As Alberta navigates the current and long-term economic impacts of the pandemic and fluctuations in energy prices, businesses are looking to the future of their growth and recovery. Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning present an opportunity to inform and support strategies for long-term recovery and to secure new competitive advantages. However, as with many jurisdictions, Alberta employers are experiencing a gap in the skills needed to drive widespread AI adoption across all sectors of the economy.

To better understand and meet this gap, Amii and Microsoft have collaborated on a new white paper focused on The AI Skills Gap. The white paper sets out to uncover: what skills gaps must be addressed toward AI adoption across sectors to speed Alberta’s recovery from economic downturn?

Through a series of in-depth interviews, we gathered perspectives from businesses currently working on AI adoption, and we sat down with some of the world’s top AI researchers to hear what advice they have for businesses. Together, these perspectives help us better understand what technical and business skill gaps exist and how companies can take proactive steps to gain the skills they need to succeed in AI.

Leaders from Amii and Microsoft believe that innovation and digital technologies will play a crucial role in the economic future of Alberta. Meeting the AI skills gap will be an essential step in that direction.

“We have a huge opportunity in Alberta for companies to lead in AI adoption,” says Cam Linke, Amii CEO. “As machine learning becomes more ingrained in our daily lives, we want to lend our expertise to help organizations – especially here in Alberta – gain their own competitive advantage from these technologies. We are thrilled to be working closely with Microsoft Canada to not only understand the skills gap that companies are facing but also bridge those gaps and grow their own in-house AI capabilities.”

“Alberta’s growing innovation economy will be key to their recovery, which will in turn help fuel Canada’s recovery,” says Kevin Peesker, President of Microsoft Canada. “When organizations have skilled talent in place, they can unlock limitless potential with cloud, data and AI, regardless of industry or sector. That’s why we work with organizations like Amii to provide access to skills training for everyone, particularly underrepresented groups.”

The white paper details the high-level plans businesses have for AI adoption before exploring both the technical and business skill sets companies have on hand and where they’re looking to grow their teams. Also included are insights from AI experts who spend some of their time advising industry partners – on everything from AI adoption and hiring strategies to ways of thinking about skills development.

With insights for businesses as any stage of AI adoption, key findings of the whitepaper include:

• Many Alberta companies are just beginning their work on AI adoption. Only a smaller portion of companies are already using AI as a competitive advantage or core functionality for their business.

• While businesses are starting to gain the technical skill sets needed for AI adoption, gaps still remain in the selection, development, integration and evaluation of AI approaches.

• Business and strategy skill sets remain an area of important growth for many companies currently working on AI adoption.