News

L&G has launched a new Artificial Intelligence (AI) for Business Value programme for 50 colleagues in partnership with education technology company Multiverse. The initiative is part of L&G’s drive to adapt to the global changes that accelerating AI technology has brought forward in recent years. [1]

AI adoption is estimated to significantly boost labour productivity growth in financial and professional services over the coming years; the City of London Corporation estimates a boost of 12% by 2025 and of 50% by 2030. [2]

Being that the investment management sector has the potential to embed AI in nearly every one of its functions[3], the Financial Conduct Authority and other regulatory bodies have put a focus on the safe development and deployment of AI[4]. Through the AI for Business Value programme, L&G will equip its employees with the tools needed to responsibly adopt AI in the workplace, as well as taking advantage of potential productivity gains.

Derrick Hastie, Chief Technology Officer, Asset Management, L&G: “We are very excited to provide an opportunity for our colleagues to earn a professional qualification in AI through a business lens. Most importantly, the apprenticeship will help our participants to recognise growth opportunities and leverage AI technologies; creating strategies that can be implemented across L&G’s capabilities.

"Having completed an apprenticeship early on in my career, I am a huge advocate of continuous professional development. Through this programme, we want to support our colleagues’ professional aspirations whilst building a wide net of tech skills that will be key for change resilience.”

Throughout the 13-month course, funded by the apprenticeship levy, participants from across the business will learn to better leverage L&G’s technology tools to develop a robust AI strategy; developing tangible benefits that will drive business value through cost savings, improved operational efficiency, and automated manual processes.

The training will be delivered by Multiverse, a tech company that specialises in high-quality training through applied learning. Multiverse has trained more than 20,000 apprentices at over 1,500 organisations in data, AI, and digital skills since 2016.

Gary Eimerman, Chief Learning Officer, Multiverse: “L&G is an organisation built on principles of responsible investment for long term growth, an ethos reflected in its staff development strategy. By equipping its teams to make responsible data-led decisions, L&G can enhance operations and ensure security and protection in the fast evolving digital workplace.”

As part of the Investment Association’s Technology Working Group, L&G has already played a key role in assessing the ways in which UK asset managers are already leveraging AI to drive efficiency, automating routine tasks to boost productivity, and improving the quality of products and services offered.

[1] A timeline of technology transformation: How has the pace changed? | World Economic Forum

[2] Can AI actually increase human productivity? | World Economic Forum, The future of AI & the workforce

[3] Technology Working Group AI Report Oct 2024.pdf

[4] AI Update, A pro-innovation approach to AI regulation - GOV.UK

Richard Cotton, Co-Founder at Maikai, said: “In this digitally driven world,
our clients are looking to develop their teams with the latest AI, tech and data skills. It is anticipated that 40% of workers will need to reskill in the next three
years due to AI, and we are excited to be partnering with Multiverse to extend
our capabilities in this area. Their measured and applied human-centred
learning models are transforming how professional apprenticeships work,
helping our clients to build resilient and future-facing organisations.”

Carly Becker, VP, Strategic Alliances at Multiverse, said: “Nowhere has the explosion of data, analysis tools, and predictive insights been more profoundly seen than in the world of professional sport. The pursuit of competitive edge, and performance excellence, is now driven by data. But the ability of organisations to harness this superpower is too often hindered by the skill set of their teams. In partnership with Maikai, we’re excited to play our role ensuring individuals of every age and career stage feel the benefit of technological skills in their careers and in their organisations.”

We’re on a mission to provide equitable access to economic opportunity for everyone. Here, we want to set out how Atlas is helping us to do that, because when combined with our industry-leading human coaches, it allows us to offer 1:1 tutoring - which is proven to dramatically improve learning outcomes - at scale. Together our coaches combine with Atlas to deliver highly personalized, effective, guidance 24/7, whenever our learners need it

We also want to explore what we’re doing to improve - because no good tech organization only celebrates its wins. We’re constantly iterating and learning ourselves. We'll touch on what’s new and what's next for Atlas at the end.

We often say that AI is useless unless people can use it. And at Multiverse, we also want to understand how people are using it. So let’s dive in.

