The business conversation about artificial intelligence has been focused on tools, automation and productivity for more than two years. But as companies accelerate their investments, a problem is emerging: employees still don’t know how to integrate AI into their daily work. And that is slowing down the transformation.

This is according to “The AI ​​Readiness Gap”, a new report prepared by the corporate learning platform Docebo based on a survey of 2,000 professionals from the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany and Italy. The study concludes that the main bottleneck of AI is training and organizational.

The most significant data is that 85% of workers consider that the AI ​​training they receive does not really help them understand how to apply these tools in their specific position. Furthermore, one in five claim to have not received any type of training related to artificial intelligence.

The report points to a disconnect between the speed with which companies deploy AI tools and people’s actual ability to use them. “Organizations have accelerated deployment without building the infrastructure their employees need to keep pace”says Alessio Artuffo, CEO of Docebo.

The research maintains that many companies continue to measure the wrong indicators: licenses contracted, tools deployed or modules completed. However, he believes that the real indicator should be the practical ability to apply AI in daily work. “If you cannot demonstrate that a person knows how to apply what they have learned to their specific function, you do not have an AI strategy; you have an expense in AI”summarizes the document.

Literacy in AI and applied skills related to this technology appear as the main training priority for both employees and those responsible for training and human resources. However, actual implementation remains limited: 91% of learning leaders acknowledge that their organization has not yet used AI to deeply redefine their workflows.

The study also identifies a number of barriers that are slowing down effective adoption. The first is time. 56% of employees say they do not have enough time during the day to complete training, while 64% of learning managers say they do not find time to provide it either.
Added to this is an integration problem. 78% of employees say that training does not appear within the tools they already use in their usual workflow. According to the report, this makes learning a separate task from productivity, rather than integrated into it.

Another of the most relevant findings is the lack of personalization. 79% of workers consider that their learning experience is not truly adapted to their needs, while 63% of training managers admit the same lack. The report argues that corporate AI will only be able to scale effectively if organizations build learning systems tied to real work, personalized to each role and connected to skills and performance data. In this sense, it suggests that “skills intelligence” or capabilities intelligence will be one of the great strategic axes of the coming years.

According to the document, the solution is to abandon static training models and build systems capable of detecting new skills, identifying gaps, recommending personalized learning and validating progress continuously.
Another relevant idea also emerges: in the midst of the expansion of AI, human skills gain strategic weight. Leadership, critical thinking, creativity or collaboration are among the skills most in demand by companies along with literacy in artificial intelligence.

From Docebo they maintain that the organizations that lead the next stage of AI will not necessarily be those that have deployed tools the fastest. The competitive advantage will be in those that have been able to develop human capabilities around them.

More info: “The AI ​​Readiness Gap”