RMIT Study Reveals That 73% Of Employees Don’t Believe Gen AI Is Relevant

Research from RMIT Online in partnership with Deloitte Access Economics, reveals Australians lack a crucial understanding as to the extent Generative AI is expected to disrupt their roles.

The ‘Ready, Set, Upskill’ report highlights that almost half (47 per cent) of employees have never used Generative AI in their role, and 73 per cent say this is because they don’t believe Generative AI is relevant. This is contrasted to research by the Australian Computer Society, which shows that 86 per cent of all occupations will be affected.

Additionally, previous research conducted by Deloitte highlights just 5 per cent of Australian businesses are fully prepared to deploy and leverage AI.

Across a range of digital skills, roughly a third (between 29-36 per cent) of employees said they are lacking fundamental digital skills, or their skill level is out of date, while employers identified AI or machine learning as the top digital skills they lacked within their organisation, followed by data science, coding and cyber security.

The crucial lack of digital skills across the workforce means businesses are willing to pay an 8 per cent premium (or $5,408) for candidates with data and digital skills.

“Generative AI is unlike any past digital disruption. It will continue to transform the way we learn and work, level the playing field and create new roles and job disruptions. 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,” says Nic Cola, CEO, RMIT Online.

The continued increase in demand for digital skills and the urgency to remedy digital skills gaps reflect the seismic digital transition across the Australian economy.

“Generative AI capitalises on aspects where traditional learning and development falls short. Therefore, it will play a critical role in Australia’s skills transition. Employers can use Generative AI to create tailored learning and development content for their employees, which accelerates their learning speed and retention,” says John O’Mahony, partner at Deloitte Access Economics.

More than three-quarters (78 per cent) of surveyed employers have either not provided or are unaware of Generative AI training in their organisation.

Previous research also shows that the five industries facing a ‘short fuse, big bang’ scenario, where Generative AI has a fast and significant impact, are financial services, ICT and media, professional services, education, and wholesale trade. These industries account for 26 per cent of the Australian economy, equivalent to nearly $600 billion in economic activity.

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