Equitable access

First, let’s look at users - and what it could tell us about AI adoption.

We’ve seen tremendous growth in usage, with a roughly four-fold increase in the number of daily users in the past six months. Likewise, the number of messages per day has skyrocketed - we’re now seeing 5x the volume compared with six months ago. We also hit a new peak ‘helpfulness’ rating of 97% in January - which has remained consistently above 95% since August 2024.

But who are those users? We previously reported greater uptake among the over 40s and those with additional learning needs. That still holds true, with 46% of over 40s using it vs. 42% of the 25-39s and 34% of those 24 and under. This stands counter to the trend illustrated in some of the latest UK government AI usage data, which suggests that 18-34 year olds are most likely to use AI tools like LLM-based chatbots.

Meanwhile we have proportionally equal of male and female usage from the past six months, with 42% of each group using Atlas. Again, this bucks the trend of AI usage skewing more male, according to that same government data.

As for the racial demographic of our users, it’s broadly similar across ethnicities, with 40% Asian, 35% Black, 42% Multi-Racial, and 44% White learners using the tool. These proportions have grown steadily among each group, though adoption among Black learners remains slightly lower than average.

Economic opportunity

We also want to explain a little bit about outcomes, and in particular how people are using the tool. We’ve found that some of the top ways that Atlas is being used include:

• As a learning partner: helping learners to unpick how they’ve arrived at incorrect answers within their own work.
• As a curriculum guide: augmenting program material with advice for how to apply it to their particular role, or explaining specific concepts in a new way.
• As an impact evaluator: helping to uncover the impact of a user’s learning, by teasing out insights on what they’ve achieved, and helping calculate outcomes

While we always intended for Atlas to act as a technical and learning guide, we hadn’t anticipated the popularity of using Atlas to understand impact.

This hints at how Atlas could be used to improve individuals’ economic outcomes. What better way to talk to your manager about a promotion or a pay rise, than armed with data and insights on the impact you’ve been able to drive for your team? Could AI be your next career coach?

This also has perhaps even greater implications. It hints at how organizations can start to use AI tools to understand the impact of their wider workforce. We’re really just at the beginning of realizing the full potential for this tool.

Public vs private sector uptake

Of course, not all customers or learners are the same.

Working closely with more than 1,500 partners from every sector means we understand the unique differences in how different organizations learn and apply their skills. As you can imagine, the needs of a financial services company are vastly different from the needs of an NHS trust. The same holds true for what they require from Atlas - naturally, applying skills in a healthcare or local government setting differs from a commercial organization.

To investigate this, we compared behaviours between the public and private sectors. And found something remarkable.

There is an unfair cliché that in the public sector, technology is treated with suspicion or underutilized - that public sector organizations invest into technology without having the requisite skills to make it work.

According to our data, though, that assumption isn’t borne out. Comparing a sample of our biggest private sector customers with over 80 NHS and 50 local council partners, we found that proportionally more people are using Atlas in the public sector (66% vs 57%). This suggests that in the right environment, public sector workers are just as curious about and capable of using AI tools as their private sector counterparts. We just need to enable them in the right way.

What’s more, we know that public sector organizations are under pressure to deliver more with greater efficiency. AI has a huge potential to help with that, and Atlas is just the beginning.

What’s new and next for Atlas?

Finally, what can we do better?

We’re continually iterating to make Atlas more user-friendly and useful to the learners on our programs. Recent areas of exploration for us have included:

• Atlas as a learning co-pilot – we’ve made changes to Atlas to make it more contextually-aware, responsive and discoverable within the Multiverse platform. So Atlas now recognises the content learners are looking at whilst they are learning on the Multiverse platform. This means it can offer more relevant guidance, as well as displaying dynamic prompts based on what learners might want to know more about.
• AI-human handover - we know there are some circumstances where only chatting to a human will help. Atlas can now help smooth that handover by summarising a learner’s interaction when it hands the conversation over to a human coach. This makes it easier for the coaches to provide timely and thoughtful responses rather than spending a lot of time catching up on the chat.

Looking ahead, we want to embed Atlas more fully into the learner experience throughout their program, and find new ways to make it an even more helpful and intuitive learning partner.

