AI will only transform Britain if it works for everyone
Read this guest blog by Daljish Channa, Accenture's Corporate Citizenship Lead in the UK.
Gen AI is often hailed as the most accessible technology revolution yet. Unlike previous waves of technology, you don't need to write code or master complex systems - you simply ask a question.
AI is already everywhere - and holds real potential to change our lives and significantly boost economic growth. It is changing how businesses run, how people find jobs and access public services. For many, it’s ushered in a 24/7 personal assistant in our pockets.
Ubiquity also carries with it a dangerous assumption: that because this technology feels intuitive and is widely adopted then digital inclusion will naturally follow. The fact is that nearly eight million people in the UK lack essential digital skills. And for many of these people, the barriers to AI are not technical at all. The real barriers are confidence, trust and fear of getting things wrong.
If AI is to become the gateway to jobs and everyday services, then we risk millions of people missing out on the opportunities it creates.
Take fraud, for example. Every day, people are warned about deepfakes and online scams. At the same time, they are increasingly being asked to share personal information online and navigate digital-first services. Concerns about fraud, privacy and making mistakes can create deep uncertainty about engaging with digital technologies.
Digital inclusion is therefore no longer about getting people online, but about ensuring people have the confidence to make AI work for them.
We've seen this first-hand through Accenture’s Regenerative AI initiative. Working with organisations including Good Things Foundation, Stay Nimble, Tech She Can, and Movement to Work, we have reached over one million people to develop the skills needed to participate in a more AI-driven society.
The challenge becomes clear in stories, like Sarah Tillet’s. After redundancy and taking time away from work to care for her mother, Sarah found herself returning to a completely new jobs market. Recruitment had moved online. Applications were digital. AI-enabled tools were becoming a much larger part of the process. Re-entering the world of work had become much more complex, and Sarah felt she lacked the confidence to navigate this new landscape.
Sarah received one-to-one coaching with Stay Nimble and practical employability support. She used AI to strengthen her CV, search for opportunities and explore a new career direction, rebuilding her confidence after a difficult period of uncertainty and burnout.
Today, she is retraining to become a counsellor and therapist, equipped with new digital skills and, more importantly, renewed confidence in what she can achieve. Sarah's experience is not a one off. It reflects a much wider challenge facing the UK.
Too often, we assume everyone is equally ready to participate in an AI-driven world. We assume everyone has a smartphone. We assume everyone has reliable internet access. We assume younger people are naturally AI fluent simply because they've grown up online.
As AI becomes embedded into our lives, designing around those assumptions also risks excluding the very people AI has the potential to support most.
If we want AI to drive economic growth and create opportunity across the UK, digital inclusion must keep pace with innovation. That means designing services that account for poor connectivity, limited data, low confidence and varying levels of trust.
The success of Britain's AI ambitions may not ultimately be measured by the power of its models or the scale of its infrastructure, but by whether people feel confident enough to benefit from them.
If we want AI to drive growth and opportunity across the country, digital inclusion must be built into the journey from the very beginning. Only then can AI become a force for widening opportunity
