The event highlighted the importance of how the tech industry needs to be better equipped to provide the appropriate education to upskill their workforce, how businesses should be afforded better access to a skilled workforce, and how DE&I plays a key role in solving the skills gap.

Following the event, Microsoft, FDM and industry leaders, including Sophie Gray – Director of Business Applications (Microsoft), Jacqueline de Rojas (Co-chair, Institute of Coding /  Former President, techUK / President, Digital Leaders) and Jonathan Young – Group CIO (FDM Group), convened to explore the strategies, challenges, and success stories surrounding the adoption of AI technologies, providing a guide for organisations looking to explore the adoption of new AI technology.

A recent Microsoft report found that 69% of business leaders feel that their organisation suffers from a digital skills gap, which is only set to widen as businesses review their digital and AI transformation strategies.

Sophie Gray, Director of Business Applications at Microsoft, commented: “Generative AI is a fascinating and promising topic, enabling new possibilities for innovation, efficiency, and quality across all industries. The future of Generative AI is not only about what it can do, but also how it can do it. Human values, goals, and expectations must thrive to unlock maximum opportunity.”

Earlier this year Microsoft released its roadmap around AI Solutions, including Bing Chat Enterprise, Microsoft 365 Copilot, and Microsoft Fabric.

Jonathan Young, Group Chief Information Officer at FDM Group, is currently doing research into using AI to identify and close the digital skills gap.

He comments: “I strongly believe that, if we are to address this issue, we should be thinking about the ‘missing 10% and the missing 34%.’ By this I mean the missing 10% of BAME employees in the technology industry and the missing 34% of women.” And he further mentioned, “It’s early days in our work but the initial data gathering is extremely encouraging and some initial ‘passes’ with some AI engines have shown that the data is rich and starts to reveal some interesting patterns. I guess it’s a case of ‘watch this space’.”

Jacqueline de Rojas, Co-chair, Institute of Coding / Board Member & Former President, techUK / President, Digital Leaders, commented: "Generative AI is a significant technological shift, which is changing the way we do things at scale and at speed. It offers creativity, efficiency, and the potential for positive change, making it a thrilling and promising technology for humans to embrace and shape our digital future.

However, its effectiveness and potential for positive impact heavily depends on the availability of high-quality and DIVERSE data, which must serve as the foundation for training and refining AI systems, which work for everybody. #inclusionmatters"