And as always, we won’t take ourselves too seriously. You may have spotted SantaAtlas – you can bet there’ll be more surprises up our sleeve when it comes to Atlas’s sense of personal style. Any suggestions? Let us know…

Sheffield City Council is investing in a strategic upskilling initiative for 150 of its team, allowing the organisation to leverage technology to improve operational performance and resident experience.

The Data Academy will contribute to the council’s Future Sheffield initiative, providing staff with enhanced digital skills to modernise processes and improve efficiencies. This will allow the council to focus more time on providing services to Sheffield residents while making the organisation more cost-effective.

Funded by the Apprenticeship Levy, training is being delivered by Multiverse, a tech company that identifies, closes and prevents skills gaps, through personalised, on-the-job learning. Multiverse has trained more than 16,000 apprentices in AI, data and digital skills since 2016.

The Sheffield City Council cohort will embark on a range of Multiverse courses, including ‘Data & Insights for Business Decisions’, a level 3 apprenticeship, and ‘Data Fellowship’, a level 4 programme. Once completed, colleagues will be able to conduct data-led projects and encourage data driven decision making, to unlock cost saving opportunities.

The Multiverse Skills Intelligence Report, released in August 2024, highlighted a significant challenge faced by local governments and councils due to a lack of data skills. This shortfall leads to 26% of employees' time spent on data-related tasks being unproductive. The new academy demonstrates how Sheffield City Council is taking action to reduce the skills gap.

Cllr Fran Belbin, Deputy Leader at Sheffield City Council and Chair of the Future Sheffield Members Working Group, said: “The launch of this 150-strong Academy not only marks a commitment to our colleagues’ professional development, but also to our local community. As we seek to enhance operations and reduce time spent with data, we can focus on what matters – providing residents with the highest quality service.”

Multiverse combines work and learning to unlock economic opportunity for everyone. It works with more than 1,500 organisations to close critical skill gaps in the workforce in AI, data and tech, through a new kind of apprenticeship.

Gary Eimerman, Chief Learning Officer at Multiverse, said: “This is the start of a partnership that will provide Sheffield City Council with the tools for organisational transformation. Residents across the UK are reliant on their local authorities, and this is putting Sheffield on the front foot to deliver real value and efficiency.”

Following on from the recent appointment of Jillian Gillespie as CFO and Martha Lane Fox to the board, the tech credentials of the new VP appointees underline Multiverse’s ambitions to be a generational technology company.

Helen Greul joins Multiverse from a varied career at Spotify, having most recently headed up its open source Backstage product, which streamlines workflows for developers. Prior to this she worked on the infrastructure of Spotify’s content platform, contributing to the successful launch of Podcasts in 2018. With more than 15 years in the tech industry Helen will help supercharge Multiverse’s high-performing engineering team, enabling Multiverse to deliver its AI-driven education platform to learners across the world.

She said, “Growing up in a family of educators, I understand the transformative power of education. In the current macro economic environment where upskilling is a necessity for every field, I’m looking forward to creating a learning experience in which the next generation of talent can learn the skills they need to thrive.”

Asha Haji, meanwhile, joins Multiverse having successfully built and exited her own edtech company, Framework, prior to which she spent almost seven years at Education First. In her time as an entrepreneur she secured investment from Google’s Black Founders Fund and earned a finalist slot in Harvard Business School’s New Venture Competition. Haji also secured funding from VCs, founders and CxOs behind the likes of Netflix, Calm and YouTube. Having reskilled many times, working in everything from sales and partnerships, to talent acquisition and product management, she is well-placed to steer Multiverse to success in its operations.

She said, “I'm passionate about helping people from all backgrounds grow further in their careers and develop technical aptitude, so I’m hugely excited by Multiverse’s mission. I’m looking forward to helping it tackle the problem of delivering high quality, applied learning at scale.”

Euan Blair, Founder and CEO of Multiverse, said: “Continuing to build a world-beating senior team is essential for Multiverse to achieve its ambitions. I’m beyond excited to be welcoming two more brilliant individuals to the organisation, who will help continue our rapid growth in the right way and enable us to realise our far-reaching ambitions.”

