How to Keep Up with AI Through Reskilling

As AI becomes more integrated into workplaces and workflows, professionals can stay ahead of new technology and ensure they have the skills to advance their careers by seeking out opportunities for reskilling or upskilling.

Why Reskilling is Essential for Career Longevity

As new technologies are integrated into organizations, with greater frequency, transforming how we work, the need for professionals to adapt and continue to learn and grow becomes more imperative.

Dr. Mark Esposito, instructor of Artificial Intelligence in Business: Creating Value with Machine Learning at Harvard DCE’s Professional & Executive Development, says human beings are crucial to the process of developing AI technologies. 

“One of the major limitations with generative AI is that we as humans, understand context very easily, but the machine will not be able to generate context,” he says. 

Esposito also outlines two processes that help us understand the quality of AI-generated content: prompt engineering and flow prompting.

Prompt engineering crafts instructions that AI understands, producing more accurate and precise results. Flow prompting takes into account that AI prompts don’t just trigger a request for information, but an entire flow chart of data. 

“I think this is a task that we’ll need to learn more and more,” Esposito says. “The challenge with that is that more access implies a higher sense of mastery of the technologies. The more complex this becomes, the higher expectation we’re going to have to train ourselves for that.”

To stay current with new technologies, professionals may choose reskilling opportunities where they learn new competencies to prepare them for a new role. They may also choose upskilling opportunities where they expand on their current abilities.

Both reskilling and upskilling help professionals become more knowledgeable and proficient at their work so they can then climb the ladder at a current organization or seek new job opportunities at another. 

Today, 68 percent of workers say they are willing to retrain that will better position them for future career success. According to a joint survey conducted by Gallup and Amazon, 71 percent of workers who improved through upskilling said their overall satisfaction with their job  increased. By reskilling or upskilling, professionals make themselves more valuable and more likely to be retained during downsizing.

Reskilling is especially needed in today’s workforce as new technologies like AI come emerge. With the recent rapid adoption of AI across many different industries and use cases, professionals need to adapt as AI becomes integrated into many jobs. 

• Examples of AI skills include: 
• Creating a customer service AI chatbot
• Creating a teaching or training AI program 
• Analysis and extracting insights from large datasets
• Understanding how to ask the right questions of and evaluate answers by AI

For many, AI will be a tool to automate tasks to free workers up for more high-impact initiatives. 

“If I can spend less time for things that are less meaningful by automating, I can, by contrast, find time for things that are more meaningful,” says Esposito. “We’re really going to liberate people to move into more strategy, and I think this is where [AI] is a game changer. … This is where we’ll have to redefine a job, not in terms of the positional power, but on the functionality of strategy that you’re covering.”

Strategies for Effective Reskilling

Reskilling opportunities can come in many different forms — classes, apps, or on-the-job training — with a focus on learning new skills applicable to current and future growth. Choosing the right reskilling path should consider the following:

Determine reskilling needs

Evaluate the ways you  will need to learn new skills in your current role. This may be based on personal interests for promotion or moving into a different role altogether. It may also be based on initiatives the company is spearheading, like integrating AI into business operations or changing job roles and duties. Understanding what skills you want or need to learn will be the first step in finding the right reskilling opportunities.

Explore reskilling opportunities

Next, explore the different reskilling opportunities available. If a workplace requires employees to reskill while  integrating new technologies, they will likely also provide opportunities. 

If you want to reskill for your own self-directed professional development, check with your workplace to see if it already offers classes, access to learning development platforms, or other options. If not, look to online training or local classes, like those available through Harvard’s Professional & Executive Development programs.

Leverage AI-powered learning platforms

Online learning platforms are a great way to learn new skills through self-paced courses and lessons, and many companies already provide access to learning platforms. AI integrations into these learning platforms can create more personalized learning experiences for participants by identifying skills gaps, asking guided questions, and offering tailored content.

Embrace micro-learning for busy professionals

Another alternative for busy professionals is micro-learning through apps that can deliver bite-sized content you can engage with on breaks or between tasks. Micro-learning options also provide more flexibility and improve retention through consistent access throughout the day.

Use project-based learning for hands-on skills

Project-based learning helps professionals gain hands-on experience and retain new skills more effectively. Projects like creating a chatbot, developing AI products, or creating a strategy for AI implementation increases AI skills, literacy, and proficiency. Explore Harvard P&ED’s AI offerings to learn more about how you can engage in similar projects and gain expertise.

Building Key Skills in the Age of AI

While new generative AI models like ChatGPT are easy to interact with due to their reliance on natural language processing, professionals who want to take advantage of all AI has to offer need to learn a few key AI skills.

AI literacy

Increasing AI literacy includes learning how AI and the various models available today function, how to write prompts so the models can return the right information, and how to evaluate AI’s output to determine whether it’s hallucinating or not.

“One of the major limitations with generative AI is that we as humans understand context very easily, but the machine will not be able to generate context. And if we ask a question that is slightly on the margins, it’s very likely that the information we collect might be either inaccurate or false, and they call it a hallucination” says Esposito. “Our ability to train ourselves to understand the quality of the content that is generated comes with a combination of prompt engineering and prompting flow charts rather than prompting just information.”

Data fluency

AI is only as good as the data it’s built on. Becoming proficient with AI involves knowing how data is collected, organized, and used in different AI models, as well as how various AI models interpret data and the algorithms they use.

“Data is a critical skill that sometimes is missing because we haven’t necessarily built the culture on data being critical to AI,” says Esposito. “We went from digital transformation to AI, and we still have some steps to feel more comfortable with what comes with AI, which is the ability for us to do much more with our time. But it doesn’t discard the need for us to think thoroughly about data.”

Complex problem solving and critical thinking

Professionals who want to effectively use AI need to think strategically about how they are adopting it. This means thinking critically about where AI can add value to daily tasks, or learning how to collaborate with AI on higher-level problem-solving. This also includes the aforementioned need to be able to critically evaluate AI’s outputs.

More access implies a higher sense of mastery of the technologies. The more complex this becomes, the higher expectation we’re going to have to train ourselves for that.

Dr. Mark Esposito

Adaptability and lifelong learning

As an emerging technology, AI is still in its infancy and evolving rapidly. Professionals looking to increase their AI skills need to commit to ongoing learning, adaptability, and self-driven growth as new AI models and use cases emerge.

Learning and development in the workplace

“Building technology around people and how people want to work is an effort of leadership that is not easy to understand, because we tend to decouple technologies from other skills,” says Esposito. “There is a lot of room for us to redefine the future of work. … There’s nothing wrong with updating a job. It’s just about updating it by integrating technologies, part of what defines value today.”

While reskilling is important for professionals, business leaders also need to create a work environment that encourages continuous learning and provides opportunities and avenues for employee development and growth. According to a 2024 LinkedIn survey, 7 in 10 respondents say learning improves their sense of connection to their organization.

Cross-functional learning and collaboration

Organizations are using AI in a variety of ways, which means different applications across multiple business functions. Business leaders can leverage cross-departmental learning and collaboration to help employees increase their AI proficiency, which also provides new perspectives on how AI is being used across fields.

Building a supportive learning community

AI is here to stay. Focusing on community learning offers mentorship, peer groups, and support for reskilling efforts. Workplaces that encourage employee training in new and developing technology like AI demonstrate their commitment to sustained growth.

The Future of AI Skills in the Workplace

AI  creates many opportunities for organizations that adopt it — but only if they have skilled workers who know how to effectively use AI. Demand for professionals with AI skills will only continue to increase, making it all the more necessary for professionals to seek out reskilling opportunities today.