AI Skills Hub – What an embarrassment
Technology Secretary Liz Kendall announced last week a government scheme to provide free online AI training courses for every adult in the UK, to enable people to “get the jobs and opportunities of the future”. I listed to her announce this with great fanfare on Times radio and then checked out the hub. What a complete waste of time, resources and it seems £4 million.
See for yourself how bad it is https://aiskillshub.org.uk/
Kendall should be embarrassed, as this is a collection of links to pre-existing and mainly commercial courses – There is nothing like an Introduction to AI or AI for the Great British Public. The sites asks you a few questions about your skills and industry and then suggest courses on your path to AI enlightenment. I was directed at AI Filmmakers masterclass run by Cineprolab for £750 and MoonMax – AI Advertising for £590. Nice courses I guess but a long way for AI skills and certainly not free.
There are no AI courses created by the department or hub.
The Telegraph report slams the events by saying that the “AI Skills Hub” designed to train millions of people on how to use AI, advertises courses that are unable to be completed or do not exist at all.
Others are more than two decades old or require attendance at workshops in rural Canada.
Procurement documents show the Government has paid PwC £4.1m to build the skills hub, organise what courses are provided and research skills gaps.
The Conservatives called the website “embarrassing” and said the Government was “wasting taxpayers’ money”.
Labour said this week that the website would “upskill” 10 million workers by offering them free online courses as part of a push to modernise the economy and protect workers from the threat of AI taking their jobs.
The website will not up-skill a single person let alone transform 10 million people. The only thing it has transformed is £ 4M to PWC bank account.
