Adobe and LinkedIn have launched a new AI training programme for marketers as businesses accelerate their adoption of AI and demand for AI-skilled workers surges.

Together, the firms are rolling out a free programme through LinkedIn Learning, Fortune reported, offering role-specific courses covering digital marketing, content creation, social media, communications, data and analytics.

The launch comes as marketing emerges as one of the professions most exposed to AI disruption.

According to LinkedIn, job postings requiring AI literacy have jumped 113 per cent year on year. Yet despite growing demand from employers, only four per cent of marketing professionals globally have added AI skills to their profiles.

Jessica Jensen, LinkedIn’s chief marketing officer, said AI had become “mission-critical” for marketers, with employers increasingly looking for workers who can combine traditional marketing skills with AI expertise.

The courses have been designed to help marketers use AI for audience segmentation, campaign development, creative production, message testing and performance analysis.

Rachel Thornton, Adobe’s chief marketing officer for enterprise, said: “The challenge is that AI is everywhere, but knowing how to learn it in meaningful ways is still difficult”.

AI skills becoming a hiring requirement

The announcement comes as employers place growing emphasis on AI skills across the labour market.

A new analysis from PwC found that companies operating in AI-exposed sectors increasingly expect entry-level workers to possess skills previously associated with more experienced employees.

The consultancy’s annual AI jobs barometer, which analysed over one billion job ads worldwide, found the technology is reshaping expectations across a range of white-collar professions rather than replacing roles outright.

Research from Anthropic has meanwhile found that marketing specialists and market research analysts rank among the occupations most exposed to AI tools, with around 65 per cent of tasks potentially affected.

Despite concerns over automation, OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman recently said he had been “pretty wrong” about the speed at which AI would replace entry-level white-collar jobs, adding that the feared “jobs apocalypse” had so far failed to materialise.

Instead, employers are increasingly searching for workers who can combine AI fluency with human skills such as creativity and decision-making.

The UK government has also stepped up efforts to address skills shortages.

Last week, ministers unveiled more than £200m in investment to boost AI adoption and workplace training, while Skills England launched new guidance to help employers upskill their staff.

A report published by Skills England found that while 44 per cent of workplaces now use AI regularly, adoption remains uneven, and many businesses are struggling to unlock productivity gains because employees lack the skills and confidence to use the technology effectively.

The findings come as Britain’s wider jobs market remains under pressure, with LinkedIn data published this month showing hiring in London is down 32 per cent compared with pre-pandemic levels.

Meanwhile, recruitment across the UK has fallen 24 per cent since 2019.