Enterprise Leaders Say AI Skills Are Urgent, But Training Lags Far Behind
Ninety-four percent of organizations use AI in some capacity, and 77% of enterprise leaders call workforce AI skills an urgent need. Yet most companies haven't built the training infrastructure to match that conviction, according to a Zapier survey of organizational readiness.
The gap between intent and execution is stark. While 63% of executives view AI literacy as mandatory or valuable for their workforce, formal training reaches only 51% of IT and engineering teams, 43% of sales and marketing, 40% of HR, and 36% of legal.
Learning and Development Teams Are Sidelined
Just 7% of organizations assigned AI training responsibility to HR or learning and development teams. Instead, 34% handed the job to IT and engineering leadership-departments already stretched managing infrastructure.
This structural problem compounds the skills gap. L&D teams typically own workforce training strategy, yet they're being excluded from AI education decisions.
Measurement Falls Short of Investment
Forty-eight percent of executives say AI-focused roles command a salary premium, signaling that companies recognize the value. But only 21% use formal assessments to evaluate AI effectiveness. Most rely on performance reviews (25%) or manager feedback (21%) instead.
Without structured measurement, organizations can't tell if their AI investments are producing results.
Confidence Doesn't Match Reality
Seventy-six percent of executives say they have the talent to hit their AI goals-a striking claim given the training gaps and unclear ownership the same respondents acknowledged.
Previous research from Zapier found that untrained workers are six times more likely to say AI makes them less productive. Giving employees access to tools without structured training creates problems rather than solving them.
Where Training Should Start
The fix doesn't require overhauling entire learning systems. Instead of classroom seminars, bring training into the workflows teams already use. Start with the processes employees run daily, build AI into those processes, and let people learn by solving actual problems.
For HR professionals, this means rethinking how your organization approaches AI readiness. AI for Human Resources covers practical applications for your field, while an AI learning path for CHROs provides structured guidance for HR leadership navigating this gap.
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