Building AI skills to empower communities and expand opportunity

Guest post by Charles Eales, AI National Skills Director – UK at Microsoft.

Microsoft is the Tech South West Technology Partner for 2025 and is supporting the delivery of Growth Forge, an accelerator for tech firms of all sizes in the South West.

Looking back at AI in 2024

The year 2024 saw remarkable technological advancements, with new technologies setting the stage for future developments. One of the most notable advancements has been in the field of artificial intelligence, which is already making huge impact across the world, unlocking new capabilities in sustainability, human health, and biodiversity.

Over the past year, the adoption of generative AI among business leaders and AI decision-makers surged from 55% to 75%. It is transforming how people learn, work, connect, and simplifying tasks to make our lives easier. As we move into 2025, one thing is clear: AI will continue to unlock new potential for organisations and individuals worldwide. 

The current landscape

Given the rapid pace of AI and its diverse impact on organisations, industries, and countries worldwide, it is clear that to truly expand AI’s opportunities, we must enable everyone to succeed in the AI economy. This involves equipping people with the tools and knowledge to boost creativity and innovate.

There is a pressing social and economic need to upskill small businesses, a sector increasingly vital to UK society and one that stands to benefit significantly from AI transformation due to its potential to drive new ideas and capacity. To fully take advantage of the opportunities AI will bring, we need to make AI skills accessible. Building towards this requires collaboration between the private and public sectors, presenting a significant opportunity to harness the transformative power of AI for societal good.

This begins with ensuring that everyone has the skills to thrive in a digital, AI-enabled economy and extends to empowering nonprofits, entrepreneurs, and other organisations to digitally transform and tackle society’s biggest challenges. In the context of AI, this involves giving people access to develop their digital skills to create opportunities across all sectors of society.

The need for skills

The demand for skills training is immense and continues to grow. Microsoft has been working to bring digital skills to as many people as possible, ensuring that no one is left behind in the digital economy. Microsoft has reached millions, helped individuals find new careers, and focused on the in-demand jobs of the future. The enthusiasm and excitement surrounding AI’s potential is huge, and there is appetite among diverse communities to learn more.

Microsoft AI National Skills Initiative

AI skills are in high demand globally, and Microsoft is dedicated to helping people and organisations develop the tools and abilities needed to succeed in this AI-driven economy. If used well, AI can help lower the barriers to entry for many professions, and providing people with entry-level AI knowledge will help us accelerate change that makes a difference.

The Microsoft AI National Skilling Initiative is working to provide AI skills to one million people in the UK by the end of 2025, helping them actively participate in the new AI economy. This initiative aims to create inclusive economic opportunities across the country so people of all ages and backgrounds can access skilling resources.

The AI Skills Navigator is a tool designed to help individuals and organisations find the right learning path for every level, role, and learner. It uses generative AI to guide learners to the best resources for them. By making AI skills accessible to everyone, we can unlock opportunities for people at every career stage, in every role, and in every country.

The Microsoft AI Skills Initiative includes new, free courses developed with LinkedIn, such as the first Professional Certificate on Generative AI in the online learning market, new training on generative AI, and greater access to free digital learning events and resources to improve AI fluency.

AI offers tremendous potential to empower communities and organisations around the world – but only if everyone, everywhere has the skills to use it.

In the coming months, we will announce new activities, resources, and ideas to get involved with. Keep an eye on the Tech South West socials for updates!