What skills will you learn in the era of AI?

What skills will you learn in the era of AI?

Our vision at Microsoft is to empower every person and organization on the planet to achieve more. With the power of Generative AI, we can transform the world of work to drive innovation, enhance productivity and create exceptional experiences for customers and employees.

But to make this happen, it is our responsibility as leaders to guide this transformation responsibly and ensure that our teams are equipped with the AI skills needed to thrive.

We can see there is appetite for this skilling to happen. Our latest Work Trend Index surveyed 31,000 people across 31 countries and found that 75% of global knowledge workers are using Generative AI already. And alongside the productivity benefits of using AI, 76% of those respondents which are using Generative AI said they are doing so as they believed they needed AI skills to remain competitive in the job market. With global skills expected to change 68% by 2030 due to Generative AI, this is likely to be a smart move to prepare for future careers, and maybe even for roles which don’t exist yet.

Successful, accelerated AI transformation requires AI skills

In addition to ensuring professionals are skilled for the future, there is a huge demand for AI skills to enable successful and accelerated AI transformation right now. From our work with customers across the globe, we’ve identified five drivers for ensuring accelerated AI value. As you would expect, having a clear business strategy for the desired outcomes of AI is key, but equally important is having applied AI skills and experience in your organization.

Take for example Danske Statsbaner (DSB), the largest rail operator in Denmark and Scandanavia. Their team boosted productivity by up to 30% as well as finding new ways to enhance travel satisfaction and operational efficiency using Microsoft Copilot 365 and Azure OpenAI. The key to unlocking these benefits was the education and training of employees on Generative AI alongside the adoption of this technology.

Meanwhile, in Ireland, the team at ESW empowered their developers after a training program to leverage the benefits of AI on GitHub Copilot and unlock new innovation for their cross-border ecommerce business. This approach – alongside advocacy of the technology, is what played a key role in cementing regular usage and helping employees feel more empowered and productive.

And then in Sweden, the workforce of travel agent Apollo has wholeheartedly adopted using Generative AI in Dynamics 365 and Microsoft Copilot for Service. Today, agents are spending less time on repetitive tasks and spending more time on providing exceptional customer experience.

And finally in Italy, Intesa Sanpaolo’s junior security personnel has been able to become effective at increased speeds by embracing AI in Microsoft Security Copilot. In addition to these teams getting new skills, training and experience, their business has greatly improved their security posture and threat detection.

All of these customers, alongside many more, have embraced the use of Generative AI to solve real-world problems which create value for their organizations. Be it reinventing customer engagement, reshaping business processes, enriching the employee experience or bending the curve on innovation, the AI skilling and education of workforces has been instrumental in ensuring accelerated and successful AI transformation occurs.

Shape your team with AI skills

We know there is the demand for AI skills by professionals, and that there are real benefits to be had from accelerated AI transformation in the here and now. To achieve both of these aims, it’s our responsibility as leaders to build a culture of learning and foster an environment that encourages continuous skill development with Generative AI.

The good news is that there are a multitude of resources and partners ready to support AI skilling. We’ve recently announced a partnership with training services provider Founderz for the launch of a new AI Skills 4 All program as part of our Microsoft AI National Skills initiative. Available across 10 European countries, this free, practical online course is designed for learners to understand the basics of AI and everyday use, both at home and at work. And what’s more, the program is designed to be accessible to everyone, regardless of your technical background.

We are also excited to share that we have partnered with Fastlane to create a new program to enhance AI Skilling. Digital Skills Training hour is a European online series of free 1-hour sessions to help technical learners gain a deeper knowledge of Microsoft Copilot across several Microsoft Applications including Microsoft 365, Copilot Studio, Forms, Excel, Power BI, Power Automate with AI Builder. All sessions will be with live Q&A moderation, in English language and will include subtitles in Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, German, Portuguese, French and English.

Additionally, we have Microsoft Learn, a trusted and free learning hub to help learners skill up on AI and other Microsoft technologies. There are learning modules from entry to advanced levels, for every profession. From building your own Copilots with Generative AI, to building knowledge on security or AI for startups, there is a multitude of opportunities for powering personal and organizational transformation

I encourage all leaders, and their teams, to take proactive steps in building a culture of learning and experimentation with AI. By embracing AI skilling, we can create a learning culture that empowers our teams to innovate, succeed and harness the power of AI in their everyday lives.