The University of Manchester is launching AI and data programmes for 70 professional services staff through a new Data & AI Academy, in partnership with Multiverse. This new initiative is part of a drive from the University to better leverage its technology tools and data.

The development of these skills will increase staff efficiency through the automation of manual processes and future proof the workforce for the next decade. The ambition of the Data & AI Academy is to expand across the University’s professional services teams in 2025.

Training is funded by the apprenticeship levy and delivered by Multiverse, a tech company that specialises in high-quality training through applied learning. Multiverse has trained more than 16,000 apprentices at over 1,500 organisations in data, AI and digital skills since 2016.

Programmes include ‘AI for Business Value’, which will help learners to identify operational and commercial gains that can be achieved through using AI responsibly. This will allow them to design AI solutions with key areas like student experience and organisational development in mind.

The ‘Data Fellowship’ will upskill employees in data analysis and help the University develop a team of data specialists to implement its 10-year futureproofing framework. Meanwhile ‘AI Powered-Productivity’ will help teams to boost their output at work through the use of Microsoft 365 Copilot. This will be crucial to help deliver value from the University’s forward-looking investment in the technology.

According to Multiverse’s Skills Intelligence Report, the education sector is most impacted by a lack of data skills, with 38% of employees’ time working with data spent unproductively, compared to the average of 30% across 18 other sectors.

The University of Manchester’s Data & AI Academy will lead the way in mitigating this risk by offering tailored training programmes to enhance data analytics and AI skills among staff. This will foster a more data-driven workforce that can effectively leverage technology to improve student experiences.

PJ Hemmaway, Chief Information Officer at The University of Manchester said: “I’m thrilled to be partnering with Multiverse to offer these unique and highly relevant professional development opportunities to our colleagues. Together, we have developed an approach to increase our digital confidence around data and AI which will help us immensely to prepare for the challenges that lie ahead.

“Data and AI skills will be critical in the future and I’m eager to see the first cohort of colleagues upskill and learn how to harness the power of innovative technologies for the benefit of our University community and our student experience, as we prepare ourselves for what’s to come.”

Robert Williams, Apprenticeships Programme Manager at The University of Manchester said: “We are excited to join forces with Multiverse to introduce the Data and AI Academy, a dynamic addition to our growing apprenticeship offering at the University of Manchester. This partnership underscores our commitment to supporting staff development and highlights the vital role apprenticeships play in driving personal and professional growth across our institution”

Euan Blair, CEO at Multiverse said: “The University of Manchester is adopting a strategic approach to give its skilled teams more time, enabling them to concentrate on what truly matters. Already recognised as a leading institution for students, this new academy demonstrates its commitment to supporting employees as well.”

Hillingdon Council is launching a new Digital Excellence Academy for 75 staff members, as part of a specialist upskilling drive. The project will help the council execute a new digital strategy to better integrate services and improve quality of life for the community.

By building its digital capabilities, the council is looking to empower colleagues to improve their efficiency with digital and data while utilising these new skills to inform better decisions for residents and enable financial sustainability.

Training is being delivered by Multiverse, a tech company that identifies, closes and prevents skills gaps, through personalised, on-the-job learning. Multiverse has trained more than 16,000 apprentices in AI, data and digital skills since 2016.

Hillingdon Council’s new Digital Excellence Academy will see 75 employees enrol onto programmes such as ‘Data & Insights for Business Decisions’, a Level 3 apprenticeship which covers core technical skills including cleaning, formatting and preparing data. ‘Transformative Leadership’, a Level 5 course, is designed to help employees build strong leadership foundations, manage high-performing teams and drive continuous improvement.

Multiverse’s Skills Intelligence Report found that more than a quarter of local government and council employees’ time spent on data-related tasks could be more efficient if skills were enhanced. Hillingdon Council is ensuring it is ahead of the sector status quo by making significant steps to enhance the digital skills of employees.

Matthew Wallbridge, Chief Operating Officer of Hillingdon Council said:“Our Digital Strategy sets out our vision to embrace technology to be more efficient and make it easier for residents to use council services, including supporting those who are unable to use technology. Upskilling our teams in digital and data is a clear demonstration of our commitment to this, and in driving positive outcomes for our community.”

