Artificial intelligence (AI) is being woven into everyday working life. It is also becoming a gateway to economic participation. But for nearly eight million people in the UK who lack basic digital skills – that gateway has become a barrier.
Consider a capable candidate applying for a job. The role suits their experience, but the digital process is layered with logins, verification steps and AI-driven prompts that feel opaque. In an era of scams and deepfakes, requests for personal information can trigger hesitation rather than reassurance. The system may be designed for efficiency, but for some users it can feel risky or overwhelming.
Digital exclusion can be quiet. It shows up as abandoned forms, unfinished applications and services avoided. With around 90% of jobs now advertised online and essential services increasingly digital-first, hesitation translates directly into reduced participation in the labour market.
AI at the front end of business services
As advanced AI moves from experimentation to infrastructure, it now sits at the front end of many core business services – hiring funnels, learning platforms, customer service journeys and financial verification processes. These are no longer back-office systems. They serve as digital gateways to jobs and essential services. If complexity is hard-wired into these journeys, and now with AI layered onto fragmented processes, organisations will spend the next decade trying to retrofit inclusion at far greater cost.
More than a skills issue
It is tempting to frame Britain’s challenge as a straightforward digital skills gap. But the latest research and work with communities show that what holds many people back is not a lack of ability, but a lack of confidence.
Fear of fraud and impersonation, cognitive overload from cluttered interfaces, and processes that strip away autonomy by forcing reliance on others all play a role.
For business leaders focused on growth, this means a narrower recruitment pool, higher drop-off rates in applications and rising demand for assisted services. Facing these constraints in a tight labour market because your digital front door feels intimidating is not a social issue. It is a commercial one.
AI has the potential to deliver a double-digit uplift in productivity across the UK economy – but these gains depend on whether people have the skills and confidence to participate in an AI-shaped economy Dal Channa, Accenture
Yet many organisations treat AI deployment as a technical roll-out, measuring success through adoption rates, chatbot usage or efficiencies. Far less attention is paid to whether people can complete tasks independently, feel in control of the interaction, or know how to recover when something goes wrong – or to tracking reductions in assisted interactions, rather than adoption alone.
Through our work, alongside our charity partners, Good Things Foundation and Generation UK, we have seen how digital inclusion can work.
Short, supported sessions allow people to experiment with AI tools in safe environments where mistakes are recoverable. They help people to overcome hesitancy and feel more eager to use the technology. Systems that are simplified before automation is layered in prove far easier to navigate. Tools delivered through trusted institutions -employers, banks and public services – generate far greater willingness to engage than platforms alone.
Those who are most likely to hesitate often expose design flaws faster than any internal test lab. Building for them improves the system for everyone.
Participation is the point
Digital inclusion matters because the prize is real. Generative AI has the potential to deliver a double-digit uplift in productivity across the UK economy. But those gains are not automatic. They depend on whether people have the skills and confidence to participate in an AI-shaped economy.
That is why building AI literacy matters just as much as investment in the technology itself. Through Accenture’s Regenerative AI initiative, which aims to empower over one million people in the UK with digital access, skills and AI literacy, we are seeing how small, human-centred interventions can unlock meaningful gains in participation and independence.
For AI’s potential to be realised, humans need to remain in the lead. That means ensuring people have access to the support they need to build confidence. The digital world should not feel locked behind complexity. It should be secure and accessible so people can engage independently.
Dal Channa is Accenture’s corporate citizenship lead in the UK & Ireland.
