Top Generative AI Skills Learners and Businesses Are Prioritizing

“The goal isn’t to become an AI master overnight. It’s to keep showing up, keep tinkering, and keep moving forward. That’s how transformation happens.” – Julian Melanson (CEO of Leap Year Learning, Udemy Instructor)

From content creation to data analysis, generative artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming the way people work faster than ever. With a few prompts, you can have your ad copy, blog post, or mockup image generated in a fraction of the time it would take the average person. As an example, I recently created a skills matrix for the different levels in my org using AI and it took a single hour for input and review. In the past, that same work has taken months for me to complete on my own.

Every day we’re having more and more conversations with our customers around the critical need to stay competitive and build org-wide AI fluency. Retaining that competitive edge requires developing relevant skills, such as prompting, ethical AI usage, and understanding outputs. Simply put, GenAI skills are being prioritized by businesses, and learning these skills can help professionals stand out in the job field.

Whether you’ve never used AI before or you’re an everyday super user, our Generative AI courses can help you on your way. Learn at your own pace and establish the skills you need to succeed as AI becomes one of the most widely used tools available. Let’s discuss why these skills are in demand, which skills to prioritize learning, and effective paths to learning these skills.

Why Generative AI Skills Are in Demand

Generative AI skills have the potential to transform careers and business outcomes. GenAI enables faster innovation, leading to improved productivity for both individuals and organizations alike.

Organizations benefit from:

• Innovation: Generative AI can create and design content in seconds.  With GenAI, organizations can innovate across every department and team. Think of GenAI as your personal assistant to bounce ideas off of and collaborate with on every task and strategic initiative.
• Efficiency and productivity: Generative AI improves productivity by automating routine tasks, allowing people to focus on creative or strategic work that requires a human touch. 
• A competitive edge: Businesses that effectively leverage generative AI typically outperform their competitors^[1]. They can stay ahead by providing personalized customer experiences and automating routine tasks to cut costs.

Individuals see benefits in:

• Career growth opportunities: Generative AI has paved the way for countless roles, such as prompt engineers, AI trainers, and data scientists. We haven’t even scratched the surface on the amount of new roles that AI will open doors for. The World Economic Forum’s 2025 Future of Jobs report projects that emerging technologies like AI will lead to the loss of around 9 million jobs by 2025. However, AI is also expected to generate approximately 11 million new roles by 2030, many of which don’t yet exist today.
• Job security: While  AI raises questions about job security, it’s created a brand-new industry that isn’t likely to disappear. The global AI market is projected to grow to more than $1.3 trillion from 2022 to 2032. 
• Adaptability: Generative AI allows individuals to become more adaptable and agile, especially in the workplace. They can direct their focus toward crucial tasks that require human input while automating those that don’t.

Essential Generative AI Skills for 2025 and Beyond

Generative AI skills are an asset. Developing them can enhance your resume or help you break into an AI-centric role.  Hot take – AI won’t replace jobs; people using AI effectively will replace those who aren’t.

Prompt Engineering and Model Fine-Tuning

Generative AI utilizes prompts to create output. However, it’s not always as simple as telling your chosen AI model to give you a blog marketing a new item. While it might create something relatively cohesive, it won’t necessarily be effective. 

If you utilize generative AI in your day-to-day operations, either at work or on your personal time, you need to know how to write effective prompts. An effective prompt shapes the AI model’s output, allowing you to tailor it to your needs. At Udemy, we use CIDI as a general prompt: Context, Instruction, Details and Input.

Developing strategies for effective prompting helps you reduce iterations and minimize the need to repeatedly ask for corrections. This saves time and costs for models that require paid subscriptions for access. Learn to engineer prompts that provide context and constraints to fine-tune the model’s response. Read more about prompt engineering here, or get started by enrolling in a prompt engineering course.

Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Understanding AI Outputs

NLP enables computers and software to interact in human language. Training AI models to utilize NLP requires AI engineers to feed the model with algorithms and datasets to teach it speech patterns. 

A poorly trained AI may provide language that sounds unnatural or off-putting, which can limit its overall use. It may also be unintelligible if it doesn’t have a good grasp of the language. For generative AI to be as accessible, models must be able to interpret, understand, and utilize human speech. This is where natural language processing (NLP) plays a critical role. Not only for the technology itself but for the people working with it.

Professionals who upskill in NLP gain the ability to fine-tune, evaluate, and adapt AI outputs more effectively, making them invaluable in building user-friendly, trustworthy AI systems. As AI continues to evolve, understanding how language models work will be a key advantage in both technical and strategic roles.

Data Literacy and Ethical AI Practices

When used responsibly, generative AI transforms team projects and company productivity. However, when the AI model isn’t trained well, it can raise ethical concerns.

