Photo by Ono Kosuki
Corporate retraining efforts are in their early stages as businesses figure out how to deal with AI’s impact on various roles. While some positions may be eliminated, others require additional skills and training. Companies like Jones Lang LaSalle and Salesforce have launched AI training programs so that their employees can work alongside AI.
Amazon is launching an “AI Ready” program to potential staff in artificial intelligence (AI) skills, aiming to compete with tech giants like Microsoft, and Google in the race for talent.
Here are five things to know.
The free courses are available online through the e-commerce giant’s learning website and are available for non-Amazon employees. The classes target beginners and experienced individuals in tech-related roles. This initiative reflects the growing awareness among companies of AI’s potential to reshape the job market and the need for a skilled workforce to embrace it.
The program plans to train at least two million people by 2025 in basic to advanced AI skills, including generative AI, which powers language-based models like ChatGPT.
Like it or not, AI is here, and it seems it’s here to stay in the workplace.
AI “is going to be the most transformative technology we encounter in our generation, but it won’t reach its full potential unless we really have the workforce ready to embrace it and turbocharge it in a big way,” Swami Sivasubramanian, Amazon’s vice president of data and AI, told The Wall Street Journal.
According to an Amazon survey done with consulting firm Access Partnership, nearly three-fourths of employers can’t find the AI talent they require despite planning to deploy AI in the next five years. Amazon’s “AI Ready” program aims to address this shortage by offering free courses and scholarships for AI education, Engadget reported.
The move comes as Amazon looks to catch up with competitors like Microsoft and Google in the AI space. Amazon is betting on generative AI’s potential to contribute billions of dollars to its Amazon Web Services division and is investing heavily in the technology. The company’s goal is to train its workforce and benefit its enterprise customers by ensuring they have access to AI-educated employees with skills like prompt engineering.
Photo by Ono Kosuki: https://www.pexels.com/photo/thoughtful-black-woman-using-laptop-for-business-project-5999823/
