Kate Alessi, Google’s managing director for the UK and Ireland, has strongly pushed back against warnings that artificial intelligence will cause widespread unemployment, stressing that the bigger risk lies if workers fail to acquire the skills they need to thrive with the technology.
As Google unveiled a new national training program supported by £2 million in grants from Google.org, Alessi argued that history offered a reassuring precedent. She noted that each previous wave of technological disruption has brought about the same fears of job losses – and each time, the fears have proven overblown as new roles take the place of old ones.
Your intervention comes at a specific time. In January, London Mayor Sadiq Khan warned that without proper oversight, AI could bring about a new era of mass unemployment, while Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey drew comparisons to the Industrial Revolution and emphasized the need for significant reskilling and education.
Alessi doesn’t deny that change is coming, but she puts it differently. Citing research from policy consultancy Public First, she pointed out that around six in 10 jobs in the UK are expected to be improved rather than eliminated by AI. The challenge, she says, is to ensure that people are ready to take on the roles that technology creates, rather than simply preparing for the roles that it displaces.
The numbers suggest that there is still a lot of catching up to do. According to new research commissioned by Google, while almost two-thirds of the UK population have tried AI tools, only one in 10 consider themselves to be advanced users. Only a quarter felt they were using AI in a way that saved them significant time or provided them with truly new capabilities.
“Most people are really just scratching the surface,” Alessi said.
To close this gap, Google is introducing a number of practical initiatives. In addition to grant funding, the company plans to conduct Gemini tours at universities to ensure graduates enter the workplace with practical knowledge of AI. Additionally, there will be a series of pop-up events branded “Squeeze the Juice” bars in cities across the country, designed to show regular users how to go beyond simple prompts to more complex tasks – from automating routine administrative tasks to conducting in-depth research.