AI models trained with faulty or biased data inadvertently take on those biases and sometimes amplify them. To combat this, AI engineers need to understand data literacy. This enables them to identify biases or data limitations so they can correct the situation. Familiarity with ethical AI practices and the ability to recognize flawed data can contribute to more responsible AI use. 

Other Emerging Generative AI Skills

Other skills to brush up on include:

• Multimodal AI interaction: Gain an understanding of how AI systems process and integrate information. While traditional AI only uses one input type, such as voice or text, multimodal AI has the capacity to process multiple types of input data.
• Responsible AI design: This approach recognizes the importance of ethical considerations. For example, AI trainers with an emphasis on responsible AI design ensure systems avoid bias and discrimination while respecting and protecting private data. 
• AI product development workflows: AI product development requires a range of skills, including deep learning, machine learning, programming, and model evaluation. Mastering these skills could lead to a career as an AI product manager or AI engineer.

Top Generative AI Tools to Master

Many industries use various AI tools to assist with basic tasks, such as summarizing meeting notes, managing schedules, and responding to basic customer requests. Familiarize yourself with the most common generative AI tools and gain an understanding of their capabilities and how to use them.

Popular Tools and Platforms

Most people already utilize AI to some degree, whether they’re aware of it or not. Even text editors, such as Grammarly, use AI to identify spelling and grammar mistakes. However, generative AI tools have seen rapid adoption as businesses recognize their power and usefulness. Popular tools include:

• ChatGPT: As a chatbot, ChatGPT answers questions and requests included in prompts. It can serve as a virtual assistant to answer customer inquiries, day or night. Companies can train their chatbots to answer frequently asked questions so customers don’t have to wait for a human to respond. Learn more about ChatGPT here.
• Midjourney: Midjourney takes text prompts and creates images in response. It’s particularly useful for graphic designers and artists since it can be integrated into the Discord chat platform.
• DALL-E: Like Midjourney, DALL-E creates images from text prompts. Marketers and social media managers can use it to quickly generate images relevant to their tasks.
• Jasper AI: Jasper AI is a writing assistant specialized in marketing and content creation. It’s ideal for generating email campaigns, ad copy, and blog posts. Marketers can incorporate a specific brand voice, audience persona, and style to create cohesive, tailored content.
• Google Gemini: Previously called Bard, Gemini is a chatbot capable of answering questions in a natural, conversational manner. Businesses can integrate it into their Google Apps to complete simple tasks, such as summarizing data or information, translating, or generating code.

While useful, generative AI has a few common downsides:

• It’s prone to hallucinating: Users have to fact-check because AI doesn’t always get it right. Even if you give a model an article to summarize, it might make assumptions that aren’t actually present, falsifying the information. 
• It’s not copyrightable: This primarily affects people using AI to generate content for commercial purposes. The U.S. Copyright Office states that to copyright something, it must be authored by a human. This creates a legal gray area where ad copy, slogans, and other branding information may not actually be owned by a business if they used AI to generate it.
• It’s not particularly green. Generative AI requires massive amounts of power, especially when training. Companies with sustainability goals may think twice about how they integrate generative AI due to concerns about emissions and water usage.

Practical Applications in the Workplace

While popular AI tools have infinite applications in the workplace, they primarily automate tasks, which boosts overall productivity since employees can focus on other aspects of their jobs. For example, apartment complexes often utilize AI assistants to schedule viewings or confirm appointments. In logistics, AI can provide instant order tracking, telling people when they can expect their shipment. 

It’s no surprise that there’s some controversy surrounding the use of AI for creative endeavors, such as content creation, marketing, and design. Some people believe it removes the human element from the equation. However, an argument can be made that GenAI can enhance creativity by reducing the time spent on tedious elements, or using it as a sounding board for new ideas.

For example, Adobe Photoshop utilizes AI for photo editing. It’s easier than ever to sharpen an image, adjust a background, or remove an unwanted object from a photo. The photographer still needs to get the initial shot and edit the image afterward, but for anyone who has painstakingly edited photos, you know just how much time you can save by clicking a button to erase an unintended detail in the background.

A content creator who doesn’t know how to organize an upcoming blog or where to start on research could use generative AI to create an outline that includes topics covered in popular articles and differentiation opportunities. However, they still need to research to confirm what the model includes in the outline and write the words themselves.

How to Start Learning Generative AI

The right approach to learning generative AI depends on your comfort and skill levels. If you’ve never done anything beyond asking Alexa or Siri a quick question, start by learning to create efficient prompts. If you already understand the basics, explore advanced learning opportunities to boost your skills and help you integrate AI more effectively.

Recommended Learning Path for Beginners

Start by focusing on foundational concepts. Develop a basic proficiency in key AI skills, such as prompting and utilizing ChatGPT and other common tools.

