Digital Skills Development

When it comes to the impact AI will have in the realm of creativity, I’m unshakably optimistic. The rate of adoption of our AI products is one validator, and so is the research that our team has been sourcing. In our latest data expedition, we partnered with Morning Consult to understand how marketing and creative leaders around the world are incorporating AI into their work and how they feel about it. As power users of Canva, marketers and creatives are among the users we’ve seen adopt our AI tools most readily. The verdict? They overwhelmingly feel good and excited about its potential, but acknowledge there are roadblocks that need to be cleared. Here are some of my key takeaways 🧵 🔑 It’s unlocking creativity AND productivity. 69% believe generative AI is enhancing their team’s creativity, and 70% believe it’s enhancing team productivity. Whether it’s generating new ideas, brainstorming headlines, or translating text, AI is proving its utility when time is short, creativity is at a premium, and productivity can’t be compromised. 📈 It’s helping teams scale content outputs. Content demands have skyrocketed (in terms of quantity and quality), but generative AI is helping teams keep up. 83% have used AI text generators to create written content and 82% have used AI tools to generate and edit unique images. Our own marketing team at Canva has been tapping into AI to develop first drafts of marketing copy and as a brainstorm partner for creative campaign slogans. On the product and engineering teams, AI enables us to analyze code more quickly.  🔒 The top concerns are around privacy and bias. Approximately three-quarters are worried about the impact of generative AI tools on privacy - customer data, company data and personal data risks are weighing on the minds of practitioners around the world. 71% also expressed concern about bias in content generated by AI. These issues are top of mind for us at Canva, too, and we’ll remain focused on developing AI-powered solutions that are safe and secure to use, and inclusive and representative of everyone. Does this check out with how you or your team are feeling about AI? Let me know in the comments and definitely check out the full report: https://lnkd.in/dWBxb8XT

LinkedIn News Europe recently asked me what big ideas I think will shape the tech agenda in 2025 💡 Many came to mind, but in a year dominated by deepfakes and realistic AI content, I predict 2025 will see 'digital nutrition labels', like Content Credentials, increasingly adopted to fight back against trust decay. Developed by the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA) and supported by the Content Authenticity Initiative, Content Credentials use secure metadata to disclose how a piece of content has been created. You can see one in action on OpenAI's recent LinkedIn announcement of their AI video generator, Sora (link in the comments). As AI content is increasingly 'hidden in plain sight', navigating our digital world can be challenging. Digital nutrition labels aren't a silver bullet to this problem and they don't tell you what is 'true'. What they do is provide crucial information to help audiences decide for themselves whether to trust content and which context to view it from. Governments are increasingly demanding/legislating for action to preserve trust in the synthetic age and AI companies/brands are also beginning to recognise its value in forming strong consumer relationships. So as 2024 comes to a close, keep an eye out for more frequent digital nutrition labels in the year ahead! Check out my full contribution and the other big ideas shaping tech in 2025 below: https://lnkd.in/e-4wMuia #AI #BigIdeas2025 #deepfakes #trust

The recently published She Figures report by the European Commission reveals persistent gender disparities in research and innovation (R&I) across Europe. Despite women comprising 48% of doctoral graduates, they represent only 34% of researchers and a mere 9% of inventors. In critical sectors like Information and Communication Technology (ICT), only 22% of doctoral graduates are women, highlighting a significant underrepresentation in STEM fields. Alarmingly, 98% of EU research publications lack a gender perspective, underscoring the need for more inclusive research practices. These figures highlight the ongoing challenges in achieving gender equality in R&I, emphasising the necessity for targeted policies and initiatives to support women's advancement in these fields. Addressing these disparities is not only a matter of equity but also crucial for enhancing Europe's innovation potential and economic competitiveness. #GenderEquality #ResearchInnovation #SheFigures2024 https://lnkd.in/ewWjQbFc

A tech revolution in rural India: Training poor women in STEM “Kriti Kumari, 19, is one of 31 women at the Sapna Center, which trains rural women from marginalised backgrounds and requires them to live on campus. The centre offers a yearlong training programme in which women are taught to code and design websites and learn project management and primary-school-level maths for aspiring teachers. The organisation helps others find jobs in India’s information technology sector. ‘If not for the Sapna Center, I would have been married by now and doing household chores,’ Kumari, a native of the central Indian state of Jharkhand who has been at the centre for four months, told Al Jazeera. ‘My brother was against the idea of my studies, and we had financial problems at home. However, my father supported me and dropped me here,’ Kumari told Al Jazeera. The centre is run by Sajhe Sapne, a nonprofit that was started in 2020 by Surabhi Yadav, 32, an alumnus of the country’s premier engineering school, the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Delhi. It has graduated 90 students so far. For young women like Kumari, coding and programming skills help gain access to India’s $250bn IT industry, which employs more than five million people and where 36% of the workforce is women. An IT job is Kumari’s goal at the end of her course, she said, even though it’s not been an easy journey so far. She had never heard the term coding and initially had a hard time understanding the concept. Yadav narrated the example of former student Anjani Kumari from Baghmara village in Uttar Pradesh, who last year taught her brother how to use Google Sheets to log irrigation services and manage payments for their farm. Similarly, she introduced a digital system at her village government-run creche to log data on children using the service and their families.” Read more 👉 https://lnkd.in/eMS2wfDi #WomenInSTEM #GirlsInSTEM #STEMGems #GiveGirlsRoleModels

