Global educational platform, Udemy, has released key insights marking the first anniversary of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) giant, Chat GPT. The detailed report underscores the growing demand for skills in this sector, demonstrating a 60% increase in AI-related training on the Udemy platform over the past year. Demand for ChatGPT courses alone surged by a staggering 5,226% in Q1 2023, indicating how organisations are prioritising the acquisition of AI skills to bolster business outcomes.

The report shed light on the uptake of AI skills worldwide, with particular emphasis on how businesses and professionals have adopted and integrated OpenAI's ChatGPT into their workflows. Key findings revealed that nearly 800 instructors created more than 1,000 courses related to ChatGPT, accumulating over 2.2 million enrolments. Notably, Australia accounted for over 16,000 of these enrolments.

Peter Kokkinos, Managing Director of Asia-Pacific at Udemy, expressed that the emergence of generative AI will continue to reshape how Australian organisations and individuals work in 2024. "We look forward to continuing to empower professionals with emerging skills and flexible learning opportunities to drive organisational growth in the long term."

Demonstrating the broad-based appeal of AI learning, the top ten industries empowering their employees with generative AI skills included Professional Services, Consulting Services, Technology, Manufacturing, Retail, Financial Services, Entertainment & Media, Education, Government, and Life Sciences, with courses focused mainly on Midjourney, AI art, Python, and ChatGPT prompts. AI learning is also drawing interest from roles within marketing, HR, sales and project management.

A recently published 2024 Global Learning & Skills Trends Report by Udemy highlighted the potential of generative AI to automate up to 30% of current work hours by 2030. This automation could significantly contribute an estimated $15 trillion to the global economy.

Greg Brown, President and CEO at Udemy, viewed the adaption of generative AI as a considerable step towards fostering workforce transformation and nurturing organisational agility, resilience and competitiveness. "Cutting-edge solutions powered by generative AI have endless potential. At Udemy, we are excited to empower corporations with courses and curated learning paths on emerging skills and lead the transformation to a skills-based economy in this ever-evolving landscape."

Jim Lundy, CEO and Founder of Aragon Research, confirmed the transformative potential of AI, stating: "AI is changing the way we work and learn, with our data highlighting efficiency and effectiveness as the top goals for organisations wanting to leverage generative AI tools." However, he pressed the need for consistent evaluation of AI solutions considering essential factors like accuracy, reliability, security and privacy, especially as use-cases go beyond translations and media generation.