Some links on this page are affiliate links: if you buy through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you.
Yes: the UK government and industry partners aim to help 10 million UK workers gain AI skills by 2030, and selected online foundation courses are free for UK adults. The offer is called AI Skills Boost, and its public portal is the AI Skills Hub. It is a collection of partner training, not one government-run course. One important distinction: reported progress is counted in completed courses, not necessarily unique people or workers who can demonstrate job-ready skills.
What the 10-million target means
AI Skills Boost is a government–industry programme to expand AI training and workplace readiness. The government first announced a target of 7.5 million in June 2025, then raised it to 10 million UK workers by 2030 in January 2026. The expanded offer includes free foundation courses for UK adults, listed through the AI Skills Hub.
Government and industry partners provide or support the training; Skills England has set a foundation-skills benchmark for selected courses. The hub helps people find learning and build a learning journey. These are related parts of one programme, but they are not interchangeable: the hub is not itself a course, and the programme is not a single standard qualification.
The offer is also distinct from Google’s AI Works for Britain, a Google-led campaign that supports the wider government objective. It is one partner initiative, not another name for AI Skills Boost.
#1 Best Overall
Who can take the free courses?
The government says every adult in the UK is eligible for the free, newly benchmarked foundation courses. That does not mean every AI course, qualification or related programme is free, or that all have the same entry requirements. Apprenticeships, scholarships and funded qualifications may have separate age, residency, employment or education rules.
Some courses may send learners to a partner’s platform. Depending on the provider, you may need an email address and a separate account, and must accept that provider’s terms and privacy policy. Check the course page for its duration, assessment, certificate or badge conditions, and whether any tool or subscription is required. A course being free to access does not automatically make every related product or credential free.
What do the courses teach?
The foundation offer is about practical AI literacy at work—not training everyone to build AI systems. Skills England’s benchmark groups the expected foundations into technical skills, non-technical skills and responsible, ethical use. In practice, selected courses may cover:
Rank #2
- brand: Pearson
- ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: A MODERN APPROACH, 4TH EDITION
| Skill area | What it can mean at work |
|---|---|
| Giving AI clear instructions | Writing prompts that specify the task, audience, format and constraints. |
| Using AI for routine work | Getting help with a first draft, summary or administrative task, then reviewing the result. |
| Automation and software | Understanding how software can handle repeatable steps and when a human should stay involved. |
| Settings and controls | Adjusting tone, privacy or other available tool settings. |
| Evaluation and responsible use | Checking generated information, considering risks and consequences, and not treating an AI answer as automatically reliable. |
Courses vary. Some may be brief introductions; others may go further. The programme’s wider count also includes advanced areas such as data science and machine-learning engineering, which are a different level from a foundation course. Read the individual description rather than assuming that “AI training” means the same thing on every listing.
How to find a course and make the most of it
- Go to the AI Skills Hub and create a learning profile if prompted.
- Choose a foundation course that fits your starting point and goal. Check the provider, estimated duration, what it covers and how completion is assessed.
- If the course redirects to a partner platform, review its account, privacy and payment terms. Confirm whether any badge or certificate is included or costs extra.
- Complete the course and any required assessment, then save the completion record or virtual badge.
- Practise one skill on a low-risk task that your employer permits. For example, use AI to draft a generic email, then check every factual claim and edit it yourself.
Do not enter customer, patient, employee or personal data; passwords or access tokens; confidential financial information; privileged legal material; or unpublished company plans into a tool unless your employer has explicitly approved that tool and use. Employer policy takes precedence over a course exercise.
Is “free” really free?
The government-backed offer is free access to selected training. That is useful, but it is not a promise that every step has no cost or friction. A provider may require registration, its own terms, a compatible device and browser, or an account for practical exercises. A course may demonstrate that provider’s product, and a paid plan, exam, certificate or advanced course may be separate.
Vendor-specific training can still teach transferable habits—clear instructions, checking output, privacy awareness and workflow design—but it may also familiarise you with a company’s own tools. Before signing up, check whether practical work requires a paid subscription or free trial, whether a trial renews as a paid plan, and whether the course can be completed without uploading work data. You do not need to buy a premium AI subscription simply to start with the government’s free foundation offer.
How many people have been trained?
Use the government’s wording carefully: these are course completions. Its January 2026 explainer reported 1,001,147 completed AI training courses. A June 8, 2026 update said the total had passed 1.7 million. The government has not presented those figures as a count of 1.7 million distinct workers who completed the same foundation course.
The January total included introductory and advanced training, internal training by partner-company employees, external learners, and activity through the 2025 One Big Thing initiative. One person may complete more than one course. The government said it could not provide partner-level figures because of commercial sensitivity. So the figures show reported training activity, but do not establish how many unique people gained benchmarked foundation skills or used them effectively at work.
On the June figure, roughly 8.3 million completions would remain to reach 10 million, if the totals are directly comparable. Treat that as an approximate arithmetic comparison: course types and reporting periods may differ. It is not a measure of unique workers still to train.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What does the AI foundations badge prove?
Selected courses assessed against Skills England’s AI foundation skills for work benchmark can lead to a government-backed virtual AI foundations badge. It can be useful evidence that you completed a selected, benchmarked course and took initiative to build basic AI literacy.
Free tools Windows power users keep installed
One-click scans. No signup required.
Do not treat it as a regulated professional qualification, proof of mastery, or a promise of employment. A foundation badge alone will not qualify someone for a data scientist, machine-learning engineer, software engineer or AI product manager role. Employers are more likely to value it alongside evidence of role-specific knowledge, sound judgement, communication and work you can explain.
Best Value
To turn a short course into stronger evidence, keep a brief example of a permitted task: what you asked the tool to do, what you checked, what you changed and what you would not delegate to it. Do not include confidential or personal information in a portfolio.
Which route makes sense for you?
- If you are new to AI: Start with a no-code foundation course that covers privacy, reliability and fact-checking, not just prompt tips. Choose one you can finish in a manageable period and that does not require a paid subscription.
- If you run a small business: Look for practical examples in administration, customer service, marketing or routine workflow automation. Make sure the course addresses human review and data protection, and test a use case only with non-sensitive material and approved tools.
- If you want to use AI better in your current job: Pick a course relevant to your actual software and tasks. Ask your employer which tools are permitted, then try one low-risk workflow and document how you checked the output.
- If you are changing careers into technical AI: Treat foundation training as a starting point. You may need data analysis, statistics, programming, SQL, projects and role-specific experience. The government’s AI and automation practitioner apprenticeship is a separate, more structured route; check its own eligibility and terms.
- If online learning or basic digital tasks are difficult: Free online access is not the same as practical access. Device or broadband limits, accessibility needs, language, confidence, time and workplace restrictions can all get in the way. The wider Skills for Life offer includes digital-skills provision that may be a better first step.
Why the government is backing AI training
The policy case is to improve confidence and productivity, help more businesses adopt AI and prepare workers for changing jobs. The January 2026 announcement cited research that 21% of UK workers felt confident using AI at work and said one in six UK businesses used AI in mid-2025. These are dated figures cited by the government, not permanent measures of current confidence or adoption.
Such aims do not demonstrate that a particular course improves productivity, wages or employment. The government’s explainer includes hypothetical economic modelling, but estimates are not measured outcomes of AI Skills Boost. The programme will be more meaningful if its progress can be assessed not only by course completions, but also by unique learners, skills retained and applied, and practical outcomes for workers and employers.
Quick wins for a faster PC:
Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Quick Recap
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