Multiverse combines work and learning to unlock economic opportunity for everyone. It works with more than 1,500 organisations to close critical skill gaps in the workforce in AI, data and tech, through a new kind of apprenticeship.

Gary Eimerman, Chief Learning Officer at Multiverse, said: “We’re confident that Hillingdon Council’s Excellence Academywill both improve its services and create a culture of continuous learning, driving innovation within the organisation. Staff will be better equipped to understand and use data, leading to more effective and efficient service delivery.”

Leading built environment consultant, Rider Levett Bucknall (RLB) UK & Europe has launched a Data & AI Transformation Academy, designed to digitally upskill its team and leverage innovative data solutions, providing an enhanced service offering to clients.

Established to reinforce RLB’s positioning as a leader in data-driven construction consultancy by harnessing the power of data analytics and research, this academy plans to offer a continuous learning programme to RLB employees across the UK and Europe. RLB will look to launch additional cohorts every six months to maximise impact for clients in the face of rapidly changing technology.

RLB has partnered with tech leader, Multiverse, which provides personalised, on-the-job learning. RLB’s academy features programmes like the 13-month ‘AI for Business Value’ programme, and the Data Fellowship, a level 4 apprenticeship programme. Learners will gain hands-on training in AI implementation and business intelligence tools, fostering a future-ready, data fluent culture, with apprentices taking part from teams including cost management, sustainability, built asset consultancy and project management.

Matt Sharp, Chief Digital Officer at RLB said: “This academy lays the foundation for transforming the skills of our team and the service offering to our clients. As our business, projects, clients, and industry undergo significant digital and data transformation, it is crucial that we equip our people with the necessary digital and data skills. With more data at our disposal, RLB needs individuals who can unlock its potential and tell compelling stories through data.”

Susan Nelson, Digital Change and Adoption Manager at RLB said: “By launching this programme, we’re building a data-fluent culture. This will drive digital innovation and agility, preparing our team to shape the future of construction and property management consultancy.”

Gary Eimerman, Chief Learning Officer at Multiverse said: “RLB is cementing its position as a sector pioneer by equipping employees with vital business efficiency tools. Our research shows that the construction industry struggles with a data skills gap. Closing this will have a profound impact, accelerating project timelines and reducing errors; even helping to better measure and improve the sustainability of building projects.”

Tech company Multiverse, which has recently introduced powerful AI capabilities across its offerings, will launch the AI-Powered Productivity apprenticeship, the UK’s first accredited apprenticeship to fully embed Microsoft 365 Copilot. This program is eligible for public funding via the apprenticeship levy. The skilling of the wider workforce in AI tools is a crucial step to ensuring the productivity benefits are widely felt across the economy.

Research by Multiverse has found that more than half of workers (51%) have received fewer than 5 hours’ training on AI. 63% of tech leaders say the biggest blocker to further AI investment is their teams’ inability to fully use existing AI technology.

The apprenticeship will see learners develop the skills to boost their output at work by using Microsoft 365 Copilot, while understanding the ethical and data protection implications of using AI. It will be delivered using Multiverse’s measured, applied, guided, and equitable approach, which incorporates personalised, on-the-job learning to maximise business impact. The programme is suitable for a wide range of roles and levels of experience.

Launched in 2023, Microsoft 365 Copilot embeds generative AI into Microsoft’s suite of productivity apps – Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams, OneNote, OneDrive – to unleash creativity, unlock productivity, and uplevel skills.

Microsoft expanded its skilling program Get On – established in 2020 to empower 1.5 million individuals with tech skills by 2025 – with the added aim of equipping 1 million more people with the AI skills ranging from AI fluency to technical and business transformation.

Microsoft UK CEO, Darren Hardman, said: “To fully capitalise on AI's economic potential and drive growth, we must equip people with the necessary knowledge and tools. By investing in AI skilling, we not only enhance our own capabilities but also drive innovation and productivity across the entire economy.

“The AI-powered Productivity apprenticeship from Multiverse is a great example of a programme that places AI and Microsoft 365 Copilot at the heart of building the skills for the future. We are excited to see the impact of this programme on the future workforce.”

