As AI reshapes the nature of work, most companies are still focused on helping employees grow in their current roles rather than preparing them for the jobs that are coming next. That’s the central finding of new research from The Conference Board, which warns that while investment in AI literacy is rising, few organizations are laying the groundwork for the large-scale reskilling that AI-driven transformation will demand.

The disconnect is already visible in the numbers. Drawing on interviews with 35 enterprise leaders and a global survey of nearly 1,300 workers, the report shows that formal training is failing to keep pace with adoption: 55% of workers use AI regularly, but only 33% have received employer-provided AI training in the past six months. Nearly one-third say their employer offers no AI training at all.

Adoption Is Outrunning Training

Where training does exist, it tends to stop at the basics. Many organizations emphasize AI literacy and simple prompting, while far fewer help workers build advanced capabilities such as managing AI agents, integrating AI into workflows, or applying it to strategic business challenges. The result is a widening gap between what the technology can do and what employees are actually prepared to do with it.

Access is only part of the problem. Roughly half of workers say they have enough time during work hours (48%) or sufficient tools and resources (48%) to build AI skills — meaning the other half do not. Leaders in the study stress that meaningful skill-building takes more than a course catalog: it requires dedicated time, hands-on experimentation, and active managerial support.

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From Training Programs to Learning Ecosystems

The report argues that traditional, standalone learning is no longer enough. Effective AI workforce development requires an enterprise-wide ecosystem — one that aligns strategy, governance, learning, workflow redesign, culture, and skills measurement, and reinforces AI capabilities across the entire employee life cycle from hiring through performance management. Crucially, skilling efforts pay off most when they are tied directly to business goals rather than treated as a training initiative on the side.

For CHROs and business leaders, the researchers recommend developing applied, outcome-focused capabilities; giving people real time and tools to learn through practice; blending formal, social, and experiential learning; and, above all, beginning to prepare for reskilling now — rather than waiting until workforce disruption becomes widespread and much harder to manage.