We’ve just launched the Nash Squared/Harvey Nash Digital Leadership Report which has found that AI has created the UK’s biggest and fastest developing tech skills shortage in over 15 years. We’ve already had over 20 launch media hits including City AM, MSN, Yahoo Finance, Management Today, Computing, Computer Weekly, IT Pro, The Register, ZDNet.com and People Management.

The report, which is based on the largest and longest running survey of technology leadership in the world, has tracked the views of technology leaders since the late 1990s. This is the sixth year we have media launched this report.

Specifically the report found that AI has jumped from the 5^th most scarce technology skill in the UK to number one in just 18 months – the steepest and largest jump in any technology skills shortage recorded in the UK for over 15 years.

Almost three times as many UK tech leaders (52%) compared to the previous report (20%) now say they are suffering an AI skills shortage, a 114% jump. In the previous 16 years that Nash Squared/Harvey Nash has tracked technology skills shortages, the next biggest reported jump in the UK was a shortage in Big Data skills, with a jump of just 55%. Even with Cyber skills, for which demand continues to grow, the increase in scarcity has been gradual – rising from 12% in 2009 to 30% this year.

Although AI investment has helped create this rapidly-developing tech skills shortage, UK technology leaders and their companies still are working on how to respond to the crisis, and the report found that over half of UK companies (59%) are not upskilling in GenAI.

Bev White, CEO of Nash Squared said in the press release:

“As AI continues to accelerate, the scale of the skills challenge is becoming clear. UK businesses have a pressing need to ensure their technology teams are equipped with the skills to leverage AI to full effect, or the implementations they are making could fall short. As AI is so new, there is no ‘playbook’ here – it’s about a mix of approaches including formal training where available, reskilling IT staff and staff outside of the traditional IT function to widen the pool, on-the-job experimentation, and knowledge sharing and transfer.”