Skilling up: Empowering everyone to flourish in the era of agentic AI
Microsoft UK CEO Darren Hardman explains why AI skills are so important and how the company is going about achieving its goal of equipping 1 million people with AI skills by the end of 2025.
After celebrating our 50th anniversary and launching our global AI Skills Fest, it’s fitting that we’ve also embarked on 50 days of learning. Because Microsoft has always known that technology is only as good as people’s ability to use it effectively.
AI is already impacting many areas of our lives, and offers huge potential across all sectors, from healthcare to energy, public services to security, manufacturing to construction.
A 2024 report from independent consultancy Public First found that AI could boost the UK economy by £550bn by 2035.
Accelerating innovation
The pace of change is exhilarating. It’s amazing to think that mainstream generative AI is only two-and-a-half years old, yet has become the fastest-growing application ever.
Now individuals and organisations across the public and private sectors are routinely interacting with Microsoft Copilot using natural language to help summarise meetings and documents, draft emails and reports, and generally remove much of the digital drudgery that has previously slowed us down.
And now, we’re already entering the era of agentic AI – Copilot agents that we can instruct to perform automated tasks that radically boost our productivity and the quality of the insights we can derive from vast quantities of data.
Copilot is developing fast into an active personal assistant, partner, colleague, concierge, researcher, expert adviser and workhorse at home and at work. Its potential is almost limitless – but only if we develop the skills to use it properly.
Meeting the challenge
To stay ahead of this ‘coming wave’, as Mustafa Suleyman, CEO, Microsoft AI, describes it, we must learn to adapt, but also adapt to new ways of learning.
We must be confident in our abilities to make AI work for us in the ways we want it to. And if we don’t meet this challenge, many risk being left behind.
According to Microsoft and LinkedIn’s Work Trends Index, two thirds of business leaders now say they wouldn’t hire someone lacking AI skills. Yet only a quarter of companies globally are offering training on how to use generative AI.
Our commitment
This is why Microsoft is committed to ensuring that everyone can benefit from this new wave of technology, no matter what their socio-economic background. AI skilling is core to Microsoft’s mission to help every person and organisation on the planet to achieve more.
“AI skilling is core to Microsoft’s mission to help every person and organisation on the planet to achieve more.“
This not only means learning new skills, such as how to write effective prompts for GenAI tools and build agents that automate routine tasks, it also means creating a nationwide culture of learning, in partnership with government and public and private sector organisations.
We’ve already equipped 1.5 million people with basic digital skills through our free Get On programme; and we’ve committed to skilling up another 1 million with AI skills by the end of 2025.
Power of education
We’re bringing AI skilling to so many people by partnering with a wide range of organisations. In the UK, this means working with non-profits such as Generation and Catch 22 to offer AI skilling bootcamps, workshops and training courses, with a particular focus on people from under-represented backgrounds.
It also means partnering with educational organisations. For example, we worked with Luminate Education Group, which runs six colleges in West Yorkshire, to develop AI training which will be included in all their courses, benefiting tens of thousands of students and staff across the region.
And we have a close relationship with University Academy 92, a higher education institution dedicated to serving young people from disadvantaged backgrounds. As a strategic partner, we co-created UA92’s computer science and digital curriculum and offer access to industry certifications, masterclasses, mentorship, and hackathons.
Supporting apprenticeships
At Microsoft, we understand the crucial importance of apprenticeships in giving UK businesses the skills they’re crying out for, and young people a chance to pursue a hands-on, vocational career.
During National Apprenticeship Week in January, we partnered with GetMyFirstJob to develop an AI Skills for Life Assembly featuring our inspirational apprentices, which was watched by more than 30,000 students.
And we’re working with our learning partners, such as Multiverse, Corndel and QA, to incorporate Copilot into their apprenticeship programmes, because these days, all apprenticeships are AI apprenticeships.
Spreading the word
Most recently, we launched the innovative Ai123 campaign in partnership with Neighbourly, the platform that connects businesses and communities for social good.
The campaign involves hundreds of volunteers from Microsoft and other businesses, such as VMO2 and Curry’s, as well as from our partners and customers, all teaching AI skills to employees and the people they serve.
We’ve also been running our own programmes, such as the award-winning TechHer scheme, aimed specifically at empowering women.
So far we’ve given digital skills training to 4,000 women across the public sector, with a new commitment to reach another 6,000-plus in 2025 across health and social care, government and retail.
Stronger together
We’re doing all this because we believe AI is a democratising technology – everyone should have equal access to it and equal ability to use it effectively.
I believe there’s a huge well of untapped creativity and talent in the UK that AI can help us release.
“I believe there’s a huge well of untapped creativity and talent in the UK that AI can help us release.“
But the future is coming at us fast – we need to be prepared to meet it head-on.
Microsoft is doing its bit to equip as many people with AI skills as possible, but we can’t do it all alone. We need government, our partners and customers to step up, too.
We’re all in this together. We can all benefit from the AI revolution.