Demand for AI literacy surges, but what skills do we need?

A new study from Microsoft shows that the pace of work is exceeding our ability to keep up, which subsequently limits innovation and inhibits strategic thinking. According to the study, 68% of Australian workers struggle to find the time and energy required to achieve what they need to do, while two-thirds of Australian leaders are concerned about a lack of innovation or breakthrough ideas.

“In a world where creativity is the new productivity, the amount of time we spend in meetings, managing emails, and chats is more than just an inconvenience. It significantly impacts the results of businesses," said Jane Mackarell, Microsoft ANZ’s Modern Work and Surface Business Group Director.

“There’s an enormous opportunity for AI-powered tools to help lift the weight of work and not only empower employees with greater productivity but bring them back to what I call ‘the soul of work’ – work that is more fulfilling, creative and impactful. When we free the mind, we give ourselves the space to think strategically, and as a result, feel more fulfilled in our work.”

The 2023 Australian Work Trend Index report, ‘Will AI fix Work?’, shares three key insights for business leaders as they look to understand and responsibly adopt AI for their organisation:

• Digital debt is costing us innovation: Over half of Australians (57%) have struggled with finding time and energy to get their work done, and those workers are 3.4 times more likely to say they struggle with innovation, with two-thirds of business leaders expressing their concerns around this.
• An unexpected AI–employee alliance emerges: While 46% of Australian workers said they’re worried AI will end up replacing their jobs, 2 in 3 people are comfortable using AI to support their role. Additionally, 64% of Australians said they would delegate as much work to AI as possible to lessen their workloads, suggesting they are optimistic about the role of AI in the workplace. Business leaders also indicated AI would be of value to the workplace, helping to boost productivity rather than cutting headcount (in fact that was ranked last).
• Work will demand a new AI aptitude: Findings revealed employees feel they need to be educated with new core competencies in AI, saying they currently don’t have the right capabilities to get their work done (56%). Leaders throughout Australia (85%) said employees they hire will need new skills to be prepared for the growth of AI.
   

“It’s fascinating to see that while there is still fear around AI potentially eliminating jobs, people are actually more excited about AI rescuing them from burnout,” Mackarell said.

Other findings of the global report show:

• Communication takes up to 57% of employees’ time, while creation represents the other 43%.
• The top three skills for the Era of AI are: analytical judgement (30%), flexibility (29%) and emotional intelligence (27%).
• Asked to imagine work in 2030, people say the most valuable changes are those that save them time producing high-quality work and learning new skills.
• Managers expect that the three most valuable benefits generated by AI are: increased productivity (31%), helping employees with repetitive/mundane tasks (29%) and increased employee wellbeing (26%).
• The three least valued benefits were removing the coordination challenges of hybrid work (20%), increasing inclusivity (18%), and reducing headcounts (16%).
   

To empower businesses in the AI era, Microsoft is also introducing the Microsoft 365 Copilot Early Access Program with an initial wave of 600 enterprise customers worldwide in an invitation-only paid preview program. In addition, new capabilities will be added to Microsoft 365 Copilot and Microsoft Viva.

“Next-generation AI will lift the weight of work, and organisations that move first to embrace it will increase creativity and productivity for everyone. Microsoft 365 Copilot was launched earlier this year, bringing powerful new generative AI capabilities to apps people use every day like Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Microsoft Teams and more,” Mackarell said.

The 2023 report derived results from an external study of 31,000 people in 31 countries, including 1000 Australians across multiple industries. The report unearthed key insights business leaders should consider as they look to understand and responsibly adopt AI for their organisation.

Image credit: iStock.com/gremlin