Young people in the UK who are unemployed or at risk of unemployment are set to participate in new “AI boot camps” designed to help them enter the workforce. This initiative is the government's latest effort to tackle the issue of young people not in work or education, known as Neets.
A pilot programme in north-west England will provide up to 70 individuals aged 16 to 21 with three weeks of AI training. This will include learning to build AI tools, understanding business applications of AI, and responsible use of the technology, alongside general workplace skills.
The government's goal is for the majority of participants to secure apprenticeships with local businesses that have partnered with the scheme, such as defence firm BAE Systems and food company Heinz. Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Secretary Lisa Nandy stated the scheme would “support young people at a crucial juncture in their lives.”
The pilot will inform an England-wide AI skills scheme planned for next summer. While an academic from King’s College London, Bouke Klein Teeselink, called the boot camp a “good idea in principle,” he expressed scepticism that a three-week programme would be sufficient to make teens “AI-ready.”
The latest data from May showed that the number of young people aged 16 to 24 neither working nor learning reached 1.01 million in the first three months of the year, the highest figure since 2013. An interim report from May also warned this number could rise to one in six by 2031.