If We Want AI to Work, Skills Policy Must Lead

If We Want AI to Work, Skills Policy Must Lead

Words by Lorna Willis, CEO of techskills.

We’re long past the breathless headlines about Artificial Intelligence. It’s no longer a shiny concept waiting in the wings; it’s already embedded into the fabric of our lives and shaping the future of our economies.

But for all the talk of opportunity, one truth remains: without the right skills in the right hands, AI will never deliver on its promise. Technology doesn’t transform industries. People do.

The great AI divide won’t be between businesses, industries, and nations that have AI and those that don’t. It will be between those that have skilled people who can use AI effectively and those that don’t.

The UK is serious about leading in the AI era, but we need more than optimism and glossy strategy papers. We need an urgent, intelligent, no-nonsense plan to build a workforce ready to wield AI — not just watch it reshape the world around them. That demands collaboration, the kind we see through Tech Industry Gold accredited programmes — industry working hand-in-hand with universities, learning providers, and professional bodies to create education that’s fast, relevant, and rooted in real-world needs.

Encouragingly, Tech Industry Gold universities and training organisations are already adapting — forging new partnerships, designing modular, flexible programmes, and ensuring what’s taught in the classroom matches what’s needed in the boardroom. Get it right, and we get the best of both worlds: deep standards of excellence alongside skills businesses actually need. Get it wrong, and we risk an economy fuelled by theory but stalled by a chronic shortage of practical talent.

Traditionally, universities moved at a cautious pace while businesses charged ahead. But AI is forcing a faster, messier, and more productive relationship. Universities are co-designing AI curriculums with major employers, embedding industry placements, and rolling out short, targeted courses aligned to new business realities.

At the same time, AI-powered platforms like Lumi are redefining how education is delivered. Lumi empowers students through ‘Quests’ real-world challenges requiring critical thinking, collaboration, and practical problem-solving. By blending smart curriculum with AI-driven feedback and human moderation, it’s showing what education can become when it sits firmly at the intersection of academia, technology, and industry.

Of course, not all education is created equal. There’s a booming industry of "AI experts" promising miracle results after a two-hour webinar. We don’t just need more training, we need better training. Accredited, rigorous programmes that employers and employees can trust. Accreditation isn’t about creating barriers; it’s about building confidence and ensuring that skills taught translate into real employability.

Building this capability doesn't mean mass-producing coders. We need a workforce that’s AI-literate — workers, managers, business owners who understand what AI can (and can’t) do, where it fits into their businesses, and how to use it wisely and ethically. AI literacy is becoming as fundamental to business survival as knowing how to send an email or manage finances.

And if we’re serious about scaling AI adoption, we have to start where the real battle will be fought: in the meeting rooms of the UK's 5.5 million SMEs. SMEs employ around 60% of the UK workforce and account for over half of business turnover. If AI doesn’t reach them, it doesn’t scale. Full stop.

Yet SMEs are still treated like an afterthought in national AI strategies, drowning in jargon, priced out of innovation, and left wondering if AI is just a party they weren’t invited to. That mindset must change. SMEs aren’t passengers, they’re driving the bus. And if we don’t equip them properly, the wheels will fall off.

Too often, conversations with SMEs start with assumptions about skills gaps they don’t even recognise, as if the big players will somehow rescue them. We’ve got it the wrong way round. UK PLC doesn’t just need to enable SMEs, we need SMEs to lead the charge. Their agility, reach, and connection to communities make them critical to turning AI ambition into real-world action.

And at the heart of every SME? People. Entrepreneurs, founders, managers, and employees who have put everything on the line to build jobs, create opportunity, and drive local economies. We simply cannot afford to leave them behind. If they miss out on the AI revolution, we don’t just risk losing businesses, we risk losing the human engine of creativity, resilience, and growth that underpins our economy.

Helping SMEs adopt AI is about making sure the people who built and sustain our economy aren’t left standing still while the future races ahead. It's about upskilling and reskilling the workforce that matters most.

The reality is that most SMEs face real barriers to investing in AI skills and training. They don’t have big HR departments or innovation budgets. Time is tight, margins are tighter, and the pressure to keep trading often wins out over long-term investment. Training must be affordable, flexible, accessible, and tightly aligned to real business needs.

There are promising examples. Tech Industry Gold accredited Institutions like the University of East London are taking a modular, stackable approach that can be accessed by employers and individuals, combining academic rigour with the flexibility that individuals and employers need. By making education more accessible and business-relevant, they’re proving that it’s possible to meet high standards without leaving practical outcomes behind.

But to make this work at scale, we need more than goodwill. It’s time for Skills England to step up. We need clarity, and ambition, around the Skills and Growth Levy. Rather than treating it as a bureaucratic funding pot, we should reimagine it as a skills investment engine, one that rewards SMEs for upskilling people in AI, digital transformation, and future-critical fields. Allow SMEs to draw down training credits flexibly. Open up modular short courses, not just apprenticeships. Enable pooling across supply chains. In short: fund learning at the pace business and people actually move.

Initiatives like Skills Bootcamps show good instincts, offering short, flexible training linked to employer needs. But without formal accreditation, they still fall short. How do workers and businesses know the outcomes are credible? How do we guarantee these skills actually lead to employment and advancement? Good intentions alone won’t cut it. Programmes must be underpinned by trusted, rigorous standards if they are to deliver real, measurable outcomes.

None of this happens at scale unless government leads too. If SMEs are the frontline of AI adoption, government must be the supply line, leading by example, not dragging its feet. There are green shoots: the NHS is trialling AI to reduce appointment backlogs, some councils are streamlining planning applications. But too much of the public sector remains shackled by legacy IT, risk aversion, and inertia.

AI isn’t a threat to public services, it’s a chance to make them faster, fairer, and more human-centred. Civil servants should be using AI to clear paperwork, anticipate bottlenecks, and focus on the complex problems humans solve best. If government doesn't modernise, it won't just slow innovation, it will actively sabotage it.

Because ultimately, we’re not just building technical systems. We’re building human systems, training people for the jobs, the industries, and the economies of the future.

The winners in the AI era won’t be those with the most powerful models. They’ll be the ones who get the most people using AI wisely, creatively, and confidently across every business, every sector, every community.

And we have no time to waste.