GENERATIVE AI TRAINING
This project offers a practical example of how education can support transformation from multiple angles, bridging the current divide between where businesses are and where they could be with adequate access to training. Many organisations struggle to translate experimentation into real impact. Industry evidence suggests that most AI transformations stall not because the models fail, but because adoption breaks down in day-to-day work: unclear ownership, low trust, poor change management and weak process integration. Put simply by McKinsey in its report, The state of AI in 2025 , around 70 per cent of AI adoption failure is driven by human and organisational factors, not technology. That is why The Foundry is designed to build well-trained “human-in-the-loop” capability across the organisational structure – from frontline teams to the C-suite – so pilots can be operationalised, governed and scaled. The Foundry’s operations are structured as a Layer two is human transformation. This phase involves setting up AI training programmes in several key areas: first, training technical experts at companies in how to use AI in their operations, enabling them to convert their proficiencies into new products. This paves the way for an emerging wave of STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and medicine) entrepreneurs. Second, C-suite and other senior leaders are trained to coach employees on best practices and how to capture the value of AI investments. STEAM entrepreneurs will need resources and backing to launch new ventures and spinouts, so leaders must understand how to create value for the organisation with a workforce where creative decision making is more democratised. This includes a practical ‘buy-not-build’ mindset: leaders should learn when partnerships and proven platforms outperform internal builds and how to procure, integrate and govern those solutions responsibly. This also means preparing future leaders for a world in which almost any staff member could, in effect, become a CEO – able to launch an innovative venture quickly or drive intrapreneurship from within – so leaders must learn how to nurture a culture of mass entrepreneurship. five‑layer model. In layer one, we are developing our relationship with anchoring partners that will provide access to laboratories and hands-on experiences so that people can test and experiment with physical and digital AI tools. The third element involves the provision of training schemes for the first and second groups; this will require an abundance of qualified trainers who are themselves proficient in the strategic use of AI tools. The AI Transformation Foundry, therefore, is also creating courses to train the trainers. While this endeavour is no more nor less important than training founders and leaders, it does form the bedrock of positive transformation, as constructive innovation is most likely to occur in environments where education is widely available. Layer three is venture transformation. Having trained an expanding cohort of STEAM founders, their success
will depend on access to funding as much as on their own expertise. The Foundry will support the growth of AI startup incubators and unlock access to financial support. Layer four focuses on industry‑wide transformation through an AI catalyst platform. The goal is to build greater collaboration between sectors and enable industry-hopping by turning competence mapping into a cross‑sector lattice of opportunities. In practice, the platform combines structured competence profiling with matchmaking, increasingly with agentic connectivity, meaning that AI agents that can help teams discover partners, assemble capabilities and co-ordinate work across organisational boundaries. This layer also includes a policy ‘sandbox’, where new AI‑enabled business models, workflows and data-sharing arrangements can be tested safely with appropriate governance. Instead of investing heavily in developing skills in one or two specific fields, this capability lattice is designed to help businesses and their people diversify, recombine and redeploy competencies as markets shift, while keeping experimentation safe and accountable through the sandbox. This will improve innovation, inject fresh ideas to spark innovation and lead to greater resilience because the business can pivot to different industries or product lines in response to market demand. The AI Transformation Foundry aims to equip more businesses with the skills to utilise AI to achieve this kind of agility. Layer five is the scaling champion, designed to foster the growth of innovative startups and scale proven solutions. It will support project placements, provide direction and help to secure investment. Critically, it will also connect to the policy sandbox to shape top-level design choices and to ensure ethical and responsible AI, so scale happens with trust, safety and clear accountability. A framework for the future The Foundry currently operates via the application of a live multi-partner pilot, using the same five-layer structure. A large automation corporate partner can act as the anchoring organisation, a university can serve as the training provider, while CBIT can operate as the venture builder. Two platforms then connect people with opportunities and business capabilities. At layer five, the role of the scaling champion is to bring in sector-level stakeholders and investors, helping to redefine how a sector may work and ensuring that ethical and responsible AI scales with trust, safety and clear accountability. Access to educational opportunities such as the AI Transformation Foundry will be vital when it comes to preparing the business landscape for the opportunities emerging technologies create. The potential for transformative innovation is vast. Yesterday, AI assisted; today, AI is prioritised; tomorrow, workers in every industry will be AI natives. Businesses seeking to embrace this technology for resilience, efficiency and agility must have adequate access to training. This applies to their employees and corporate leaders, as well as to those individuals who are responsible for the training.
Ambition • ISSUE 3 • 2026 33
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