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By 2030, at least 729 million people in the six foremost countries for AI development—the U.S., U.K., Germany, Italy, Japan, and France—will be using AI tools. That’s more than twice the current figure of 314 million globally, according to recent data released from a fresh IBM study.
But for people to use AI effectively in their roles, they need upskilling. “AI will impact every job role, and upskilling is needed for every single person, regardless of their age or profession, or whether they’re in college, a postgraduate student, or well into their career,” says IBM vice president and Chief Impact Officer Justina Nixon-Saintil.
“I remember in my day when the worldwide web came out. Internet was the new buzz, and you couldn’t go to a job interview without a mention of how you use the internet. In the same way, it’s going to be the same thing with AI. This technology will be part of interview questions regardless of the role you’re applying for,” Nixon-Saintil continued.
5 Free AI Courses
Some 450 million people—more than half of those who use AI tools—will need upskilling for AI by 2030, and 30% will rely on non-traditional education methods, such as online certifications and short courses, the study revealed. This involves you and your immediate future, so it’s critical to be proactive in developing AI skills and awareness to keep up with this rapidly deployed technology, and you can achieve this through being part of the 30% and learning in-demand AI skills on-the-go.
If you want to know what short courses with badges and certificates you can take for free (or almost free using Coursera’s financial aid), you can check out:
- AI Foundations (IBM SkillsBuild)
- Generative AI Fundamentals (Databricks)
- Artificial Intelligence Fundamentals (IBM SkillsBuild)
- Artificial Intelligence in Marketing (University of Virginia, Coursera)
- Build Your Own Chatbots (IBM SkillsBuild)
4 AI Skills You Need For 2025
As artificial intelligence evolves and continues to be implemented in organizations, there are specific skill gaps that you need to address in your professional life, so you can remain relevant in your current role and progress to other career opportunities in the future.
1. AI Fluency
The first is AI fluency, Nixon-Saintil points out. You need to understand basic terminology, how artificial intelligence works, and prompt writing. This also includes AI ethics and understanding what what shadow AI is (using AI tools in a way that could put you or your company in jeopardy) and how to prevent it. Once you have general AI literacy, you then need to tailor your learning to understand applied AI.
2. Applied AI
Applied AI is when you learn skills to practically apply AI to your role and department so its effect is more tangible. For example, generative AI is already quite effective, but it increases its impact when you learn how to use it in marketing, in HR, in creating an improved user experience, and in building personalized learning experiences (these are just a handful of examples).
3. AI-Building Skills
Beyond this, if you’re in a more technical field, you need more specific AI-building knowledge, to understand the science behind LLMs and artificial intelligence. Hard skills like data analytics are also relevant for these professions. And with the introduction of AI agents (the latest trend in AI and tech), if you’re in a leadership or management role, you need to learn how to manage a hybrid team that is part human, part AI.
4. Power Skills
Another set of skills you’ll need, which are just as critical to AI implementation as the more technical skill sets, are now known as power skills (previously referred to as soft skills). “These include learning about design thinking methodologies, creative thinking, problem-solving, communication skills, and other relevant skills you need to be successful in the workplace,” Nixon-Saintil explains.
Investing in developing your AI skills is one of the most important professional endeavors you can make you advance your career. And with platforms like IBM SkillsBuild, Coursera, Codeacademy, and other online resources, you can learn the most in-demand, high-income skills of the future for little to no cost at all.
To have a successful career, you need power skills, AI literacy, and applied AI skills
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So, what’s stopping you from learning your first course module now?