Here's how UPI turned 200 million Indian women into entrepreneurs when banks couldn't!  Before UPI, most women running small businesses worked in cash, with no bank trail, no credit access, and no real way to grow beyond their local circle. Fast forward to 2025, with 536 million women aged 15+ in India and 37% already using mobile internet, the potential market for internet-based UPI solutions is approximately 200 million women. In a country where 65% of women in the workforce are self-employed, digital financial inclusion creates tangible economic empowerment. But UPI is doing more than digitizing payments: ➡️ It builds financial history and business credibility ➡️ Unlocks access to loans, insurance & government schemes ➡️ Helps women manage and grow money independently We're already seeing this in action: — Women dairy farmers in Maharashtra now use UPI to sell directly to cooperatives. — Street vendors in Gujarat track daily income through digital payments. — Self-help groups in Bihar pool savings and access microloans through mobile wallets. Because for many women, the journey to digital confidence starts when someone they trust. These are some schemes that are helping women adopt UPI… 📍 UPI for Her – Tailored digital tools by NPCI & Women’s World Banking for women-led micro-businesses 📍UPSRLM (Uttar Pradesh State Rural Livelihood Mission) – Local women agents trained to onboard others with confidence 📍MAVIM(Mahila Arthik Vikas Mahamandal) – Helping rural women switch from cash to UPI and grow their ventures 📍WEP (Women Entrepreneurship Platform) – A national platform connecting women entrepreneurs with digital and financial support Digital payments give women more visibility. This visibility leads to more control over both their business and household money. How has digital banking changed your business?

📊 Sobering statistics. The gender gap in Generative AI shows women are 7 to 21% less likely to use AI tools. Why? Research is pointing to... → lack of training → lack of (self-reported) knowledge → lower confidence in Gen. AI skills → lower media literacy abilities → lack of awareness in Gen. AI's importance to future job success → lack of a company policy about Gen. AI use → privacy concerns 👩🏫 Many of these can be addressed through education and training initiatives to boost knowledge and skills. Plus, women can then better advocate for responsible development of this emerging tech. *** What might this look like in practice? 💡 I'm pleased to say that Microsoft is taking a lead in New Zealand with its #10KWomen initiative in partnership with Akkodis Academy. This is my second year participating in this sponsored program, and the community of women joining together to upskill in tech and support each other is incredible. This year's focus was AI Advantage, with the goal of empowering women with AI skills for their lives and careers. I know it has had a big impact, and the ripples of knowledge about AI will continue on through the participants to their workplaces and communities. Let's follow senior women in the tech industry and lead the way in Gen. AI! 👩🏼💻👩🏻💻👩🏽💻👩🏾💻 👀 P.S. read more about the gender gap studies and key insights on the website [link in comments] #AI #AIliteracy #gendergap #technology

✨ Why Do People Embrace AI? It Might Be Because They Don’t Understand It A recent study reveals something surprising: the less people know about how AI works, the more likely they are to trust it. In fact, those with lower AI literacy were more receptive to AI—not because they thought it was more ethical or capable, but because they saw it as magical. Literally. The feeling of awe played a big role in this. But here's the kicker: this "magical thinking" can lead to misplaced trust, overhyped expectations, and risky decisions. This is why we need to intentionally develop AI literacy: To understand how AI actually works—its strengths, limitations, and real-world implications—is critical not just for tech folks, but for everyone navigating today's AI-saturated world. From marketing and product design to education and public policy, demystifying AI isn’t about killing the magic—it’s about building informed trust. As learning professionals, educators, and leaders, we have a role to play: - Equip people with the tools to understand AI, not just use it. - Promote critical thinking, not blind faith. - Foster responsible innovation, not techno-optimism for its own sake. I am especially grateful for Gelareh Keshavarz M.Ed, CMP-S and Dr. Judith Pete who completed my AI Literacy course and are actively promoting and incorporating AI literacy in their work and life. Link to the study here: https://lnkd.in/gmrCfuWA #AILiteracy #DigitalSkills #FutureOfWork #ResponsibleAI #LearningAndDevelopment #AIEducation #HumanCentricTech

