Generative AI: A solution to the SME skills challenge?
How are SMEs using generative AI today? Can it help address labour and skill challenges? How can SMEs strike the right balance between automation and human expertise? And how should policymakers support SMEs and the SME workforce to get the best from generative AI?
Join us for this Digit Debates event, in which Marguerita Lane (OECD) will present findings from a new OECD report, Generative AI and the SME Workforce: New Survey Evidence, based on a survey of over 5,000 SMEs in Austria, Canada, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Korea and the United Kingdom. The report finds that a sizeable share of SMEs are embracing generative AI – tools such as ChatGPT, Copilot and Midjourney – in efforts to improve employee performance and to compensate for skills shortages. Though negative attitudes towards generative AI are rare, SMEs do express concerns about copyright, legal and regulatory issues associated with generative AI and about whether existing employees have the skills to use generative AI effectively. The findings highlight the promise of generative AI but also the need for structured policy support to close digital and skills gaps between SMEs and larger firms and to ensure that any benefits from generative AI are broadly shared across the economy and the workforce.
Following the presentation, an expert panel discussion will explore these issues in depth. The discussion will be chaired by Mark Stuart, Co-Director of the ESRC Centre for Digital Futures at Work, and will feature contributions from: Tera Allas CBE, a leading expert on economic growth, productivity, and public policy; Ian O'Donnell, Deputy Chair of UK Policy for the Federation of Small Businesses; and Ödül Bozkurt, Professor of Work and Employment at the 黄色短视频 Business School.
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