UK Launches 70-Place AI Boot Camps for Jobless Youth as Neets Top 1 Million

2 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Aug 13

A north-west England pilot will give up to 70 unemployed or at-risk 16- to 21-year-olds three weeks of AI and workplace training, with ministers aiming for most participants to move into apprenticeships.
The course will teach students to build AI tools, understand business uses and use the technology responsibly, alongside office IT and timekeeping, using systems from Microsoft, OpenAI and Anthropic.
BAE Systems and Heinz are among local employers signed up to the scheme, which the government plans to use to shape an England-wide AI skills rollout next summer.
The push comes as UK Neets aged 16 to 24 reached 1.01 million in January-March, the first time above 1 million since 2013, and after ministers eased apprenticeship rules this week to revive youth starts.
Experts backed the idea of making juniors more productive with AI but questioned whether a three-week course can make teenagers truly AI-ready, as Stanford also flagged weaker hiring in AI-exposed entry-level jobs.