The arrival of artificial intelligence is no longer a distant possibility; AI is a daily reality in nearly every industry. From marketing teams experimenting with generative text to manufacturers automating quality checks, this next-generation technology is reshaping how work gets done.
Though AI is advancing at a rapid pace, the skills required to use it productively are lagging. Employers are now faced with the challenge of not only adopting AI, but also ensuring their people are equipped with the skills – and support – to use it in a way that adds value.
The World Economic Forum’s 2025 Future of Jobs report found that skill gaps are categorically considered the biggest barrier to business transformation, with 63% of employer respondents identifying them as a major barrier over the 2025-2030 period. As a result, 85% of employers surveyed plan to prioritize upskilling their workforce.
Employers should look at opportunities for AI implementation and AI upskilling as mutually beneficial, local experts say. Employees can learn new skills while helping their employer solve challenges and drive value.
Advising teams on generative AI skill development is one of Milwaukee-based 7Rivers’ primary offerings. The consulting firm advises businesses in understanding the latest advancements in AI and machine learning by using their own data. It recently created an AI agent known as Marcos to help clients adopt and use advanced AI.
“Probably the most important thing is you have to have your employees help do the work, help do the transformation,” said 7Rivers founder and CEO Paul Stillmank. “Don’t just say, ‘Hey, go get this skill, here’s a training class.’ Have them help build things in your company that leverage these new technologies.”
Stillmank offered some pointers on how employers can go about this:
- Find realistic use cases for AI, so that employees can work on relevant, valuable projects; for example, building a self-service FAQ bot for the company’s website.
- Carve out dedicated learning time for employees to work on the project. “It signals to them that it’s a priority that they upskill in a company.”
- Offer opportunities for mentorship or peer support. Employees who already have AI experience can be paired up with those who are just starting to learn.
- Provide necessary tools and data for accessing sandbox environments, or virtual spaces where employees can put real-world applications to the test. “What comes out the other end of that is a proof of concept that eventually could be usable.”
- Publicize success. “It just gets more and more people interested. It needs to be a program and when there’s a win, a company should be publicizing that down the line.”
- Integrate into daily operations. “As projects mature, these little programs get richer, incorporate the best results into regular company work flow so that people are adapting it.”
“We’ve found that the most effective results and the highest degree of learning and application will come when (AI skill development) is integrated into their work, when it’s applied to the real challenges in opportunities that these companies face,” said Joe Poeschl, executive director of the MKE Tech Hub Coalition.
The organization supports area companies in AI adoption and workforce upskilling through various programming, including an AI community that has grown to more than 1,000 members over the past year and a new Synapse program that helps mid-market manufacturers adopt practical implementations of AI across their operations.
Developing talent for future business needs is a major investment for any company. With that in mind, the MKE Tech Hub Coalition offers its Tech Skilling grants to help area companies offset the cost of apprenticeships, internships, on-the-job training and upskilling programs, including for AI. The coalition partnered with Employ Milwaukee to administer Skills to Build grants – worth about $5,000 per person – to companies such as Clarios, Associated Bank, Komatsu and Kohl’s.
Glendale-based Clarios has utilized the grant to launch a learning series known as AI Academy 201 for employees looking to take their data analysis and data science skills to the next level. More than 20 people have participated in the program, said Poeschl.
For companies on the earlier end of their AI upskilling journey, Poeschl said it’s critical to create the space for learning and empower a small, cross-functional group of people to “own the exploration,” setting clear expectations around ethics, safety and security. Once that safe environment is created, the next step is finding opportunities to demonstrate where and how AI can add value.
“Because if you can’t make the business case, this stuff doesn’t go anywhere,” he said.
