With more than half of business leaders expressing growing concern about global talent shortages, the narrative around AI in the workplace is shifting: from replacement to collaboration.1 At the same time, according to Kyndryl’s 2025 People Readiness Report, 71% of leaders say their workforce isn’t prepared for AI.
In this environment, reskilling becomes a powerful tool: not just for boosting AI literacy and unlocking talent, but also for building trust, driving efficiency and laying the foundation for sustainable transformation.
Australasia—the region comprising Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands—offers a compelling case study in making reskilling a shared priority across both private and public sectors. Smaller economies and tighter labor markets have long shaped how we think about workforce resilience.2 Here, businesses are practiced at doing more with less and treating talent as a precious, non-renewable resource.
Consider telecommunications giant Telstra and the University of Technology Sydney, which recently co-created micro-credentials (short, targeted learning programs designed to build specific, in-demand skills) in data and AI. This has enabled employees to upskill into higher-value roles rather than face displacement.3
Across Australasia, the conversation has moved far beyond "will AI take our jobs?" to a narrative about what happens when private and public sector interests view reskilling as a shared endeavor between individuals and their organizations. Lessons from the journey so far will resonate with business leaders around the world.
Lesson 1: Reskilling should be a shared responsibility
Human-centric AI cannot be driven by the private sector alone.
Across Australasia, governments have made reskilling a national priority: a formal recognition that shaping an ethical, AI-enabled future requires close collaboration between businesses and policymakers.
This commitment shows up in tangible investments: funding for vocational programs, micro-credentials and digital literacy initiatives that help workers evolve in step with emerging technologies. In Australia, for example, the expansion of the TAFE Centres of Excellence and the National Skills Agreement is channeling resources toward advanced digital skills and AI literacy.4
Reframing reskilling as both a business imperative and a shared mission with the public sector may be one of the most valuable insights the region has to offer.
Reframing reskilling as both a business imperative and a shared mission with the public sector may be one of the most valuable insights the region has to offer.
One of our customers—a major Australian insurance company—recently launched a reskilling program that transitioned 77% of participants into new roles within 18 months, directly addressing talent gaps while improving retention. The Kyndryl Foundation, in partnership with the University of Technology Sydney, has followed a similar path: its Cyber Resilience Program has already trained 397 nonprofit professionals in its pilot phase, with a goal of reaching 1,400 within two years.5
Lesson 2: Trust is the true currency of AI adoption
No conversation about people and AI is complete without addressing AI’s trust problem.
Kyndryl’s 2025 People Readiness Report finds that 42% of organizations identify building employee as one of the most critical enablers of realizing AI’s full potential. And the challenge extends well beyond the workplace: A recent Pew Research survey found that 35% of the public feels more concerned than excited about the rise of AI.6
A human-centric approach to AI means embedding trust into AI systems from the outset, rather than treating it as a retrofit.
In smaller, closely connected markets like Australia and New Zealand, maintaining public confidence is non-negotiable. Businesses here understand that consumers hold organizations to high standards of transparency, fairness and inclusion and are unafraid to let those values shape their purchasing decisions.
When applied to AI, that expectation translates into several practical steps leaders everywhere can adopt.
For example:
Doing so signals accountability, reinforcing that AI is being deployed with intention and is guided by principles (rather than just profit).
Transparency drives confidence. When AI decisions are traceable and explainable, employees and customers alike can trust that humans remain in the loop, and biases and errors are being managed.
Giving people the knowledge and tools to use AI responsibly replaces uncertainty with capability and turns the workforce into active participants in transformation.
This turns principles into practice. Making responsible AI part of everyday decision-making—and talking openly about its impact—helps employees feel informed, included and empowered.
Aligning with industry peers and policymakers reinforces accountability and builds broader confidence in how AI is developed and deployed.
Beyond risk mitigation, these measures actively strengthen confidence across the workforce, consumers and the broader public by ensuring that AI systems are shaped by human values and deliver transparent, equitable outcomes.
Lesson 3: Inclusion is strategic
Technological advancement never occurs in isolation from the culture around it. Organizations and governments that overlook this risk not only eroding public trust, but also missing a critical opportunity to embed values like sustainability, inclusion and responsibility into their AI policies from the start.
In Australasia, any discussion of fairness and inclusion must recognize the leadership of Indigenous communities. Māori in New Zealand, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in Australia, are actively redefining how technology can align with cultural identity and communal stewardship.
In New Zealand, for example, the non-profit Digital Natives Academy blends coding, AI and creative technology with Māori values, helping young people build digital skills grounded in identity and connection. In Australia, partnerships like Indigital Schools — an initiative between Indigital, which helps Indigenous communities build partnerships with business, and Microsoft — underscore a similar priority: blending cultural knowledge with the digital skills that will serve students in their future careers.
These kinds of initiatives demonstrate that innovation can honor heritage while creating new opportunities. Building partnerships with Indigenous-led enterprises, supporting culturally grounded education initiatives and bringing diverse perspectives into AI governance and design are practical ways to create technology people can trust.
Putting people at the center of AI progress
For global business leaders, the message is clear: when technology development is grounded in culture and community, it builds deeper trust, expands participation and creates a more lasting impact.
And when both business and government take a more human-centric, inclusive and transparent approach to AI transformation, that accountability does more than address headline challenges like the AI talent gap. It can actually accelerate AI adoption, bringing technology into the core of the enterprise in ways that the workforce and the public can understand, trust and ultimately take ownership of.
Here’s how to get started today:
- Begin with people, not tooling
Make cultural alignment and workforce readiness the first milestone of every AI initiative. Co-design use cases with the teams who will use them and adoption accelerates naturally.
- Build transparency into the workflow, not the PR
Share how decisions are made, how models are governed, and what safeguards are in place. Trust grows fastest when the process is visible, not just the outcome.
- Create momentum with quick wins
Start with one high-friction process, apply AI with a clear success metric and empower a cross-functional team to own it. Quick wins create internal momentum and confidence across the enterprise.
1 The Global State of Skills Report, Workday, March 2025.
2 Current skills shortages, Jobs and Skills Australia, 2023.
3 Pioneering new forms of learning to support one of the largest ever corporate upskilling initiatives, University of Technology Sydney, January 2025.
4 TAFE Centres of Excellence, Department of Employment and Workplace Relations, 2025.
5 Kyndryl Foundation launches not-for-profit cyber resilience program at UTS , CRN, June 2025.
6 Views of AI Around the World, Pew Research Center, October 2025.