Over 40% of AI upskilling enrolments in India come from senior professionals: Study

The report suggests that upskilling in India has moved beyond early adopters and niche technology roles to become a mainstream career requirement across industries and experience levels. As enterprises hasten AI adoption, senior leaders are under immense pressure to understand, guide, and implement AI-led transformation across organisations.

“While AI and GenAI were already among the most sought-after upskilling areas in 2024, their prominence continued well into 2025. What became increasingly clear was the extent to which AI permeated industries, job functions, and experience levels,” said Arjun Nair, Co Founder, Great Learning.

AI and machine learning emerged as the most in-demand upskilling domains in 2025, recording a 17 per cent year-on-year increase in demand. These were followed by data science, software development, cloud computing, and cybersecurity. According to Great Learning, AI is no longer seen as a specialist skill, but as a core professional capability spanning across functions and experience-levels.

While senior professionals dominated AI enrolments, overall upskilling demand remained strongest among freshers and early-career professionals. Learners with zero to three years of experience accounted for 48 per cent of total enrolments, followed by a near-equal split between mid-career professionals with three to 12 years of experience and senior professionals with over 12 years in the workforce. The distribution highlights that upskilling is increasingly seen as essential across the entire professional lifecycle.

“We observed a notable rise in professionals from non-technology sectors  learning AI, reinforcing the fact that AI is no longer a niche or purely technical skill, but a core workplace capability,” Nair said. 

The data also highlights a sharp rise in AI adoption beyond the technology sector. As many as 77 per cent of learners who upskilled in 2025 were employed in non-IT and non-ITES industries, including banking and financial services, manufacturing, energy, healthcare, and pharmaceuticals. Besides, one-third of professionals opting to learn AI came from non-STEM educational backgrounds, underscoring the growing accessibility of AI skills across domains.

Upskilling demand continued to be concentrated in metro cities, with 68 per cent of long-term course enrolments coming from Tier-1 locations such as Bengaluru, Chennai, and Hyderabad. However, Tier-2 cities including Coimbatore, Madurai, and Kochi also recorded strong participation, with Tamil Nadu emerging as the leading contributor from smaller cities.