcomed by teams as they look to improve their employability and future-proof their skillset.
By equipping employees with the skills needed to wield AI tools effectively, businesses will achieve increased efficiency and innovation, and ultimately a more exponential competitive advantage.
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Dr Pete Stanski is the chief technology officer at V2 Digital.
