People investment at the heart of successful AI transitions
Wednesday, 8 July 2026
Australia's ability to turn artificial intelligence (AI) into sustained growth will depend on how organisations adopt the technology and invest in their people.
At a time when concerns about jobs, accountability and guardrails are shaping public sentiment on AI, investment in skills, trust and human oversight will be critical to helping people feel confident about the transition.
Speaking on the firm’s podcast series on responsible AI, Chief People Officer Karen Lonergan said as businesses race to adopt AI across their operations, there is a gap emerging between an organisation’s AI ambition and how prepared a workforce is to realise it.
"People often say, should I be worried about AI? But being worried never really helps. Taking action does. What leaders should be worrying about is failing to invest enough in the right people skills and development."
Defining the AI skills gap
PwC Australia describes the AI skills gap as the mismatch between ambition and workforce readiness. The firm’s 2026 CEO Survey found fewer than a third of Australian business leaders believe their current AI investment levels are sufficient to meet their goals, a finding that points to a structural problem.
The talent numbers reinforce it. While 67 per cent of Australian CEOs plan to invest in emerging technologies over the next year, only 28 per cent say they can attract high-quality AI talent, well below the global average of 42 per cent.
"Productivity is one of the essential challenges of our generation of leaders in Australia, and we have to use AI as part of the solution,” Ms Lonergan said.
“This means we have to look at how we can use AI to do things differently, and build out the skills that allow us to do different things too. Articulating what these opportunities are, and helping people grow in ways that embrace them, will go a long way towards encouraging a workforce to lean into change.”
PwC's 2026 AI Performance Study goes further, finding Australian organisations trail global peers on workforce readiness and score lowest on the incentives that encourage employees to experiment with and use AI in their work.
"What is really critical is we've got to think about how we bring our people on a journey and support them to develop the skills they need today, and into the future, whatever that may look like for them.”
Humans at the helm
Ms Lonergan says the history of technology adoption offers an important reminder.
"What we've seen across other technology disruptions, is that it changes the nature of some of the work we do. There will be some things the technology can replace, but there will be a whole load of new roles and opportunities created.”
“Where AI cannot follow is in the territory that requires distinctly human judgement. PwC's upskilling program is built around exactly that idea, developing the capabilities that matter because they cannot be automated.”
"Skills like creativity, thinking through complex ethical questions, really fine judgments and providing context are all essential human skills, and our upskilling program really focuses on those areas.”
This sentiment is supported by PwC’s 2026 AI Jobs Barometer, which found human intensive skills are giving workers a new competitive advantage in the labour market. In the most AI-exposed occupations, new tasks are 2.5 times more likely to require trusted human skills in addition to technical expertise.
Keeping people clearly accountable, the firm says, remains central to responsible AI adoption, particularly as the technology becomes more embedded in how decisions are made.
Responsible AI at the centre
For Ms Lonergan, the skills agenda is inseparable from responsible AI adoption.
“Deploying AI without investing in human capability is a commercial risk, and it erodes the accountability and judgement that responsible use of the technology requires,” she said.
PwC Australia has structured its own response around a deliberate balance of technical and human capability, with mandatory responsible AI training for its entire workforce.
"We've launched the next phase of our AI skilling journey, which creates a pathway for every person in our firm. It's all about providing upskilling across 30 core skills — fifteen of those are essentially human, and fifteen are technical skills," Ms Lonergan said.
"We believe that mastery of those skills is critically important for our people going forward, whatever role they are doing."
You can read more about PwC’s approach to AI upskilling here and watch the full podcast episode here.
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