Digital skills for all starts with the basics.

When ChatGPT and other generative AI tools took off a few years ago, it sparked a big push to improve digital skills training across the board. The goal is twofold: to help people create and work with these tools more effectively, and to support those whose jobs are being disrupted by them

It was perhaps no surprise that a 2022 Oxford study cited the earning boost when people develop AI skills. The same team returned to the topic this year and found a 21% growth in jobs requiring AI-related skills. Perhaps most interestingly, the team found that many roles weren’t looking for formal training or qualifications to prove that candidates had skills.

This theme came through in a recent panel discussion on the skills gap at AI UK, a major AI-focused conference hosted by the UK’s Turing Institute. The panel reminded the audience that, although there is an inevitable and understandable focus on higher-end skills, such as AI and data science, there’s a significant need for skill development across the entire spectrum.

Liz Williams, from FutureDotNow, cited research showing that more than half of workers lacked the kind of basic digital skills to do their work. Indeed, nine of the identified skills were classified as basic digital hygiene skills that are useful not only in the workplace but also more broadly in our increasingly digital society.

Plugging the Digital Skills Gap

This is an important distinction, as several initiatives are already aimed at higher-end skills. For instance, the EU’s Digital Decade initiative aims to upskill approximately 20 million people in areas such as cybersecurity, AI and data science by 2030. What has received rather less attention is the parallel effort to provide more rudimentary skills to 80% of the EU population.

EU data showed similar findings to those of FutureDotNow, with nearly half of the population lacking basic digital skills. The merits of focusing on this area are clear, with data from Cisco and the Centre for Economic and Business Research noting that training people with these basic skills could bolster the employment prospects of nearly 2 million people in the UK alone. What’s more, 80% of those people reside in the kind of communities that have been left behind by globalization.

Research looking at deprived communities in England and France found that providing basic digital skills is often an entry point for people. These skills provide access to training, finance, healthcare and job opportunities. In essence, these skills are crucial to enable people to be active participants in modern society, yet in the rush for advanced skills, a huge number risk being left behind.

Supporting change

Making things better is notoriously difficult. The panel at AI UK focused much of its attention on more traditional routes of learning via academia and employment. But it’s worth questioning how effective these routes really are, given the role they’ve played in creating the current situation. 

Indeed, a report from the UK Government’s Foresight division highlighted several societal barriers that prevent people from engaging in education. The report found that not only is adult education in decline, but those who do participate are typically already well-educated. Meanwhile, people with fewer qualifications often cite barriers such as low confidence, lack of interest or the belief that they’re too old to return to learning.

The finding that early engagement predicts later participation aligned with insights from the AIUK panel, which emphasized the importance of supporting people at a young age with a curriculum infused with digital skills. Of course, that doesn’t do much to help those amid digital disruption, which may be a somewhat harder nut to crack.