What is the UK government’s free AI training scheme?
The UK government has announced a free AI training scheme for all UK workers, with the goal of upskilling 10 million people by 2030. AI has developed at a rapid speed, with a lot of people not managing to keep up with it. This scheme is designed to equip people with the skills they need to get up to speed with AI and understand how they can utlisie AI in the workplace effectively.
The scheme is made up of a range of courses, taking as little time as 20 minutes, that are designed to give people the skills they need to use simple AI tools effectively to improve efficiency and improve confidence. Workers will be taught how to use AI tools to draft text, create content, and even complete admin tasks.
The rapid increase in AI usage has called job security into question for a large portion of the UK workforce, with people fearing their jobs will cease to exist. The Secretary of State for Science, Innovation, and Technology (Liz Kendall) stated that “We want AI to work for Britain, and that means ensuring Britons can work with AI”.
This training scheme is designed to upskill workers so that they can work with AI, not against it. AI starts to threaten job security when workers fall behind and refuse to learn how to use it. This scheme is here to make that simple and ensure that people can feel confident in their role as AI develops even more.
Why AI skills are now essential in the modern workplace
AI skills are quickly becoming vital in the modern workplace for a range of reasons, with efficiency being a huge driving force behind increasing AI usage. An Intelligent SME study found that SMEs spend over an hour a week on admin tasks alone.
This equates to more than 7 full working days each year spent on simple, repetitive tasks. AI can change this. If workers understood how to use AI to perform their repetitive admin tasks, then almost an hour a week could be spent on tasks that make a difference to the business.
Below are just a few benefits of utilising AI in the workplace:
- Increased productivity
- Better decision making
- Time saving across teams
- Improved consistency
- Enhanced employee experience
- Improved collaboration across teams
Microsoft’s Copilot: bringing AI skills into everyday work
Copilot is Microsoft’s answer to the need for an AI workplace tool. Using AI in the workplace is a great way to experience the benefits listed above. There is one downside to AI usage in the workplace that has an easy fix.
If your team are all using different tools for the same tasks there is bound to be some noticeable differences in their outputs. You need a standardised AI solution for your organisation to enable consistency across teams.
Copilot is the solution to this issue. It’s built into all Microsoft 365 applications from Outlook and Teams through to Word and Excel. This means that your team don’t even need to leave the app that they are working in to get help from AI, they can simply ask the built in agent to assist them.
Not only is that a benefit of Copilot but there are endless possibilities to the use of Copilot Agents. They seem daunting at first as you do have to create them yourself but don’t worry as Microsoft has you covered. The Copilot studio (where agents are created) has a range of pre-built agents that are created to complete the most common workplace tasks, from submitting expenses automatically to streamlining your hiring process.
Take a look at some of the capabilities of Copilot and the benefits that you will experience below.
| Capability | Benefit |
| Create a prioritised to-do list from this document | Improved efficiency & productivity |
| Draft an email to a customer | Enhanced customer experience & improved outreach |
| Create a presentation | Time saved & enhanced employee experience |
| Summarise this document | Improved task efficiency & productivity |
| Research market trends | Improved sales strategies |
A combination of Copilot agents and it’s built in functions are bound to provide your team with a whole host of benefits. This paired with the knowledge that you can gain from the AI training scheme will set you up for success in the workplace. You can feel confident when using the tools and you can start to work with AI, not against it.
Preparing your organisation for an AI-enabled future
This government AI scheme is a wake-up call for a lot of organisations up and down the UK. A lot of businesses and employees do already make use of AI day to day but most don’t use a standardised AI provider and many provide little to no training.
This scheme will help organisations of all shapes and sizes upskill their teams and give them the confidence they need to start using AI day to day.
Research published by the government found that only 21% of UK workers feel confident using AI at work. It’s time that this number increases and between this training scheme and the implementation of Copilot, businesses have all the tools they need to do this.
If you want to learn more about Copilot and how various teams in your business from sales to customer service and beyond can benefit from it, read our previous blog post: What is Copilot & how can I use it?
If you’re interested in exploring the training scheme in more depth and want to take part then head over to the AI skills hub.