Overview
Australia faces a significant AI skills shortage that is hampering business adoption of artificial intelligence technologies. Despite projected growth in the number of AI specialists from 40,000 in 2024 to 85,000 by 2027, the country is expected to experience a shortfall of up to 60,000 AI professionals when demand reaches 140,000 roles. This gap mirrors global trends in developed economies where AI adoption is outpacing the development of skilled professionals through retraining and higher education.
RAIL Application
The widening AI skills gap highlights the urgent need for accessible training programmes like RAIL certification. By providing foundation-level AI literacy to existing professionals across various industries, RAIL addresses the immediate need for workforce upskilling while more specialists are being trained. This approach enables organisations to implement AI solutions more effectively without relying solely on scarce specialist talent.
Key quotes
“44 per cent of senior executives cited the lack of access to internal AI skills and resources as the biggest thing holding their company back from implementing generative AI.”
“All sectors need to work together on a range of solutions to address this gap, including reskilling, continued and higher education, and on the job training.”
“The good news is that we expect Australia’s AI talent pool to more than double in the next three years. The challenging part is that this growth won’t be nearly enough to meet forecast demand.”