An interesting research by Microsoft, entitled “Employees’ Skills and AI’s Potential”, revealed not only the level of adoption of AI in the Italian and international corporate context, but also an interesting correlation between companies that get more value from the adoption of AI and those that invest in training.

Microsoft’s research estimates that 28.2% of Italian companies have already integrated AI into their business strategy (or are in the process of doing so), and further cites the Oil & Gas, technology and industrial sectors as the most fertile and advanced in terms of intelligent technology applications.

According to us, the most interesting fact that emerges from Microsoft’s research is the importance of backing the adoption of advanced technology with training courses for employees, not necessarily technological but also aimed at communication, critical thinking and creativity.

All this is due to the fact that the most innovative companies believe that AI and people’s skills are complementary factors and that therefore the adoption of the former implies – in order to achieve business results – also investing in skills. It is no coincidence that 87.7% of the companies mentioned in Microsoft’s research have increased their investment in learning to improve their employees’ skills.

In short, the central importance of the individual does not disappear even at a time when AI seems to be gaining more and more ground. In fact, the Microsoft study insists on the concept of “enhanced workers”, as evidence of a strong possible synergy between the individual’s competence (which must be cultivated) and the high-tech tool. All managers and 54.2% of employees in the most innovative companies appreciate the opportunity to make use of AI, considering themselves to be “enhanced workers”, while 53.8% of workers in more mature companies claim that AI enables them to devote themselves to more significant tasks.

The Microsoft research also contains many other interesting numbers and data: would you like to know more, please refer to the full text on the Microsoft website.