Big tech companies only want to talk about AI in 2024. But how prepared are your people for it? Brad Smith, Microsoft's company president and Chief Legal Officer highlighted a worldwide problem with the way we deploy technology in a 2021 speech: "When PC's came into the workplace people needed to be trained in how to use a word processing program and … how to use email and a spreadsheet." "In about the year 2000, that changed and I think employers just assumed that you were hired and you knew these things or you would somehow figure it out on your own." "For 20 years we have seen employer investments in training first fall for a decade, and then be stagnant for a decade. We need to reverse this."The digital skills gap that Brad Smith identified in that speech was caused by Y2K. Remember how the world was going to end because dates weren't stored in databases correctly? The Y2K problem stole the training budget, and we never got it back.I'm not suggesting that training was good back in 1999, but in the era of AI - now more than ever - your people need help to master their technology toolkit. That means good, quality training. Actually, to be the best they can be, they'll need continual coaching – both individually, and as a team. But when was the last time you had coaching on how to get more from your computer and software? “We have to come together to help every business become great at digital technology. That means we need to help them adopt the latest and greatest tech as fast as they can.” Satya Nadella – Microsoft CEO – Inspire 2019 Conference You can give your people the confidence they need to be ready for the era of AI; to be the master of the technology and not the slave. But it won't happen if we continue to leave it to chance.