BT Reveals Monumental Potential For UK Undergraduates In Booming Global AI Industry

Despite analyst predictions that the Artificial Intelligence (AI) industry will be worth £49 billion globally in 2022, a new in-depth study by BT has uncovered a lack of awareness amongst UK students about the opportunity to pursue qualifications in AI related courses. Where almost three in five (59%) higher education students said they were unaware of AI courses at the time of choosing their course, over half (51%) revealed that they would consider studies centred around AI in the future, once they had understood and received more information about what the courses entail. The findings are revealed in BT's report, AI skills: Motivation & AI careers myths debunked, which was commissioned in partnership with Yonder Consultancy, to understand how to grow and retain AI talent in the UK. Identifying additional challenges connected to the attraction of talent to the UK AI industry, the study found that 38% of higher education students perceive a career in AI to be dull while 42% believe that AI qualifications wouldn't give them the career they are looking for. Despite these perception issues, 66% of higher education students believe the AI industry to be full of ambitious people, and almost three quarters (73%) believe it to be a career that would allow them to solve problems.