The rise of AI has workers worried about the future of their jobs, but it also creates opportunities to upskill and adapt to a new labor market.

The rapid rise of artificial intelligence (AI) is causing many workers to worry about the impact of the technology on their daily work and long-term career prospects. A recent Skillsoft survey of 2,500 full-time employees in the US, UK, Germany and India found that these concerns are well-founded. 92% of IT jobs are predicted to be transformed by AI, and 74% of IT professionals fear their skills will become obsolete.

The survey also found that 35% of respondents lack confidence in the skills needed to succeed in their current role, with 41% concerned about job security due to skills shortages. The biggest weakness identified was AI and machine learning (ML), with 43% of respondents identifying this as a key skill they lack.

However, a deeper analysis shows that despite the perceived AI skills shortage, workers are confident that they can learn and apply AI to their jobs if given the opportunity. Only 21% of those who cited AI/ML as the biggest gap said they lacked confidence in their skills, and only 33% were concerned about job security.

Photo of AI training for workers. Source: CIO

Notably, 74% of workers who said AI/ML was their biggest weakness rated their company’s AI training programs as “average to poor,” compared to 62% of all respondents.

Businesses need to invest in AI training

Organizations looking to adopt AI tools need to evaluate the level of training and learning opportunities they provide to employees. CIOs recognize the need to provide AI training, but many are not doing so.

Lily Mok, an analyst at Gartner, said that companies need to take a more strategic, long-term approach to workforce development to help employees acquire the skills they need to meet changing business needs. While 95% of respondents said their organizations had professional development plans, only 25% rated these plans as “highly effective.” Major barriers to effective learning cited in the survey included lack of time to attend training (43%), user-unfriendly learning formats (30%), and lack of leadership support (26%).

Data from Gartner also shows that less than half of employees (47%) are satisfied with the pace of career advancement at their company, and only 37% of job openings are filled by internal candidates, suggesting a larger problem with learning and development programs.

Mok stressed that companies cannot rely solely on external recruitment to address skills shortages. Instead, they need to focus on reskilling and upskilling their existing workforce.