The UK’s first edtech unicorn, Multiverse, is a tech company that identifies, closes and prevents skills gaps, through personalised, on-the-job learning, and is one of the world’s largest apprenticeship providers.

AI-Powered Productivity joins a suite of AI apprenticeships launched by Multiverse, including AI for Business Value and Transformative Leadership, targeted at individuals across every age and every stage of a business.

Multiverse has trained people at 1,500 organisations including the NHS, KPMG, and Capita.

Multiverse CEO, Euan Blair, said: “We know that Gen AI will unlock a surge of productivity in UK businesses, but it requires a combination of the right tools and the right skills to be successful.

“That’s why businesses that want to win in the AI age must make a deliberate effort to upskill and reskill workers with what they need to harness this opportunity. We’re taking market-leading tools like Microsoft Copilot and empowering workers to drive real outcomes using them.

“Not only will it enable businesses to get the best out of AI, but it’ll also set individuals up with the skills to drive their careers for years to come.”

Businesses and organisations can enrol their employees onto the programme, where they will cover modules on AI technologies, prompt engineering, data privacy, and tool utilisation. Participants will learn to measure the impact of AI on their roles, advocate for its use in the workplace, and follow ethical practices.

Employers will be able to fund the programme fully from their Apprenticeship Levy, an additional payroll tax, which is ringfenced for apprenticeship training. The Levy is currently set at 0.5% of an employer’s annual pay bill and applicable to employers with an annual pay bill of over £3 million.

Baroness Lane Fox is a serial entrepreneur and tech leader with three decades of experience - guiding multiple companies to public markets. She now serves as President of the British Chambers of Commerce, Chancellor at The Open University, and co-chair of a new government panel tasked with driving improved adoption of technology in the public sector. In addition, she currently serves on the board at Chanel and previously served on Twitter’s board (now X) for almost 7 years until 2022.

The company has also appointed Jillian Gillespie as Chief Financial Officer. Jillian joins from MongoDB, the developer data platform with a market capitalization of $20 billion, where she was Senior Vice President of Finance and Operations. She led the company through major milestones and international expansion over ten years, from its Series F funding round in 2013 through to IPO in 2017, followed by success as a public company.

Multiverse is a tech company that identifies, closes and prevents skills gaps, through on-the-job learning, apprenticeships programmes, and a personalised AI platform. The appointments come off the back of two consecutive record breaking quarters for the company. In October, the company launched an ‘AI-Powered Productivity’ apprenticeship, the first apprenticeship in the country to fully embed training on Microsoft 365 Copilot. AI training programs now make up 22% of Multiverse’s revenue.

Multiverse's research shows 64% of businesses lack confidence in deploying AI and associated technologies – a skills gap that has become more acute with rapid technological advancement. They also support Multiverse's continued expansion in the United States, where 87% of business leaders believe they have skill gaps. The company already partners with more than 1,500 companies across the US and UK.

Euan Blair, founder and CEO of Multiverse: "Multiverse has the capacity to be a generational British tech success story - ensuring people globally can embrace tech with confidence by embedding learning in tech, data, and AI into their daily work. In Martha and Jillian, we're adding two exceptional leaders who understand both the scale of the global skills crisis and how to build and scale transformative solutions. As we expand our footprint with new products and partnerships, their experience in scaling high-growth tech companies will help us seize this moment and reshape how organisations develop talent in the AI era."

Baroness Martha Lane Fox: “The promised gains from technology will never be delivered unless people have the skills to take advantage of them. This is becoming urgent in the boardrooms of every organisation, and Multiverse is perfectly positioned with its model of continuous, applied learning. Across the UK we won’t unlock growth without giving employers access to the skills they need to thrive. The debate about skills reform sorely needs the voice of employers, and I’ll be working to deliver it, alongside companies themselves and learners’’.

Jillian Gillespie, Chief Financial Officer of Multiverse: "I am thrilled to join Multiverse at such a pivotal moment in its journey. What really attracted me is the opportunity to collaborate with such a talented, genuine, and ambitious team in a fast-growing, dynamic, and rewarding business. I firmly believe that applied, on-the-job learning represents the future of workforce development and I look forward to applying my experience to an exciting new challenge.”