I know I say this often but technology is no longer a separate sphere that sits alongside our lives, it has become the backbone of how we live, how we learn, how we work and how we connect with one another. Every career path, every opportunity for growth and every interaction with society is now touched by a digital layer that cannot be ignored (or if you attempt to ignore it, it will find you eventually). Yet millions of people remain excluded from this reality because they lack digital literacy. This absence is not just a matter of missing skills, it is a fundamental rights issue. When individuals cannot navigate the digital world with confidence, they are shut out of opportunities to progress, unable to properly protect their own data and left with little or no voice in shaping the very technologies that increasingly govern their futures. The future of work will only amplify this divide. Artificial intelligence, automation and global collaboration are already transforming entire industries at a pace that few of us can fully grasp. Those who have digital fluency will be able to adapt, retrain and thrive but those who do not will find themselves excluded from the jobs, the networks and the influence that will define the decades ahead. If we are serious about preparing for the future of work, we must start treating digital literacy as we once treated reading and writing. It should not be viewed as an optional advantage but something that everyone deserves access to. It is the foundation upon which lifelong learning, career resilience and meaningful participation in society must be built. However this cannot be the responsibility of a single sector; schools cannot do it alone, businesses cannot simply outsource it and governments cannot legislate it into existence without collaboration. Building digital confidence for all requires a collective commitment, where every organisation, every leader and every community recognises the role they play in creating inclusive and accessible spaces for digital learning. The future of work cannot be designed for a select few who happen to be digitally fluent, it must be accessible to the many, grounded in the principle that opportunity in the digital age is not a privilege but a right.

Everyday, I count myself extremely lucky to be associated with organisations like READ India. Here's a story out of the 100s we hear everyday. Faced with the devastating death of her brother during Covid19, and loss of financial resources, Sandhya Shrikrushna Salte, joined a READ India course on Food Processing in Kathoda village, Yavatmal, India. She soon launched her own home-based business, "Gopi Gruh Udyog", learnt how to use social media to promote her products, earning currently over Rs. 50,000/pm. Her success story is an inspiration to her other colleagues from the same centre. READ India recognises that women often face special barriers to education, formal employment, economic independence, perpetuating gender inequity and inequality. Which is why they have paid special attention to curating their trainings to focus on close-to-home, centre-based ones that can be provided online - the resultant activities can be completed either at the centre or at home. By equipping women with marketable skills and resources, these programs catalyse a process to break the cycle of poverty & empower women to actively participate in economic activities, promoting their social and economic wellbeing. Greater attention has been paid to women from minority communities & differently abled women so that solutions are created for a diverse group of women. READ India's skilling programs empowers women like Sandhya with necessary tools and knowledge to secure gainful employment or start their own micro-enterprises, in sectors with significant opportunities for self-employability. The impact has been profound and multifaceted: - Economic Empowerment: Partners gain skills and knowledge to access sustainable employment or start businesses, leading to increased income and financial independence. - Enhanced Social Status: New skills and economic independence improve the women's social standing, making them role models and leaders in their communities. - Improved Self-Confidence: Acquiring and applying new skills boosts women’s' self-esteem and empowers them to take on challenges. - Community Development: The program fosters self-reliance and economic empowerment, leading to individual success and broader community development initiatives. READ India put this model into practice in 2007, 17 years ago, and have created over 60 Community Library and Resource Centres (CLRCs) nationwide reaching more than 170,000 unique individuals. Lead by Geeta Malhotra and ably assisted by Smita Rai, READ has stood with 50,000+ women. The impact of Read India has been evaluated by their corporate partners, Accenture and Culvar Max. Their evaluation noted that the slow change in economic status or the growth of women’s participation in economic activities is further responsible for more respect for women, both in the community and household. On International Women's Day we stand in solidarity with all the women from READ. #skilling #womenempowerment #genderequality #IWD2025

In the Era of AI, Trust is the True KPI. A brand without trust is just noise with a budget. I recently came across a beautifully written editorial by creative legend Prasoon Joshi on AI and creativity. He highlighted speed, polish, and efficiency as AI’s biggest strengths. But he also raised some very pertinent questions: Can efficiency alone earn trust? Can AI imagine the unsaid, the unknown, the unexpressed? AI is brilliant at recombining what already exists: our words, our images, our histories. What it cannot do is take the leap that defines human creativity: that instinctive, unexpected break in pattern. That’s where imagination lives and creativity thrives. This matters for business. AI-driven nudges can influence behaviour. But if they cross the line into manipulation, it is not just reputation that suffers; it is trust. And trust is what creates long-term equity. In healthcare and pharma, this is even more critical. A therapy discovered by AI is meaningful only when HCPs and patients trust the process behind it. Data integrity, ethics, and transparency become the true differentiators. The takeaway for leaders is simple: * Use AI for efficiency * Use human creativity and ethics for meaning * Make trust your real KPI * Build responsible technology and governance as your differentiator Because lasting impact is not about precision alone. It is about cultural trust. 👉 If AI becomes everyone’s “second brain,” what do you think remains uniquely human: creativity, empathy, or trust? Inspired by insights from Prasoon Joshi’s editorial in ET on AI and creativity.