About three out of four companies in Australia either haven’t offered Generative AI (Gen AI) training or don’t know about it.
The following is an outline of research from a new report by RMIT Online and Deloitte Access Economics.
The study shows that Australian workers might not fully comprehend how Gen AI will affect their jobs. The study, called Ready, Set, Upskill, shows that almost half of the employees surveyed (47%) have never used Gen AI in their job. Most of these employees (73%) said they never did because they didn’t think it was useful.
Over a wide range of digital skills, about a third of employees (between 29% and 36%) said they did not learn basic digital skills or have not recently updated or trained in these skills. In addition, employers also stated that their company needed AI or machine learning as the most important digital skills. Data science, coding, and cyber security followed these.
Furthermore, employers are ready to pay an extra 8% (about AU$5,408 or US$3,582.85) for job applicants who have both data and digital skills. This is because many people don’t have these skills.
Gen AI will continue to change how people learn and work, level the playing field, and create new roles and job disruptions, but not like other digital changes that have happened in the past.
He said, “The rise of important technologies like Artificial Intelligence has made the digital skills gap Australia is facing worse.” We must not be lazy about reskilling and upskilling if we want to keep up with our international competitors.”
The huge digital shift happening in Australia’s economy is reflected in the fact that the need for digital skills keeps growing and skills gaps need to be filled right away.
