One million Australians and New Zealanders will be offered AI training over the next two years in a campaign to encourage the workforce to use the technology, and, in some cases, help workers keep their jobs.

Microsoft announced its national education initiative on Wednesday, building on an earlier digital skills training commitment and making Australia one of 20 markets worldwide to receive an AI training investment.

The plan comes after the International Monetary Fund predicted up to 60 per cent of jobs could be affected by the arrival of generative AI, and the Tech Council of Australia forecast it could create as many as 200,000 jobs by 2030.

Microsoft announced the training program on the eve of its AI Tour event in Sydney, committing the company to help train Australians in a range of AI skills by the end of 2026.

The company will partner with education providers, not-for-profit firms, businesses and government organisations to deliver courses, Microsoft philanthropies corporate vice-president ​​Kate Behncken said.

“We’re in a very unique moment in time with this new era of AI and these new generative AI technologies are really rapidly changing just so much about how we work, how we learn, how we connect,” she said.

“It’s such a pivotal moment in terms of … the opportunity that we have to shape the future of the global economy with AI.”

AI courses supported by Microsoft will range from basic skills to more advanced engineering, Ms Behncken told AAP, and would be designed to capture a wide audience to ensure workers were not left behind.

“I heard somebody say recently, ‘your job may not be taken by AI but it’s likely to be taken by somebody who knows how to use it,’ and I think that that is true,” she said.

“Our focus is very much on helping everybody get a level of AI fluency.”

Microsoft’s AI training program is a global initiative offered across 20 nations and will build on the company’s October 2023 commitment to train 300,000 Australians in digital skills.

The tech giant had already partnered with TAFE NSW for digital skills training, and its Institute of Applied Technology operations director Helen Fremlin said consumers were increasingly looking for trustworthy AI training opportunities.

“We’ve found that there’s a great thirst in the market for that information and for credible sources of information about how to use AI,” she said.

“We’re not just talking about technicians and we’re not talking about people in the digital sector – we’re talking about education that needs to reach everyone.”

More than 50,000 students had undertaken AI short courses at TAFE over the last six months, Ms Fremlin said, and demand was likely to increase as generative AI tools changed the workforce.

“For us, success means that people whose jobs are changing have got access to the learning to help them upskill into their job and people whose jobs may be completely changed and disappearing can actually access the training they need to get the new jobs that will be created as a part of this boom,” she said.

The Tech Council of Australia predicted up to 200,000 jobs could be created using AI technologies by 2030, which could add up to $115 billion to the economy.

 

Jennifer Dudley-Nicholson
(Australian Associated Press)