How Much Do Workers Really Need to Know About AI?

According to EY Americas Consulting’s CTO, Jason Noel, the workforce doesn’t necessarily need to upskill for AI. “This idea of up-skilling the entire workforce to use AI,” he told Business Insider, “I think it's kind of silly.” This seems like the opposite of what we’ve been hearing for the past few years, but it does happen to highlight a practical challenge many companies are dealing with today: how much do workers actually need to know about artificial intelligence to make use of it?

Upskilling has become a go-to solution for AI-Human adaption, referring to helping workers build new skills as technology evolves. But the term has taken on a broad meaning. Does it mean learning to code? Understanding how machine learning works? Or just getting comfortable with a new interface?

The answer depends: on the job, the company, and how AI is being used. It may be the case that not every worker needs to understand how AI functions under the hood. “They just know that they have a screen and an application that says, ‘Here's how much stuff you have now of this,’ and ‘Here's how many you have coming inbound,’” Noel said. “They don't need to know how the technology works.” Put simply, AI literacy isn’t about the technical details, but about learning how to use it.

EY, like other consultancies, is helping companies adopt AI by creating tools tailored to specific roles, where the machine offers suggestions and the human makes the final call. For example, AI can help cruise ship staff predict guest behavior based on weather and onboard activity, suggesting changes to staffing or supplies. The person in charge then decides whether to follow through. That’s not traditional upskilling: it’s getting comfortable with a new interface. “The AI will turn around and list out and build out that process automatically,” Noel said. “The human in the loop says, ‘Okay, that makes sense,’ or ‘I want to change this piece.’”