AI isn't killing jobs yet: Over 50% of businesses say AI is creating roles as massive upskilling push begins

Over half (54%) of UK businesses say AI created new jobs, new study finds A similar amount (58%) plan to raise AI skills investment soon Some firms plan to spend up to £250,000 on Artificial Intelligence training Concerns that AI would eliminate jobs have dominated public conversation for years, fue

<![CDATA[ <article> <ul><li><strong>Over half (54%) of UK businesses say AI created new jobs, new study finds</strong></li><li><strong>A similar amount (58%) plan to raise AI skills investment soon</strong></li><li><strong>Some firms plan to spend up to £250,000 on Artificial Intelligence training</strong></li></ul><p>Concerns that AI would eliminate jobs have dominated public conversation for years, fueling fears of mass unemployment and disruption.</p><p>A report from the Lloyds Business Barometer claims over half (54%) of UK businesses say AI has already created new jobs within their organizations.</p><p>The findings arrive as firms increasingly treat AI adoption as central to competitiveness, workforce skills, and long-term business growth strategy.</p><h2 id="companies-ramp-up-ai-skills-spending">Companies ramp up AI skills spending</h2><p>The majority (58%) of businesses say they now plan to increase investment in <a href="https://www.techradar.com/best/best-ai-tools">AI tools</a> and skill training over the next twelve months - and of the businesses planning to raise AI investment, 42% expect to spend between £25,000 and £100,000 during the coming year.</p><p>Another 26% expect to spend between £100,000 and £250,000, showing a clear appetite for deeper AI skills funding across sectors.</p><p>Despite this spending push, 31% of businesses admit their current workforce still lacks the AI skills the company actually needs.</p><p>To close that gap, 43% of firms are introducing formal AI skills training while 32% are expanding programs already in place.</p><p>A smaller share, 24%, say they now prioritize AI skills when hiring, while 21% are creating entirely new AI-specific roles.</p><h2 id="a-widening-gap-between-large-and-small-firms">A widening gap between large and small firms</h2><p>Overall, nearly two-thirds (61%) of UK firms say they currently use AI in some form, though adoption varies sharply by company size and reach.</p><p>Cost, cited by 18% of businesses, remains the most common barrier, followed closely by data quality and skills access at 17% each.</p><p>Domestic-only firms cite cost as their biggest barrier at 23%, while international firms point more often to data quality at 19%.</p><p>Larger businesses with annual turnover above £10 million report AI usage averaging 79%, far ahead of smaller and domestic-only competitors nationwide.</p><p>Nearly two-thirds of larger firms say their current workforce already possesses the AI skills the business truly needs right now.</p><p>Among larger firms already using AI, 74% cite productivity gains as their main reason for continued and future investment decisions.</p><p>Nearly six in 10 businesses believe companies that fail to adopt AI risk falling behind their competitors within a few years, but this confidence in AI's competitive importance varies by size, with 73% of large firms agreeing compared with 54% of the smallest firms.</p><p>"AI has the potential to be as transformative for businesses as the internet was," said Amanda Murphy, CEO of Lloyds Business and Commercial Banking.</p><p>Murphy added that success depends far more on building internal skills, culture, and confidence than on simply purchasing new technology.</p><p>The figures suggest AI adoption across the UK economy is accelerating faster than the workforce skills needed to sustain it.</p><p>Whether businesses can close that widening skills gap quickly enough may determine which companies gain a lasting competitive advantage overall.</p><figure class="van-image-figure inline-layout" data-bordeaux-image-check ><div class='image-full-width-wrapper'><div class='image-widthsetter' style="max-width:676px;"><p class="vanilla-image-block" style="padding-top:31.51%;"><img id="diM9tpwF2Lz85R8q85CT78" name="tr-g_news" alt="Google logo on a black background next to text reading 'Click to follow TechRadar'" src="https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/diM9tpwF2Lz85R8q85CT78.jpg" mos="" align="middle" fullscreen="" width="676" height="213" attribution="" endorsement="" class="inline"></p></div></div></figure> </article> ]]>