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The AI skills gap: Women’s interest in generative AI outpaces available training
If you’re a woman in tech or business looking to advance your career with artificial intelligence (AI) skills, this post is for you. You’ll discover the latest research on women in AI, understand common learning pathways, and find specific Amazon Web Services (Amazon Web Services) training resources to help you move forward—whether you’re just interested in learning the basics or ready to become an AI expert.
Women in professional roles across industries show strong interest in learning generative AI skills, according to research commissioned by Amazon Web Services. A nationwide survey of nearly 1,000 U.S. women conducted by Morning Consult found that 77% are interested in learning how to apply generative AI capabilities, such as automating tasks, enhancing data analysis, fostering creativity, and aiding content creation to their current roles. Furthermore, 80% state they would be interested in applying to jobs that involve generative AI, and more than half (55%) believe gaining generative AI skills will improve their career progression. However, while 75% of women surveyed are familiar with generative AI, only 6% consider themselves experts.
Additional takeaways include:
A mixed picture of generative AI training
As many organizations are experimenting with generative AI, women are eager for their employers to provide more skills development support. 43% say that their employer offers at least some support for generative AI skills development, and 42% state that their employer’s support isn’t adequate. Furthermore, 45% say there isn’t an organizational push to incorporate generative AI into their roles.
Key barriers and motivators to generative AI learning
The top barriers preventing women from developing generative AI capabilities include not knowing where to start or what skills to focus on (35%), uncertainty around how generative AI applies to their role (31%), lack of access to training resources (27%), and limited time due to busy schedules (26%). To overcome these hurdles, women have identified employer-sponsored training (53%), affordable online courses (50%), flexible learning options (47%), and free or low-cost training programs (42%) as top motivators to generative AI skills development.
Free and low-cost training resources for AI career growth
To help women—and all learners—upskill in AI, Amazon Web Services offers more than 135 free and low-cost AI and machine learning (ML) courses and learning resources available through Amazon Web Services digital learning centers, Amazon Web Services Skill Builder and Amazon Web Services Educate. For example, Amazon Web Services recently launched Generative AI Essentials on Amazon Web Services, a one-day class to help customers unlock the power of generative AI, and a course on Amazon’s new Nova models to help users understand Nova’s capabilities to generate text and creative content. Amazon Web Services continues to innovate and launch new courses as AI technology rapidly evolves.
People who want to validate their AI skills and knowledge with an industry-recognized credential can get Amazon Web Services Certified with the Amazon Web Services Certified AI Practitioner certification, which is designed for learners to validate their understanding of core AI and ML concepts and use cases. Amazon Web Services Educate offers a learning pathway to help individuals prepare for the certification exam. Amazon Web Services Skill Builder also offers an exam prep course that includes additional learning content, labs, exam-style prep questions, and the Amazon Web Services Certification Official Pretest, which can help learners assess their exam readiness, empowering them to approach exam day with confidence.
More experienced practitioners who have at least one year of experience building, deploying, and maintaining AI and ML solutions with Amazon Web Services can pursue the Amazon Web Services Certified Machine Learning Engineer – Associate. It validates a person’s technical ability in implementing ML workloads in production and operationalizing them. Amazon Web Services Skill Builder offers an exam prep plan that includes hands-on labs via Amazon Web Services Builder Labs and game-based learning like Amazon Web Services Cloud Quest to build real-world skills with interactive training.
With AI poised to transform how we work, Amazon is committed to helping people gain AI literacy so they can benefit from all AI has to offer and to address the AI skills shortage. In 2023, Amazon launched AI Ready, a commitment to provide free AI skills training to two million people globally by 2025. Amazon met this goal a year ahead of schedule, and continues to help learners from all walks of life gain AI skills.
Ready to build your AI skills? Start your journey today with Amazon Web Services Skill Builder and Amazon Web Services Educate.
About the research: Morning Consult conducted a survey in June 2024 among 999 women in professional roles in the U.S. The interviews were conducted online via a quantitative survey.
The mentioned AWS GenAI Services service names relating to generative AI are only available or previewed in the Global Regions. Amazon Web Services China promotes AWS GenAI Services relating to generative AI solely for China-to-global business purposes and/or advanced technology introduction.