The local authority overseeing collaboration between Birmingham, Coventry, Wolverhampton and more is planning to spend tens of millions of pounds on skills initiatives, including a major rollout of tech education

All adults in the West Midlands are to be offered training on how to use artificial intelligence technology, the region’s mayor Richard Parker has announced.

The mayor, who sits at the head of the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA), said that the £10m education initiative would provide instruction for citizens on “how to use AI in their everyday lives at home, work or in the community”. Beyond this free training – which, extrapolating from WMCA’s latest stats, will be offered to 2.3 million people across the region – the authority will also create “further opportunities for thousands more to develop the technical skills needed to land jobs in an increasingly technology-dominated workplace”.

Training provision will be led by a newly created AI Academy which will bring together expertise from the authority, as well as tech firms, education institutions, and civil society groups throughout the West Midlands.

Related content

• Government prepares to intervene in Birmingham after botched Oracle rollout cost council £100m
• Wolverhampton signs up with eBay to boost local economy
• West Midlands ‘shifts focus’ of digital leadership on back of 5G plans

“In an age where artificial intelligence is revolutionising industries, the need to give all our communities the AI skills to secure high quality jobs is economically imperative,” said Parker, who was elected last year as WMCA’s first Labour mayor. “As jobs become increasingly digital and data-driven, AI will become a core skill just like English or maths. So, if we don’t make AI skills training a priority and readily available to all, then lots of people risk being left behind. That’s why I want to make the West Midlands the number one place in the UK for AI skills training. Avoiding an AI skills divide isn’t just a matter of fairness – it’s crucial to our Growth Plan.”

The plan in question covers the provision of £30m dedicated to initiatives intended to boost skills – of which the £10m AI training programme forms one strand. Also receiving £10m are a project to “to develop bespoke training programmes that businesses can shape and invest in”, and an initiative intended to “develop a more inclusive, locally driven skills system”.

WMCA was created in 2017 with a remit to oversee collection decisions and actions across seventeen local authority areas, including the core constituent councils of Birmingham, Coventry, Wolverhampton, Solihull, Dudley, Sandwell, and Walsall.