UK government signs more partners to boost AI skills across the country

The UK government has announced that over a million artificial intelligence (AI) training courses have been completed since the AI Skills Boost programme was introduced in June 2025.

The initiative is part of the government’s goal to ensure the UK workforce is adequately skilled, confident and ready to grasp the full opportunities of AI. A suite of industry-developed AI-focused courses is now available on the government’s AI Skills Hub.

The courses, which the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) said can be completed in under 20 minutes, are available online and open to all UK adults. These courses aim to provide people with the skills needed to use simple AI tools effectively in the workplace by teaching the use of AI for tasks such as drafting text, creating content and completing administrative duties to free up time to focus on other work.

The chair of Skills England and co-chair of the Digital Skills Council, Phil Smith, said: “AI is moving at an incredible pace and presents huge opportunity for productivity and growth. Skills England has worked rapidly with tech companies to make sure the courses chosen for the AI Skills Boost programme provide the quality and capability businesses need right now.

“It’s also a huge step forward that everyone who completes these short courses will get digital badges that properly recognise what they’ve learned. It’s a simple idea that will make a huge difference.”

When it was launched in June 2025, Accenture, Amazon, Barclays, BT, Google, IBM, Intuit, Microsoft, Sage and SAS were among the founding partners of the AI Skills Boost programme. These companies are committed to helping the government boost AI skills in the workforce.

They have now been joined by the British Chambers of Commerce, Cisco, Cognizant, the Confederation of British Industry, the Department for Education, the Department for Work and Pensions, the Federation of Small Businesses, the Institute of Directors, the Local Government Association, Multiverse, the NHS, Pax8 and TechUK.

The government is promoting the courses to NHS workers and local government employees as part of its goal to reach 10 million workers this decade. According to DSIT, this is equivalent to upskilling nearly a third of the UK workforce and would mean reaching at least two million employees in small and mid-sized organisations.

We want AI to work for Britain, and that means ensuring Britons can work with AI

The secretary of state for science, innovation and technology, Liz Kendall, said: “We want AI to work for Britain, and that means ensuring Britons can work with AI. Change is inevitable, but the consequences of change are not. We will protect people from the risks of AI while ensuring everyone can share in its benefits. That starts with giving people the skills and confidence they need to seize the opportunities AI brings, putting the power and control into their hands.”

As part of the government’s drive to promote the adoption of AI skills across the UK workforce, it has provided £27m of funding to connect people to tech jobs in local communities and create new professional practice courses and graduate traineeships.

Discussing the benefits of providing AI training to the workforce, Stephen Flaherty, chief technology officer at Barclays, said: “Having rolled out AI access to 100,000 Barclays colleagues globally, we are seeing first-hand the benefits the technology can unlock when it is used thoughtfully and responsibly. The potential of AI is transformative, and by supporting practical, accessible training at scale, this programme can help ensure innovation delivers real value for workers, businesses and the wider economy.”