There Is No Doubt That Workers Without AI Skills Will Fall Behind

The labor market of recent years is undergoing a profound transformation. If workers were once expected to excel in a single professional field, today they are also expected to understand technology, analyze data, and become more efficient using smart tools. Artificial intelligence is no longer a technology trend, but a tool that drives business processes and creates new opportunities, and workers who do not know how to use the technology and tap into its enormous potential are beginning to feel they are losing a professional edge. In this reality, alongside academic degree programs, short and focused study tracks are playing an increasingly significant role, enabling professionals to update their skills quickly, broaden their professional toolkit, and adapt to the pace of change in the market. The course “Introduction to AI for Business Applications,” within the School of High-Tech and Cyber at Bar-Ilan University, seeks to answer exactly this need, through practical knowledge that allows professionals from every field, from medicine to security, from finance to service, to integrate artificial intelligence into their day-to-day work and increase their value within the organization that employs them. The approach guiding the course focuses not only on a full understanding of the technology, but also on how to use it in the most effective way, how to streamline processes, how to analyze information better, and how to produce higher output, often at a level that enables one employee to do work that once required an entire team.

The course is built as a short, practical track of 40 hours over eight weeks, and is designed so that everything learned can be applied almost immediately. Participants learn to work with key AI tools, understand the advantages of each tool, and, above all, know when and how it should be used. Beyond familiarity with the tools, the course emphasizes process-oriented thinking, how to identify processes that can be optimized, how to automate repetitive tasks, and how to integrate content creation, data analysis, and report generation in a smarter and faster way. A major part of the program is a personal final project. Each participant builds a project directly connected to their own professional field, creating learning that is tied to real work and does not remain theoretical. “We work to teach how to improve every process employees carry out in their daily work, using AI tools. Every manager can become more efficient and every employee can improve productivity, if they know how to analyze better, present information better, and how to turn AI tools into friends on the team,” the program explains. One of the course graduates, who describes himself as nontechnical, shares: “I did not come to the AI course because it was something ‘nice to try.’ Just as years ago working with office software became basic, and was used across the entire world of work, it will not be long before various AI tools become an integral part of the work of each and every one of us. And from the understanding that artificial intelligence is here to stay, and that we are only at the beginning of the journey of harnessing the technology to create real business value, I thought a course in the field could help me as a management tool that changes perspective. For me, the course was a first step in building the organization of tomorrow.”

One of the main statements accompanying the course captures the new reality: “There is debate today over which professions will disappear because of AI tools, but there is no debate that workers without knowledge of AI will disappear.” The sentence reflects a shift in perception, while in the past technological skills were seen as an advantage, in many cases they are now a basic requirement. Just as workers were once required to master Excel or professional English, a new layer of skills has now been added, the ability to work with AI tools. In many organizations, the impact is already visible on the ground, as workers who know how to use artificial intelligence properly manage to shorten processes, analyze data more quickly, and produce higher quality outputs in a shorter period of time. “Employees today have a justified sense of FOMO (Fear of missing out). Anyone who does not master artificial intelligence tools is already behind. It is essential to enter the field, start using the tools, and keep up to date,” says Eran Shaham, head of the School of High-Tech and Cyber at Bar-Ilan University. “Managers quickly know who has upgraded their abilities using AI tools, and know how to value the efficiency and innovation that person contributes to the organization.” According to him, companies expect employees not only to know the tools, but to apply them in their daily work in order to increase productivity. Knowledge has become a basic skill, and accordingly, the courses at the Bar-Ilan school focus on the ability to demonstrate immediate value to the employer.

Shaham has more than three decades of experience in technological training. He served as an instructor and professional manager at the Air Force technical school, managed Microsoft Israel’s information security community, and trained Check Point customers and partners. Later he led training systems at Malam Team, and managed certificate courses in cyber and computers at the Technion’s Continuing Education Unit. The purpose of the certificate studies, he says, is to tailor the exact course for each person and prepare students for the labor market. That approach is reflected in the personalized adaptation of study tracks. “Each participant comes with a different professional background, and the goal is to build a track that leverages his or her existing strengths,” he notes.

The school offers a follow-up course to the introduction, NO CODE business automations, designed to improve and advance organizational processes through automation. All of this fits into a clear progression ladder, the first course is an introduction to AI applications in daily work, followed by the applications and automations course, and finally three advanced specialization tracks, Data Science, AI Engineer/Architect, and CDAiO, intended for deepening knowledge, developing complex technological solutions, and leading AI strategy within an organization. Data Science is a field focused on understanding how AI works, including statistics, mathematics, and data analysis. Graduates of the field come from a wide range of professions, doctors, biologists, engineers, and others. For example, engineers at companies like Intel can learn how to predict equipment failures. Doctors can analyze patterns for disease outbreaks. Police officers can analyze organizational data and improve decision-making. “Once you learn forecasting processes in Data Science, you know how to work with very large amounts of data and how to connect that to a specific professional field without losing your relative advantage as a professional. This is the very core of AI,” Shaham says. AI Engineer/Architect is an advanced track that teaches how to build complete AI systems for organizations. Shaham says, “Once I am an AI engineer, the next step is to know how I create the full picture of the AI worlds and build it for the benefit of the organization. This is an advanced course that requires a good knowledge of data science, and the USAII certification is also more advanced.” CDAiO, Chief Data & AI Officer, is a strategic role that connects business, data, and artificial intelligence, and leads organizational AI strategy: “This is the function that will create the organization’s artificial intelligence strategy, connect it to the business field, and generate a variety of initiatives,” Shaham explains. “In the long term, the process will bring the organization to maximize its profits. As a professional who understands both data and business, a CDAiO makes the smart connection between them, with the goal of propelling the organization forward, and that is where the innovation lies,” Shaham says, noting that the course grants USAII certification for managers, which gives its graduates greater value in the market.

Beyond the technological knowledge, the program is based on the concept of Life Long Learning. In Shaham’s view, that is the advantage of certificate studies: “I respond quickly, update and change the content from cycle to cycle according to changes in the market. Every update that ChatGPT makes changes the market and certainly creates new tools.” In today’s labor market, which demands professional flexibility, knowledge is no longer static, and workers are required to learn, stay updated, and adapt to rapid changes. As part of this approach, the school’s courses also include international hackathons, in which students compete against teams from other countries and gain practical experience in real AI challenges. “It is never just another course, but a change in life, and my role is to create that change in the lives of those who study here,” the school head concludes.

A central and significant component of the tracks is the connection to international certification. In this framework, the school works in cooperation with USAII, a leading international certification body in the field of artificial intelligence. The courses also include collaborations with leading technology companies such as Palo Alto. The three main certification fields in the school’s certificate studies are Data Science, AI Engineer/Architect, and CDAiO. The combination of an academic certificate and an international certification gives graduates a significant advantage, especially in a global labor market where recognized professional certifications are an important asset. “In practice, we are the educational institution with the most international certifications, which opens the door for graduates to employment at major companies in Israel and around the world. And if the student receives both a university certificate and an international certification, he or she has a winning card in hand,” Shaham notes.