Exclusive: Building a Workforce for Maximum AI Impact

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming industries, but businesses face a skills gap in fully leveraging its potential. In this article, Alan Jacobson, Chief Data and Analytics Officer at Alteryx, highlights that while 65% of UAE IT leaders have accelerated AI adoption, technical expertise is often prioritized over soft skills. However, a balanced approach integrating both technical and soft skills, such as empathy and collaboration, is key to effectively harnessing AI and supporting a more adaptable, innovative workforce.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming industries, and businesses are actively exploring its potential. However, a new study reveals a gap between AI adoption and understanding what skills are necessary to fully unlock the potential of AI.

A recent survey of IT leaders in the UAE by IBM revealed that 65% reported a marked acceleration in AI implementation over the last two years, reshaping business operations and enhancing market competitiveness. Yet, the focus remains heavily on technical expertise; hard skills continue to be the priority for leaders, with expertise in emerging technologies (27%) and data analysis and mining (23%) cited as the most essential skills in preparing employees for a technology-driven future. While these are of course important in some roles, they’re not critical for the entire workforce in adopting AI.

In the UAE, a balanced approach combining technical prowess with soft skills such as empathy, collaboration, and leadership is increasingly recognized as essential in leveraging AI effectively within organizations. According to a study by Microsoft, UAE businesses gain the most from AI when they complement technological deployment with comprehensive skilling initiatives that equally prioritize these soft skills. This approach not only enhances the integration of AI in various business processes but also supports a workforce that is adaptable and innovative in a technologically advancing landscape. Successful AI use involves being able to interrogate AI outputs and having the right tools in place to empower non-technical users to engage with it.

By failing to recognise how essential soft skills are for scaling the use of AI successfully, the benefits of automation and data-powered insights will be limited to those with the technical expertise to use it. That is despite leaders acknowledging there is ambition outside of the tech team to use oI;39% said that their marketing and communications departments have expressed demand for harnessing AI both in the short and long term.

Undervaluing soft skills can also leave the business vulnerable to unintentional misuse of AI. 73% of business leaders admitted they have concerns over the accuracy of AI-produced answers in their organisation. This makes the need for critical thinkers within the workforce, who can assess and scrutinise AI outputs, essential.

Creating a data-literate culture

For employees to fully participate in AI and data analytics, more needs to be done to ensure the right foundational skills are in place. Not every employee needs to become a data scientist for AI to have widespread benefits in an organisation. What is needed instead is ongoing investment in people to foster a data and analytics-centric culture and this includes the reappreciation of soft skills. This can begin in the hiring process, but there should also be constant upskilling and training opportunities for existing employees, ensuring every team member understands the importance of data and feels empowered to contribute.

Being data literate is essential for the successful implementation of AI and softer skills are integral. Creativity allows employees to identify more innovative ways to use data. Critical thinking is essential in evaluating AI answers to overcome issues such as hallucinations and misinformation so that employees and organisations can avoid ethical and legal issues. Collaboration skills enable team members to work with AI with empathy and more nuanced ideas while technology takes care of manual and repetitive tasks.

Ensuring all employees are developing these skills through training opportunities and combining this with access to and learning on low and no-code applications offers the benefits of data analytics to non-technical staff and fosters a culture of creative, analytics-supported decision-making throughout an entire organisation.

The rise of the CAIO and evolving AI-focused roles

Ensuring the upskilling of the workforce and the harmonious rollout of AI also requires a shift in how workforces are structured. In the UAE, the role of Chief AI Officer (CAIO) is also gaining prominence, with a focus on integrating AI across various sectors as a part of the UAE’s National AI Strategy 2031, which aims to make the UAE a global leader in AI by enhancing the digital skills of government officials and decision-makers. Sixty-one per cent (61%) of business leaders anticipate the emergence of the Chief AI Officer (CAIO) role to fill this need. The CAIO title is in its early days, with just over 400 people on LinkedIn holding it, but it will be critical to a holistic approach to AI strategy that collaborates with business units from IT and compliance to HR and People teams.

CAIO is just one of the emerging roles brought about by the advent of AI as businesses switch from exploration mode to full-scale rollout. Currently, AI application engineers (37%), responsible for designing and developing AI-powered models, followed by AI research scientists (33%), who drive innovation through the research and development of AI systems, are the most pressing priority for leaders. Comparatively, just 17% said that they are urgently looking to hire AI whisperers and prompt engineers, tasked with communicating with and guiding AI systems, but over half (56%) expect these roles to be a necessity in the future.

In addition to these new opportunities, HR departments must be aware of the technical skills that AI will take over and how this will impact job roles. Repetitive coding, database administration, and AI/ML development are among the skills that AI can develop, and this means that certain roles within businesses will evolve.

For businesses in the UAE, rolling out AI successfully and unlocking its true value entails a strategic focus on upskilling the workforce and integrating AI into business processes, as evidenced by the significant number of UAE companies actively deploying AI.

Nurturing skills that allow everyone to look at business problems through an analytical lens as well as developing the abilities of those in AI-specific roles through constant training and upskilling is key to building the AI-ready workforce of the future.