Dive Brief:
- Data and artificial intelligence literacy skills are no longer considered specialized, a new report concluded, and instead have “crossed a critical threshold” as something widely expected in the workplace.
- Nearly 9 in 10 leaders surveyed rated basic data literacy skills as either important or very important, and a similar percentage said the same of a worker’s ability to write, according to the 2026 State of Data & AI Literacy Report, released Thursday by DataCamp, a platform for data and AI skill building.
- “Data and AI skills are now as fundamental to modern work as the ability to write,” per the report. “We don’t treat writing as optional; we expect it from everyone. We practice it constantly, because it’s simply built into how we work.”
Dive Insight:
AI skills are widely considered the most important in the workplace, the report found. Yet, of the more than 500 U.S. and U.K. business leaders surveyed, about half reported “significant” skills gaps within their company.
AI-related skills, for the first time, are the most challenging for employers to find globally, passing traditional IT and engineering skills, a February report by Manpower Group found.
“This historic shift highlights a new era in the persistent global talent crisis,” ManpowerGroup said.
The need for AI skills doesn’t exclude HR either. A February LinkedIn report found that AI literacy was the second fast-growing skillset for the profession.
In some cases, skill needs are evolving too quickly for companies’ training cycles, according to a February report by Info-Tech, a research and advisory firm. For example, IT workers’ core responsibilities change about every 18 months, but training is only “periodic” and treated “as a benefit instead of a business discipline,” the organization said.