The UK government has initiated a pilot scheme to provide "AI boot camps" for young people not currently in education, employment, or training (NEET), or those at risk of becoming so. The programme represents the latest effort to tackle a significant increase in youth unemployment across the country.
The pilot, based in north-west England, will offer three weeks of intensive training to up to 70 individuals aged between 16 and 21. Participants will learn to build AI tools, understand how businesses integrate AI, and develop responsible usage practices for the technology. In addition to AI-specific knowledge, the boot camps will also cover broader workplace skills, including the effective use of office IT systems and time management.
A primary objective of the government-backed initiative is for the majority of attendees to secure apprenticeships with local businesses that have committed to the scheme. Notable participating companies include the defence firm BAE Systems and the food company Heinz.
Lisa Nandy, the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Secretary, commented that the programme is designed to "support young people at a crucial juncture in their lives." The findings and experiences from this pilot will be instrumental in refining a wider, England-wide AI skills scheme, which is scheduled for roll-out next summer.
The training will incorporate AI tools developed by leading US technology firms, including Microsoft, OpenAI – known for its ChatGPT developer platform – and Anthropic, the company behind the Claude chatbot.
The introduction of AI boot camps comes amid growing concerns about the impact of artificial intelligence on the job market, particularly for younger generations entering the workforce. Fears have been largely focused on school leavers and graduates, as AI tools are perceived to be increasingly capable of performing entry-level tasks, often referred to as "grunt work," traditionally assigned to new hires. Sectors such as law, finance, and marketing are among those highlighted as potentially vulnerable.
Recent research from Stanford University in the US indicated a decline in the employment rates of young workers in occupations exposed to AI, such as software engineering and customer service.
Kanishka Narayan, the UK AI Minister, stated that the programme aims to furnish young people with "the skills they need to thrive in the AI workplace." This statement reflects the increasing pressure on youth employment figures.
Latest data, published in May, revealed that the number of young people aged 16 to 24 who were neither working nor learning surpassed the 1 million mark for the first time since 2013. The figure reached 1.01 million in the three-month period from January to March.
Further warning came from an interim report, also published in May, by former Labour minister Alan Milburn. The report projected that the number of NEET young people could potentially rise to one in six by 2031, raising concerns that Britain risks creating a "lost generation" ill-equipped for the demands of the modern workplace.
Addressing the broader issue, Andy Burnham, the Mayor of Greater Manchester, committed last month to reducing the number of NEET young people in his region, though he did not set a specific target deadline for this ambition.
Bouke Klein Teeselink, an academic at King’s College London and an expert on the impact of AI on work, offered a mixed assessment of the initiative. He described the boot camp as a "good idea in principle."
"What we need to do is make juniors more attractive to companies and one way to do that is make them more productive by teaching them how to do AI well," Mr Teeselink explained.
However, Mr Teeselink expressed scepticism regarding whether a three-week programme would be sufficient to make teenagers "AI-ready." He emphasised that achieving AI readiness necessitates continuous learning and ongoing skill updates.
