The Green Room podcast
How do we turn AI ambition into a national advantage?
Winning the AI race requires more than a small number of highly skilled teams. It needs a whole country getting an opportunity.
How do you upskill an entire nation?
Ambition tells us where we’re going, but foundations are what get us there.
The UK is on a growing list of countries that have set out an ambitious vision for how AI could provide a better future.
And for those who succeed, the prize is significant.
A future powered by AI could bring economic growth, increased productivity, improved public services, and new opportunities across society.
But ambition alone isn’t enough. Success means building the right foundations, from skills and infrastructure to regulation and investment. Because only when people are able to use it confidently and productively, can the true power of AI be realised.
So what does it mean to equip a nation for change? Why is learning becoming a core skill? And how do businesses ensure the opportunities we get from AI are widely shared?
Watch below, or listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. Read the transcript here.
I think here in the UK, we have many of the strong foundations to make this a success for the economy as a whole. But we're really at a key sort of inflection point. So now is really the moment to focus on how we can move from seeing the potential to really delivering that at scale.
Sharon Hague – UK CEO, Pearson
Do we need to learn how to learn?
The skills we need for work are constantly evolving – and AI is only accelerating that pace of change.
That makes the ability to learn and adapt more valuable than mastering any single tool. Sharon Hague, UK CEO of Pearson, listed it as “one of the key skills” we all need for the future due to a “need to work in reshaped roles”. AI continues to change not just the way we work, but the roles that exist too.
But this can’t be left entirely to individuals.
Education providers, employers and government all have a part to play. Creating routes into learning throughout people’s lives – not just at the beginning of their careers. And, according to Deloitte’s Education Practice UK lead Oli Seal, “we have that responsibility as individuals and as businesses to really start on that journey today.”
The goal isn’t to predict every skill of the future. But to give everyone the confidence and opportunity to keep developing their skills as the future takes shape.
Or, as Oli puts it – it’s time to get our mojo back!
Explore more about workplace learning & development with our special episode recorded at Deloitte University EMEA, Paris: What do we need to learn about learning?
“There is enormous opportunity to grow the economy, but that growth has to be inclusive.”
An AI strategy can’t create national success if the benefits are available only to the people, organisations or regions already best equipped to access them.
Within the UK’s AI strategy, the government highlighted AI growth zones – areas where investment can happen more quickly while distributing funding across the country - helping to avoid a new digital divide.
Whether it’s regional or between the companies who can and can’t afford to invest in AI training, Sharon Hague explained that “it’s incredibly important that we work collectively to make sure that opportunities aren’t concentrated in only certain types of organisations or in certain parts of the country.”
She continued, “there is a big opportunity… public private partnership can be a really good way to help spread the opportunity.”
Oli Seal encouraged the UK to “build on our world leading education sector” and use the national advantages available to us. Because the opportunity only becomes national when progress is not concentrated among the early adopters.
Matching ambition with execution
Explore more about the foundations required to turn AI ambition into economic and social value in our conversation with Sharon Hague and Oliver Seal.
They discuss lifelong learning, digital inclusion, the relationship between education and business, and why national success must be built on adaptability and confidence.
Watch below, or listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Read the transcript here.
Old models of training and learning skills for the workplace are just no longer going to really be relevant or apply in a world where technology and AI is moving so rapidly.
Sharon Hague – UK CEO, Pearson
Let’s make this work.
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