93% of firms committed to AI - but skills shortage posing problems - AI News

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According to new research from software provider SnapLogic, many firms have fully invested in AI but more than half do not have the required in-house talent to execute their strategy.

As the study notes, 93% of US and UK organisations consider AI to be a business priority. However, more than half (51%) acknowledge that they do not have the right mix of skilled AI talent in-house to bring their strategies to life.

In order to build the right AI team, 68% said that they are pouring in more money on retraining and upskilling existing employees. About 58% of ITDMs are identifying and recruiting skilled talent from other firms, while 49% believe that recruiting from universities is important to getting an effective AI team in place.

Microsoft and General Assembly are looking to lessen the skills gap with a new initiative. The two companies have announced a new partnership for skills in AI, machine learning, cloud and data engineering, data science, among others.

The initiative will aim to build credentials and standards for AI skills, upskill and reskill 15,000 workers by 2022, along with creating a pool of AI talent for the global workforce. According to both firms, the joint program will be focused on three main areas: setting the standards for AI skills, developing scalable AI training solutions for firms, and building a sustainable talent pool of workers with AI skills.

According to the World Economic Forum, technologies like AI are creating demand for new worker skills and competencies and by 2022, up to 133 million new roles could be created as a result of the new division of labor between humans, machines and algorithms. In order to tackle this challenge, both Microsoft and General Assembly will be powering 2,000 job transitions for workers into AI and machine learning roles in year one and will train an additional 13,000 workers with AI-related skills across sectors in the next three years.

In March, Microsoft announced the launch of AI courses in order to benefit business leaders in how to harness the technology and gain a competitive advantage. Microsoft’s AI business school will offer case studies, lectures and guides from industry leaders as well as Microsoft’s own executives.

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