Coursera celebrates AI Appreciation Day with new initiatives to meet surging demand

961% YoY increase in GenAI course enrollments in UK, third highest globally

On AI Appreciation Day, Coursera, a leading online learning platform, has announced several new initiatives aimed at empowering individuals and institutions with mission-critical GenAI skills. These initiatives include new GenAI-focused content and credentials, enhancements to the existing Professional Certificate portfolio with GenAI-specific updates, upgrades to Coursera Coach, and an expansion of the GenAI Academy to help businesses equip their teams with GenAI skills. 

With 71% of leaders saying they’d rather hire a less experienced candidate with AI skills than a more experienced candidate without, it’s not surprising that demand for AI skills has soared. To date, there have been over 2 million enrollments globally across more than 250 GenAI courses and projects on Coursera. The UK has shown a strong appetite for learning AI, ranking third in global enrollments, just behind India and the United States. So far the race to upskill in GenAI on Coursera has been largely dominated by millennial men, with 72% of enrollments being male and 52% aged between 28-43 years old—a trend that, if continued, may cause concern for widening the gender gap. 

“The overwhelming demand for GenAI courses by British learners underscores the rapid changes that are taking place in today’s job market,” said Nikolaz Foucaud, Managing Director EMEA, Coursera. “On this AI Appreciation Day, we are thrilled to further enhance our offerings of GenAI skills through trusted brands and credentials, creating greater opportunity for everyone to develop new and in-demand skills. With the UK’s tech sector generating around £150 billion each year, this isn’t only about the individual, by developing an AI-skilled talent pool there is a huge opportunity for Britain to establish itself as a tech superpower.”

The new initiatives Coursera announced today include:

• 7 new GenAI courses, Specializations, and certificates from top partners 
  • Generative AI for Software Development Skills Certificate from DeepLearning.AI 
  • Programming with Generative AI course from IIT Guwahati
  • Artificial Intelligence Graduate Certificate from the University of Colorado Boulder 
  • Generative AI in Marketing Specialization from UVA Darden 
  • Responsible Generative AI Specialization from University of Michigan 
  • Change Management for Generative AI course from Vanderbilt University 
  • Generative AI for Kids, Parents, and Teachers course from Vanderbilt University 
• Enhancing 8 entry-level Professional Certificates from IBM, Microsoft and Meta with GenAI updates including activities, readings, and videos.
• Expansion of GenAI Academy with ‘GenAI for Teams’, offering specialized catalogs for software and product teams, data teams, and marketing teams
• Introduction of Coursera Coach as a sidebar experience, providing AI-powered guidance within courses for asking questions, summarizing key takeaways, practicing for quizzes, and exploring learning alignment with goals