Prime Minister Keir Starmer will today roll out TechFirst, a nationwide skills programme built to bring artificial intelligence lessons into every secondary school, according to extracts released by Downing Street.
Downing Street confirmed the plan carries £187 million in public money and will run for three years.
TechFirst promises a new online hub, local delivery partners in each region, and live sessions that explain coding, cyber security and data science in clear language.
Starmer teased the launch in remarks released on Sunday, saying the new lessons will let children “drive tomorrow rather than be directed by it.”
How Will Young People Benefit?
The flagship branch, TechYouth, gives one million students the chance to learn about computing during school hours and earn digital badges recognised by employers.
Lessons will cover chatbot design, large language models and the safe use of cloud tools.
Teachers will receive ready-made material from Google, Microsoft and Amazon, letting them update lessons without extra cost.
According to the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, graduates of the pilot CyberFirst scheme already secured hundreds of early careers in cyber security, proving the new content can land real jobs.
The online portal will also display paid internships and mentoring circles, giving teenagers a direct link to start-ups and research groups.
Why Train Workers Now?
Research ordered by the department shows that by 2035, 10 million British workers will have tasks that involve artificial intelligence. A further 3.9 million positions will depend entirely on the technology.
To prepare, the government and large technology names will produce free courses covering chatbot use and prompt engineering, hoping to lift productivity across offices, hospitals and factories.
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Which Companies Back The Plan?
Google EMEA president Debbie Weinstein called the skills drive “important” and said open training material would help smaller businesses adopt smarter tools.
Microsoft, Amazon, IBM, BT, Barclays and Sage also signed the training pact, pledging to keep learning resources free for five years.
NVIDIA agreed two memorandums of understanding with Whitehall, covering an enlarged AI-lab network and new scholarships for researchers.
The chip maker’s chief, Jensen Huang, will later join the Prime Minister on stage to talk about the talent shortfall and ways to raise public-service quality through automation. Close links with large companies form part of the government’s economic plan, which leans on private capital to lift living standards.
How Big Is AI Really?
Official figures put the present value of the UK AI sector at £72 billion. Government forecasts say it could reach more than £800 billion within ten years, growing thirty times faster than the rest of the economy.
Over 64,000 people now earn a living in 3,700 AI companies, though many founders say talent is hard to find outside London.
Starmer hopes new scholarships, PhD funding and seed grants under TechGrad, TechExpert and TechLocal will spread knowledge across every region and support startups.
TechLocal, worth £18 million, will hand seed cash to regional small businesses so they can build new products or adopt artificial intelligence for the first time.
When Does It Start?
The online platform goes live in September, with class visits rolling out through the autumn term. Local delivery partners will be named later this month so that schools can book workshops before Christmas.
Workers can access the first short courses from October, with content tailored to fields such as healthcare, finance and manufacturing.
Whitehall expects the combined programmes to reach one in five workers by 2030, easing the skills shortfall flagged in the TechNation report released on Sunday.
Speaking before an evening QnA session with tech founders at Downing Street, Starmer said he wanted every child and adult to “take charge of tomorrow’s tools rather than watch from the sidelines.” He framed the drive as a practical answer to pay stagnation.
