• Widespread AI adoption creates a major skills gap, driving demand for workforce upskilling.
• AI upskilling marketplaces provide essential training, connecting workers to new tech skills.
• Enterprise spending on scalable online AI education is accelerating corporate training budgets.
• This trend offers potential investment opportunities in the growing AI education sector.

Why the Real Money in AI Might Be in Teaching People How to Use It

Let’s be honest, the chatter around artificial intelligence has reached a fever pitch. You can’t open a newspaper or switch on the television without hearing about some new, world-changing algorithm. But I find the most interesting opportunities are rarely the ones everyone is shouting about. While the world fawns over the shiny new AI tools, I think the smarter money might be looking at a far less glamorous, yet utterly essential, part of the puzzle: the training.

Because for every company rushing to buy the latest AI software, there’s a boardroom full of executives slowly realising a rather awkward truth. Their workforce has absolutely no idea how to use it.

The Great Corporate Scramble

I’ve seen this play out before. A new technology arrives, promising to revolutionise everything. The bosses, terrified of being left behind, throw money at it. They install the software, they issue a press release, and then… nothing. It’s like buying a fleet of state of the art racing cars for a staff that has only ever driven tractors.

This is the reality for countless businesses today. They have access to powerful tools from Microsoft, Adobe, or Salesforce, but the promised productivity gains remain elusive. Why? Because their people are stuck. This enormous gap between technological capability and human skill isn’t just a minor headache, it’s one of the biggest commercial challenges of our time. And where there’s a challenge of this scale, there is usually an opportunity for someone to make a tidy profit by solving it.

Selling Shovels in a Digital Gold Rush

So, who stands to benefit from this corporate panic? To me, it’s the companies that are effectively selling the picks and shovels in this new digital gold rush. I’m talking about the upskilling marketplaces. Platforms like Udemy have positioned themselves perfectly. They offer a vast library of courses that can take an employee from AI novice to proficient user, all without leaving their desk. As businesses move from simply experimenting with AI to trying to retrain entire departments, these platforms could become indispensable.

Another angle is the freelance market. When a company can’t train its own staff fast enough, what does it do? It turns to platforms like Upwork to hire specialists who already have the skills. This creates a bustling ecosystem of supply and demand. It seems that whether you are teaching the skills or providing them on demand, you are tapping into the same fundamental need. This is the core idea behind investment themes like the AI Upskilling Marketplaces basket, which focuses on the companies building this educational infrastructure.

A Neatly Self-Perpetuating Machine

What I find particularly compelling is how the trend feeds itself. Take a company like UiPath, a leader in automation. Its software is designed to handle repetitive tasks once done by humans. But to implement and manage these automated systems, you need a new set of human skills. The very act of introducing automation creates a fresh demand for training. It’s a wonderfully self-reinforcing cycle.

Of course, no investment is a sure thing. One must always consider the risks. A sharp economic downturn could see corporate training budgets slashed, even for something as critical as this. And there’s always the chance that competition from free resources could put pressure on profits. However, the structural shift feels undeniable. The move towards an AI-integrated economy isn’t a fad that will disappear next year. It’s a fundamental rewiring of how business is done, and the need for continuous learning and adaptation seems baked into the cake for the foreseeable future.

Deep Dive

Market & Opportunity

• The adoption of AI is creating significant demand for workforce retraining and upskilling.
• A major skills gap exists as companies possess AI tools their employees are not trained to use effectively.
• Enterprise spending on AI training is accelerating as companies move from pilot projects to full-scale implementation.
• Corporate training budgets are shifting from traditional classroom settings to scalable, online, on-demand learning platforms.
• The market opportunity is global, with emerging economies adopting digital-first approaches to workforce development.

Key Companies

• UDEMY, INC. (UDMY): An online learning platform hosting thousands of AI and machine learning courses for individual learners and enterprise customers.
• Upwork Inc (UPWK): A freelance marketplace connecting businesses with AI specialists, data scientists, and automation experts to fill internal skill gaps.
• UiPath, Inc. (PATH): A leader in robotic process automation (RPA) whose software automates routine tasks, creating a subsequent need to train employees to manage and work with the automation.

Primary Risk Factors

• Economic downturns could lead to reductions in corporate training budgets.
• Competition from free educational resources and companies' in-house training programs may create pricing pressure.
• As AI tools potentially become more intuitive over time, the need for extensive training might decrease.
• The uncertain regulatory landscape for AI could impact training requirements, either positively or negatively.

Growth Catalysts

• The integration of AI into business operations is a long-term structural shift, suggesting sustained demand for training.
• The continuous evolution of AI technologies will necessitate ongoing education and skill development.
• The integration of AI into the training platforms themselves, such as for personalized learning paths and adaptive content, presents a key opportunity.
• Platforms that can demonstrate measurable outcomes and a return on investment for training are positioned for success.

Investment Access

• The AI Upskilling Marketplaces basket is available on the Nemo platform.
• Nemo is an ADGM-regulated platform.
• The platform offers commission-free investing and AI-driven insights.
• Fractional shares are available, with investments starting from $1.
• All investments carry risk and you may lose money.