As the EU AI Act is finally implemented, its mandate for AI literacy has prompted a surge in AI upskilling across European organisations, according to new data from Coursera’s Job Skills Report 2025. The online learning platform has recorded an 866% year-on-year increase in AI course enrolment among enterprise learners, with overall employee enrolment rising […]
As the EU AI Act is finally implemented, its mandate for AI literacy has prompted a surge in AI upskilling across European organisations, according to new data from Coursera’s Job Skills Report 2025.
The online learning platform has recorded an 866% year-on-year increase in AI course enrolment among enterprise learners, with overall employee enrolment rising by 1,100%.
The demand for AI education is accelerating as businesses move to comply with the EU AI Act’s requirements, which aim to ensure a foundational understanding of AI’s benefits and risks.
The legislation seeks to support the safe deployment of AI across industries while fostering awareness of its potential societal impacts.
Based on insights from over five million learners using the platform through universities, businesses, and government partnerships, the report highlights a global shift in workforce training, with organisations increasingly embedding AI learning into their L&D frameworks to meet compliance standards and prepare for the evolving digital landscape.
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AI courses see “unprecedented” uptake
AI security has become a key focus for organisations, with Coursera reporting that its “Generative AI Cybersecurity & Privacy for Leaders” course is the most popular among businesses.
Coursera users’ most sought-after AI skills include artificial neural networks, reinforcement learning, supervised learning, and PyTorch, an open-source machine learning library.
Courses such as ‘Generative AI for Everyone’ from DeepLearning, ‘AI and Generative AI with Large Language Models’ from AWS, and ‘Google AI Essentials’ from Google Cloud are among the highest-ranking selections for employees, students, and job seekers.
Coursera’s data indicates that an average of seven individuals per minute are enrolling in GenAI-related content — a sharp increase from just one enrolment per minute in 2023 and one every ten seconds in 2024.
Gender disparity in AI skilling
Despite the growth of AI education, Coursera’s findings highlight a significant gender gap in the development of AI skills.
Only 22% of AI professionals are women, and just 32% of AI course enrolments on Coursera come from women.
Nikolaz Foucaud, managing director of EMEA at Coursera, commented: “With 22% of recruiting professionals updating job descriptions to reflect GenAI usage, it’s unsurprising that employees, students and job seekers are pursuing AI skilling in record numbers.”
AI literacy is expected to become critical to corporate learning and development (L&D) strategies. Coursera predicts that AI and big data will rank as the third-highest priority for corporate training by 2027, alongside cybersecurity and cloud computing.
“With the AI literacy mandate through the EU AI Act’s implementation, it’s vital that businesses set out clear policy on AI learning and development,” said Foucaud.
“In the same way we’ve seen cybersecurity talent gaps, we could encounter similar issues for AI. This is why investing in internal resources and skilling drives will help mitigate any future talent dearths.”
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