Employers willing to pay eight per cent premium, or about $5,408, for candidates with data and digital skills
Despite the anticipated workplace transformation due to artificial intelligence, 47% of Australian employees said they have never used generative AI in their role.
This is according to a new report from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT), which revealed that Australians aren't seeing the potential impact of generative AI to their roles.
According to the report, 73% of Australians don't think generative AI is relevant.
This comes despite previous research from the Australian Computer Society, which found that 95% of the workforce will be impacted by critical technologies, which includes artificial intelligence.
Digital skills gap with AI
The low utilisation of AI among employees also comes amid a "prominent digital skills gap" in Australia, according to the RMIT report.
In fact, employers in the report said they are willing to pay an eight per cent premium, or about $5,408, for candidates with data and digital skills.
"The digital skills gap Australia is experiencing has been further exacerbated by the emergence of critical technologies such as AI and we must not be complacent in our attitudes to reskilling and upskilling if we are to keep pace with our international counterparts," said Nic Cola, CEO of RMIT Online, in a statement.
Lagging training and development efforts
John O'Mahoney, partner at Deloitte Access Economics, also said employers can use generative AI to create tailored learning and development content to accelerate learning speed and retention among employees.
In Australia, the report said training spend is expected to increase overall this year, but it doubted whether it would be enough to address the country's skills gaps.
In fact, one in eight employers said they are planning to spend less on learning and development in 2024.
On digital skills, 78% of the employers surveyed said they have either not provided, or are unaware of, generative AI training in their organisation.
"This suggests while businesses are spending more, even more investment is needed to build the pipeline of skills needed to keep pace with change."
