Develop the workplace skills to keep pace with change. Focus on AI fluency and practice skills in the flow of work. Scale leadership, agency, and AI ethics, and prepare your teams for whatever comes after AI. Get the report to learn more.

We are at a tipping point that will define ‌the future of work: AI has evolved from being a promising experiment to a company-wide imperative for every function, business line, and geography. But most are treating AI like a tool set to be deployed, rather than a transformation that will redefine how their organization operates and evolves. Those who succeed won’t be the ones who pick the “right” model; they’ll be the ones who rebuild how people learn, decide, and lead. In this year’s Global Learning & Skills Trends Report, we argue the case for key trends we see as essential for every organization to come out ahead. 

Top learning and skills trends for 2026:

1. AI fluency: Treat it as a company-wide operating system, not just a technical skillset.
2. Immersive learning: Embed learning directly into daily workflows for faster, stickier skills development.
3. Leadership, ethics, and agency: Scale human capabilities with the same commitment as technical AI skills.
4. Adaptive skills: Build complementary skills that prepare people for AI and for whatever comes after.

AI fluency: Developing a new operating system

Most organizations still talk about “AI skills” as if it is simply a matter of training people on tools, code, or data analysis. But the core challenge is not teaching people how to use the technology. Instead, it’s rewiring the enterprise to play, experiment, and find ways to incorporate AI into workflows. Then you will have the fluency to build not only a new culture but a new operating model and the new systems, learning content, and behaviors to continuously learn from AI, adapt with it, and lead through it.

Key ideas and data points:

• AI fluency is not a binary state of on or off; it’s a journey.
• There are complementary skills needed beyond the technical skills to use AI tools fluidly.
• AI upskilling on the Udemy platform is showing explosive growth, with +10 enrollments in AI courses per minute.

Download the full report to learn which skills employees are learning most on Udemy Business. Discover what leading organizations are doing to develop AI fluency, and find out how Udemy customers have successfully upskilled for AI at their organizations.

Immersive learning beats instruction: Skills applied are skills that work

The myth that learning happens in a training room, or through a one-time, online certificate course, dies hard. But the evidence is overwhelming: Skills stick best when they are exercised, adapted, applied, and refined on the job and in real-world projects. As the half-life of current skills shrinks and the speed of new skills needed in the enterprise accelerates, finding ways to acquire and master skills faster is hugely important.

Key ideas and data points:

• Immersive learning environments expedite competence and confidence.
• Learning by doing and practicing in context reduces ‌friction in skills development, but what this looks like is different for technical versus adaptive skills.
• AI-powered skills development leads to better immersive learning experiences through personalized learning in the moment and feedback.
• Nearly 300 Udemy enterprise customers have created 950+ Role Plays in the three months since product launch, allowing employees to practice adaptive skills in context and receive feedback on their performance.

Find out more about the importance of learning through real-world scenarios, and gain insights into what leading organizations are doing to embed learning directly into work in the full report. Read the case study of a Udemy customer who upskilled 90% of their employees in AI with learning in the flow of work.

Leadership, ethics, and agency are required for upskilling at scale

The headlines often focus on AI as a technical disruptor, but the human response is where most transformations succeed or fail. As companies pursue AI maturity, strong leadership and employee agency become the true force multipliers. The shift to AI is not only about improving productivity and accelerating processes. It’s also about leaders empowering employees, providing them with the conditions, learning opportunities, and ability to experiment in order to build confidence and clarity.

Key ideas and data points:

• Leaders play a key role in AI transformation by championing and exemplifying the right behaviors around AI upskilling.
• Employees need agency in deploying AI, but they also need the skills to evaluate the larger context they are deploying it in.
• Providing clear ethical and strategic parameters to follow is essential for organizations to provide for all employees.
• There’s a gap between how important leadership is for AI transformation and whether employees think their leaders are ready for it:
  • 88% of employees surveyed by Udemy agree that effective leadership is critical to the success of their organization’s AI initiatives, but only 48% believe their managers are ready for the AI era.

Download the full report to find out what leading organizations are doing to prepare leaders and empower employees to be ready for AI, and discover how an enterprise Udemy customer used a leadership program to improve the agility, resilience, and competitiveness of their teams.

Adaptive skills to prepare people for AI and for whatever comes after

The final illusion to shatter is the idea that AI transformation is the finish line. It may be the most profound change in our work lifetimes, but it won’t be the last. In reality, AI is simply the most current and visible in a long line of transformative disruptions. The real competitive edge is permanent adaptability, fueled by what Udemy now calls adaptive skills.

Key ideas and data points:

• Adaptive skills enable employees to remain agile and responsive amidst constant change.
• These skills are complementary to AI skills and empower people to excel in an AI-driven world.
• Adaptability isn’t just a personal trait. It’s also an organizational capability.

Find out what top adaptive skills are, which ones employees are learning most on Udemy Business, and what leading organizations are doing to future-proof for what comes after AI in the full report.