AI in 2025: The Horse Has Bolted—Why Workforce Training Matters More Than Ever

Thursday, May 15, 2025

Introduction: A Year of AI Acceleration (and a Growing Digital Debt)

There’s no denying it: AI adoption isn’t just on the rise, it’s everywhere. If 2024 was the year when “AI at work” arrived, 2025 is shaping up as the year when companies are racing to keep up, desperate to plug their digital debt and harness AI as a true force multiplier.

The numbers are hard to ignore:

• 98% of organisations are now actively developing, experimenting with, or using generative AI in some way.
• 53% of the workforce says they lack enough time or energy to get their work done.
• “Digital debt” - that overwhelming backlog of messages, meetings, and busywork - has only grown, with interruptions and after-hours work hitting new highs.

But as always, there’s a catch: most of these stats come from the companies selling the AI. More on that in a moment.

How the AI Landscape Has Changed

If last year was about testing the AI waters, this year is about learning how to swim - and fast.

• Ubiquity: Where 75% of global knowledge workers used AI at work last year (up from 46% who’d only started using it in the prior six months), today nearly every company is in the game. This isn’t hype - AI is now mission-critical across sectors.
• Frontier Firms: The rise of what Microsoft calls “Frontier Firms” - businesses blending humans and AI agents to deliver work at a new pace - shows the game is changing. These companies are thriving, not just surviving.
• From Experimentation to Execution: The debate is no longer about whether to use AI, but how to integrate, secure, and scale it for real, lasting value.

Yet, even as adoption surges, both leaders and employees are feeling the squeeze:

• Over 53% report not having enough time or energy - digital debt isn’t shrinking, it’s growing as our tools get smarter but our workflows lag behind.
• The number of daily interruptions and the spread of work into evenings and across time zones continues to climb.

The ChatGPT Boom - The Horse Has Bolted

If you’re still waiting to see if this whole “AI thing” will blow over, well, the horse has truly bolted. The growth in ChatGPT’s adoption over the last year is unlike anything the tech world has seen.

• In just two months (February to April 2025), ChatGPT’s user base exploded by 400 million users, reaching an estimated 960 million monthly active users worldwide.
• To put this into perspective, ChatGPT gained more new users in two months than most platforms do in a decade.
• Daily usage is off the charts: the average user interacts with ChatGPT multiple times a day, with use cases spanning work, learning, personal productivity, and even family life.
• ChatGPT’s mobile apps and enterprise integrations are major drivers, making AI accessible to anyone, anywhere.

You can dig deeper into these mind-boggling stats here at DemandSage, though the key takeaway is this: there’s no going back. The public - and your competition - are running with these tools, not walking.

Why Training the Workforce Matters More Than Ever

Here’s where the rubber meets the road. While the technology is advancing at warp speed, people’s skills - and organisational processes - aren’t always keeping up.

• Skills Gap: 66% of leaders say they wouldn’t hire someone without AI skills, and 76% of employees feel they need AI skills just to stay competitive.
• Training Vacuum: Shockingly, only 39% of people using AI at work have had any company-provided AI training. Even fewer companies (just 25%) are planning to offer generative AI training this year.
• Future-Proofing: The fastest-growing jobs are AI-related, and the LinkedIn data shows a 142x spike in people adding AI skills to their profiles.
• Strategic Imperative: The most successful companies (those “Frontier Firms”) are investing in both upskilling their teams and hiring for AI-specific roles - think AI Trainers, AI Security Specialists, and even Chief AI Officers.

Digital Debt - Why It’s Getting Worse, Not Better

This is the slightly uncomfortable truth, though: for all the promise of AI, our “digital debt” is ballooning.

• Meetings, Chats, and Interruptions: Employees are being interrupted every two minutes, and meetings after hours are up 16% year-on-year.
• Adoption ≠ Productivity: Many firms are rolling out AI, but not seeing a commensurate drop in busywork - because their processes haven’t changed, or their teams aren’t trained to leverage AI strategically.
• The Digital Debt Trap: AI, deployed poorly, can actually create more noise - automating old workflows rather than redesigning them. Training (and leadership) is the lever that turns automation into real productivity.

The Vendor Angle - Remember Who’s Writing These Reports

It would be remiss not to point out the obvious, though: these glowing reports come from companies selling you AI.

• Microsoft and Google are, quite naturally, framing the narrative to support their platforms (Copilot, Gemini, Vertex AI, TPUs, and the rest). Their reports highlight urgency, showcase productivity gaps, and suggest the answer is - surprise! - their tools.
• Take the “AI will fix your digital debt” message with a pinch of salt. Yes, these tools are powerful. But value comes not from buying the shiniest new platform, but from deep, strategic change - built on genuine skills, thoughtful process design, and a culture ready to evolve.

What Needs to Happen Next (Scott’s No-Nonsense Playbook)

This is where things get real, though. If you want your organisation to evolve, not just “transform once and hope for the best,” here’s my take:

1. AI Skills Are Now a Baseline for Relevance - Even at the Top

   • If you’re a CEO or Board member thinking you’ll just “hire someone” to handle AI, you’re missing the point. Your skills aren’t irrelevant - but they are outdated. The talent pipeline is moving faster than you are, and those who don’t upskill personally will be left behind by both peers and competitors.

2. Training Must Be Hands-On, In-Person, and Collaborative

   • Real change happens when people are in a room together, learning by doing. The best sessions I’ve seen aren’t passive webinars, but practical, face-to-face workshops where teams learn from each other as much as from the trainer.

3. Leaders Must Prioritise - and Protect - Learning Time

   • You cannot treat this as a “when there’s time” task. If you don’t carve out time for upskilling, neither will your people. The most effective leaders I’ve worked with are those who model this commitment, rolling up their sleeves and leading from the front.

4. Make Learning Ongoing - Evolution, Not Transformation

   • Don’t expect a one-and-done result. AI (and your business) is evolving constantly. Revisit, review, and refine your processes often. Think of it as a journey of continuous evolution, not a single dramatic leap.

5. Invest in Your Team’s Ideas, Not Just the Tools

   • Once your people are equipped with AI skills, they’ll start to invent their own ways to improve your business. Support these grassroots innovations - don’t just dictate what needs to be done. When people feel ownership, buy-in goes through the roof.

6. Managed AI Support Is Now Mission Critical - But Not From Your MSP

   • Here’s a reality check: 98% of businesses want managed AI support, but your MSP or software provider won’t deliver. They’re focused on break-fix and coding - not on workflow, culture, or business context. You need support from everyday AI users and business experts who can guide you through what’s possible, not just what’s “technically feasible.”

Conclusion: The New Competitive Advantage

AI is no longer a nice-to-have. It’s table stakes. But the true competitive advantage, now and in the years to come, won’t be the AI platform you choose - it’ll be the capability and confidence of your people to make the most of it.

Ask yourself:

• What’s your plan to close the skills gap?
• How are you redesigning work, not just automating tasks?
• Are you measuring progress by productivity and well-being, not just software licenses bought?

Because, though the AI landscape keeps shifting, the best investment is still in your people.

Questions for You

• How have you personally seen digital debt change in your business or clients over the last year? Any specific stories or stats stand out?
• What’s been the most effective form of AI training you’ve seen - hands-on, self-directed, formal courses, or something else?
• Are there any “gotchas” or surprises you’ve hit when trying to get teams to adopt AI?
• Where do you see the biggest risks: not training enough, training the wrong things, or automating the wrong workflows?
• If you could wave a magic wand and fix one thing about how companies adopt AI, what would it be?

Let’s keep the conversation evolving - because staying still is no longer an option.