The Real AI Training Gap? IT Leaders Believe In It, But Many Don’t Provide It

IT leaders see a clear need for skilled employees in AI projects, but only 40% offer formal training, highlighting a critical gap in workforce preparation.

IT leaders fear AI projects will fail without employee expertise. But with less than half offering formal AI training, falling short might be inevitable.

If you’re among the 95% of IT leaders who believe AI projects will fail without staff who can effectively use AI tools, chances are you’re not doing enough about it.

That’s because only 40% of executives and IT leaders say their organizations have formal AI training for employees, according to the recent Pluralsight AI Skills Report. And with CIOs increasingly responsible for setting the workforce AI training agenda, IT leaders may soon find themselves in the hot seat on AI preparedness.

And employees are taking note. Just over half of employees responding to a survey released in August by digital workplace vendor Slingshot said they felt adequately trained in AI.

“Anytime you have something, any sort of new technology that really upends the way we do things, it catches a lot of people off guard,” says David Harris, principal generative AI author at Pluralsight. “I think every businessperson knows that they need to implement AI in some way, but they’re not exactly sure how, and they’re not exactly sure how much their employees know.”

And the hiring market isn’t likely to help much, given that AI is such a new technology, Harris notes. Instead, he and other industry observers and experts believe all employees — developers, salespeople, and office workers included — can benefit from AI training.[…]