The importance of AI literacy

Nikolaz Foucaud at Coursera explains why mandated AI training is great news for business

 

At the beginning of February, the EU AI Act, first introduced in June 2023, gained regulatory force, enabling authorities to fine and prosecute EU companies that fail to follow its mandates. The Act is primarily about ensuring safety around AI use. It bans ‘high risk’ applications of the technology, with a particular focus on privacy and civil rights. For example, it bans applications employing automatic biometric recognition in public, social scoring, emotion detection and similar potentially abusable uses.

 

The Act also places a responsibility on companies to establish AI literacy among their employees. This applies not only to those creating AI software, but also those deploying it. This broadens its scope to almost any business, since AI not only has specific applications, but is being progressively embedded into operating systems, office productivity tools and mobile phones. Like it or not, any company that engages with technology is becoming AI-infused.

 

Increased AI literacy for employees is undoubtedly a positive boost. While there may still be some barriers or resistance to training initiatives, this new regulatory push will encourage organisations to take action.

 

The Act’s main goal is to prevent potential harms resulting from the uninformed use of AI, such as accidental leaks of private information or overly trusting general-purpose AI tools. However, it also offers unexpected benefits. When employees better understand how AI can boost productivity, reduce repetitive tasks, and spark creativity, businesses will see increased adoption and innovation. Mass training efforts will help close AI skill gaps, setting the stage for the next wave of digital transformation.

 

 

What the training data shows

At Coursera, we have certainly seen the impact of the demand for AI training. As noted in our Job Skills Report 2025, between 2023 and 2024, we saw an 866% spike in demand for courses in Generative AI, making it the most popular course topic across our entire portfolio.

 

Breaking this down, we saw a 1,100% increase in demand from those already employed, and an even greater demand of 1,600% in the number of job seekers seeking education and qualifications in Generative AI. Interestingly, the spike was lower among students, at 500% annual uplift in learners. The latest Gen Z and Millennial report from the management consultancy Deloitte suggests younger people are more likely to have misgivings about AI than the general population, though they’re also eager to learn more to align with the future of work.

 

The 1,600% surge among those not currently employed is revealing: job seekers have a clear motivation to upskill and make themselves attractive to employers. The acceleration in learner figures among those seeking employment means they clearly view being versed in AI as a vital part of that mission. Meanwhile, the education and technology organisations we work with to offer content are also alert to the demand: they have launched over 400 new courses on the topic of Generative AI.

 

Interestingly, our report also noted ‘Data Ethics’ as the fastest growing topic under the Data Science category. Very much complementing the advances in the number of people ready to make use of AI, and in the spirit of the Act, the ability for organisations to create ethical policies and practices around their use of big data and AI is clearly becoming a highly sought-after skillset.

 

 

Bridging the AI skills gap

When it comes to progress made towards creating an AI-informed workforce, there is still work to be done. The figures around women and AI training are disappointing to anyone focusing on gender equality in the workplace. In our GenAI Gender Gap Report, we found that while UK enrolments in GenAI courses on Coursera soared by 227% over the past year, just 31% of these learners are women. This closely mirrors the 32% global average and highlights a persistent gap in one of tech’s fastest-growing domains. 

 

Despite GenAI’s transformative potential, women account for less than a third of AI-skilled workers globally – a figure that varies significantly by country. In places such as Pakistan and Egypt, female GenAI enrolments fall below 25%, whereas Uzbekistan and Ecuador each approach near parity, at roughly 50% and 48% respectively.

 

These sharp contrasts illustrate how proactive policies, inclusive outreach, and industry support can help bridge the gap. The real-world consequences of this underrepresentation are significant, with studies revealing that 44% of AI systems exhibit gender bias when female perspectives are missing from AI development.

 

It’s important for employers to encourage women to take an equal role in how AI is created, deployed and used in the workplace. And individual females and their allies might see this gender imbalance as a challenge to be picked up and overcome.

 

Diverse, inclusive workplaces are not simply fairer places, they’re also proven time and again to be more innovative and profitable. Resolving this issue is another reason to welcome and celebrate the provisions of the EU AI Act. The Act does not make any stipulations regarding the gender of who needs to become AI literate: it’s everyone.

 

Once again, while the initial instincts that created the Act might have been around product safety, its broader outcomes will push companies in a better direction with regard to the technology in other ways.

 

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Nikolaz Foucaud is Managing Director EMEA at Coursera

 

Main image courtesy of iStockPhoto.com and Laurence Dutton