Crucial abilities essential for fuelling the United Kingdom's ambitious AI expansion as part of the Spending Review plan.
The UK has shown promising progress in the AI sector, ranking 13th globally in AI readiness, according to Coursera's AI Maturity Index. This index, featured in Coursera's 2025 Global Skills Report, evaluates a country's AI readiness and effectiveness using a combination of Coursera data and third-party metrics.
However, the UK is experiencing a significant AI skills shortage, with a 118% jump in GenAI course enrollments among UK learners this year, albeit lagging behind the global average increase of 195%. This skills gap is estimated to cost the economy £63 billion per year, and increased demand for AI development requires a simultaneous, significant increase in the talent supply.
One area of concern is the underrepresentation of women in AI skills training and usage, exacerbating the gender gap. Women are 25% less likely to have basic digital skills than men, and significantly less likely to use AI tools like ChatGPT, even within the same occupations.
To address this issue, promoting diverse and inclusive AI training programs is essential. Employers are encouraged to review and redesign training and development programs to ensure workers, including women, can adapt to the evolving AI landscape. AI tools and recruitment processes need transparent oversight and audits to prevent gender bias and discrimination during hiring and upskilling opportunities.
A human-centered, trickle-down approach to AI adoption is also advocated, where leadership investment in AI is deliberately designed to benefit all employees equally, helping close the AI usage and advantage gap across genders. Provision of clear, accessible resources and case studies on AI adoption in the workplace can help women understand the implications of AI and encourage participation in learning activities, even for those with limited time.
Despite these efforts, challenges such as time constraints for women, lack of small business resources, and leadership gaps in AI understanding remain barriers to fully closing the gender gap in AI-related fields. Addressing these will require coordinated efforts across employers, educators, and policymakers to create equitable AI education and workforce participation opportunities.
The UK's ambitions to become an AI superpower require improvements in AI proficiency across the workforce. Nikolaz Foucaud, Managing Director EMEA at Coursera, has stated that the UK needs to focus on skills development to become an AI superpower. The Labour Party leader Keir Starmer has promised an additional £1bn in funding to scale the UK's AI computing power by 20 times, and Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves has set out a £86 billion tech funding boost in the Spending Review.
However, the UK lags behind the US in AI readiness, and it must learn from countries excelling in these fields, including some of its European neighbours. The AI sector in the UK grew 30 times faster than the rest of the economy in 2023, but the UK must also focus on fixing the emerging AI gender skills gap, investing in broader digital skilling, particularly in fields that complement the rise of AI like cybersecurity. Cybersecurity skills have experienced slower growth (+6%) in the UK, pointing to a need for increased attention in this domain.
In conclusion, while the UK is making strides in the AI sector, there is still much work to be done to ensure that all individuals, regardless of gender, have access to the skills and opportunities necessary to thrive in this rapidly evolving field.
Technology plays a crucial role in the UK's efforts to enhance its AI sector, yet it's essential to prioritize education and self-development to bridge the growing AI skills gap. As women are underrepresented in AI training programs and usage, promoting diverse and inclusive technology education is vital to reducing the gender gap in AI-related fields.
