Scotland AI Skills Consensus

Scotland has no national framework for AI skills, apprenticeships, or qualifications. Demand from employers is already outpacing the system’s ability to respond, and small and medium-sized enterprises, which account for the large majority of Scottish businesses, are least equipped to close the gap on their own.
 
The frameworks Scotland has relied on in the past were designed to last around a decade. In a field where, as one contributor put it, what you learn one week can be out of date the next, that model no longer works.
 
The opportunity is just as real. As QA frames it, it is not AI that is coming for people’s jobs, it is someone with AI skills, and Scotland’s task is to make sure its workforce ends up on the right side of that line.
 
In March 2026, QA convened a roundtable of senior leaders from major employers, public bodies, and universities to ask a simple question: if Scotland wants an AI-ready workforce, what should an AI skills framework look like, and who should build it?
 
The discussion produced a strong consensus across eight areas, which contributors went on to validate by vote. This paper captures that consensus and translates it into a set of recommendations for the Scottish Government.