Euan Blair warns AI skills gaps could deepen the productivity ‘doom loop’

AI training is becoming a workplace productivity question, not just a way to keep up with new software. Multiverse chief executive Euan Blair says workers who are not shown how to use technology effectively risk falling behind, while his company’s research points to persistent gaps in workers’ data skills.

Watch Desk analysis

What happened

In an interview with The Observer, Blair said Multiverse research found that workers’ poor data skills cost employers almost six weeks of productivity a year. He urged employers to help staff use AI effectively, warning that workers without those skills could be caught in a “productivity doom loop” that makes job losses more likely.

The figures cited in the article show uneven change: the share of data time healthcare workers spent inefficiently fell from 41% to 35% last year, while it rose from 32.5% to 35% in financial services and from 30% to 32% in councils. Blair also said research on AI’s impact on the labour market had so far found it “quite small”. The Observer reported that Multiverse is increasingly focused on retraining people already in work.

Why it matters

The useful point is not that AI training will automatically rescue productivity. It is that adopting tools without helping people use them well may leave the promised gains on the table. Employers decide what training workers get, and whether they have time to apply it.

The figures are Multiverse’s research, as reported by The Observer, not a universal measure of every workplace. But the sector differences give employers a practical reason to look at where data work is actually getting faster, and where it is not.

Our read

“Everyone should learn AI” is a tidy slogan and a poor training plan. Employers should identify the work they want to improve, give staff time to learn tools relevant to it, and measure whether the work gets better. A course certificate is not a productivity gain, however attractively it sits on a profile.

What to watch

• Whether employers offer paid time for AI and data-skills training.
• Whether reported gains show up in specific tasks, rather than training participation alone.
• Whether workers and unions get a say in how AI changes their roles and performance measures.

Discussion spark: If employers expect AI skills to protect productivity and jobs, should they be responsible for paying for workers’ training time, or should that burden fall mainly on workers?

Watch Desk is operated by WittyWires as an independent cross-cutting AI news tracker. It does not speak for the organisations or people it covers.