Dive Brief:
- AI literacy and applied AI skills are top priorities for more than half of AI learning and development leaders, according to a report from AI readiness platform Docebo published Tuesday. The report surveyed 1,000 enterprise employees in L&D-focused roles and 1,000 employees in other roles across the U.S., Canada and Europe.
- However, data from those receiving AI training showed there is a gap between training and on-the-job confidence — 66% said they don’t feel supported by their organizations and 57% said they don’t feel the training is related to their specific roles. More than half said they don’t see how AI training will impact the progression or career.
- Companies looking to boost AI know-how stand to benefit from tailored training efforts that are role-specific, said Kyle Lacy, CMO at Docebo, in an email. “When people can see how developing a skill opens a path forward for them personally, engagement follows.”
Dive Insight:
Employees and decision-makers alike rank AI readiness among their top priorities, but those in lower-level roles say it’s hard to picture how the technology will impact their day-to-day or professional goals.
It’s a struggle most enterprises are facing as they try to glean the effectiveness of their AI pilots, and reap ROI from increased spending. More and more tech leaders are looking for measurable data to support projects.
Enterprises in varying sectors are trying to reach AI fluency, but most are still surface level, said Markus Bernhardt, a principal at Endeavor Intelligence, in Docebo’s report. “They have high levels of individual experimentation (people using AI tools to complete isolated tasks), but then they return to the exact same operating workflows they already had five years ago.”
If an organization gets feedback that their employees don’t feel supported in their training or AI deployment, the answer isn’t rolling out more training content, it’s tailoring it to specific roles and diving deeper than just an explanation of the tool itself, Lacy said. Training must also include human skills, like critical thinking, which teaches how and when to apply AI, he said.
“That's a skill that has to be taught deliberately, practiced in context and reinforced,” Lacy said.
Successful training efforts can help improve AI ROI, too. Businesses with mature data and AI literacy upskilling efforts were more likely to report significant positive returns from AI spending, according to a DataCamp study published last month.
Technology deployment and workforce readiness are two separate initiatives, Lacy said. The report found that while most respondents receive AI training, 85% feel it doesn’t help them understand how to use AI effectively in their role.
Completing training doesn’t equal AI readiness, he said.