As you familiarize yourself with the tools, you can start learning the foundations of AI. A basic understanding of algorithms, data, or programming skills can help with a deeper understanding of how AI functions and how to really maximize it in your day-to-day.

Explore entry-level classes on Udemy, such as this complete ChatGPT guide. These types of courses provide information about industry use cases, future trends, and hands-on experience creating or training your own customized chatbots.

Your first few months of working with generative AI should include plenty of hands-on practice. Routinely practice prompting to develop more efficient skills and pursue generative AI projects in your free time. As your skills grow, you can start building a prompting portfolio for all kinds of tasks and projects.

Advanced Learning and Specialization Areas

AI is constantly evolving, so advanced learning or seeking a specialization can help you grow your career. We offer courses for specialists and leaders, including:

• Generative AI for Managers and Leaders: This course introduces foundational knowledge while teaching participants how to integrate generative AI into their business strategy.
• Generative AI for Leaders: This course explores key concepts, including prompt engineering, leveraging AI to enhance remote team efficiency, and utilizing ChatGPT to automate customer responses.
• LLM Engineering: This 8-week course covers large language model (LLM) engineering. Complete eight projects culminating in creating an autonomous multi-agent system.

Even if you’re an AI expert, lagging on emerging trends will put you at a disadvantage relative to your peers. To maintain a competitive edge, you must continue learning about and upskilling in AI. 

Expert Advice for Learning GenAI Skills with Julian Melanson (CEO of Leap Year Learning, Udemy Instructor)

Q: How do learners prioritize which generative AI skills to focus on in their career development?

That’s such an important question, and I hear it all the time from learners just getting started. The truth is, there’s no one-size-fits-all path. The best generative AI skills to focus on depend on where you are in your career and what problems you’re passionate about solving. That said, prompt engineering is a powerful foundational skill that applies across industries. Whether you’re in marketing, tech, education, or creative work, knowing how to communicate with AI effectively is like unlocking a new superpower for productivity and innovation.

From there, I always recommend learners double down on tools that match their goals. If you’re visual, explore Midjourney or ChatGPT Image Generation. If you’re building a business, focus on automations. And if you’re technical, get into ChatGPT APIs or AI-based coding. In our course, we made sure to cover all of these areas so students can not only learn what’s possible but start applying it in real, meaningful ways.

Q: How do learners leverage their generative AI skills to advance within their current organizations?

I always tell my students that the real magic of generative AI isn’t just learning the tools, it’s knowing how to apply them to make an impact where you already are. Once you understand how to use ChatGPT or other tools to streamline tasks, generate content, or bring fresh ideas to the table, you immediately start standing out as someone who brings innovation and efficiency to your team. That’s something every organization values.

We encourage that in the course, take what you learn and apply it within your role, then show how it drives real value. That initiative turns AI from a personal skill into a company asset, and that’s when promotions, leadership opportunities, and expanded roles start to open up. It’s not about doing more work, it’s about doing work that moves the needle.

Q: How do learners stay motivated during their generative AI learning journey, especially when facing challenges?

Staying motivated while learning generative AI really comes down to shifting your mindset from “I need to master everything” to “I’m here to experiment and grow.” This field is moving so fast, and it’s totally normal to feel overwhelmed at times. What I always remind my students is that even the experts are still learning. That’s why in our course, we keep things practical, playful, and progress-focused. When you start applying even one small AI win to your life or work, the motivation starts flowing naturally.

And when challenges pop up (which they will!), I encourage learners to lean into curiosity over perfection. Treat every hiccup like a puzzle, not a failure. The goal isn’t to become an AI master overnight. It’s to keep showing up, keep tinkering, and keep moving forward. That’s how transformation happens.

Q: What challenges do learners face when trying to integrate generative AI into their current roles?

One of the biggest challenges learners face is knowing where to start. They might be excited about the possibilities of generative AI but unsure how to apply it in a way that’s actually relevant to their role. There’s often a fear of doing it “wrong” or not getting results right away. That’s why we put such a strong focus in the course on real-world use cases and easy wins. When learners can see how AI can automate a repetitive task, improve communication, or spark new ideas in their specific field, it becomes less about the tech and more about transformation.

Another common challenge is navigating workplace resistance or skepticism. Not everyone is on board with AI yet, and some environments are still adjusting to the pace of change. So even when learners are ready to innovate, they can feel stuck in systems that aren’t. What I tell my students is this: start small, document your impact, and lead by example.

How Udemy Can Help You Upskill

Udemy offers flexible and affordable courses designed and led by expert instructors to help you develop generative AI skills. Since our courses continuously update to reflect the latest advancements quicker than traditional education, they can help you keep up with rapidly evolving fields like generative AI. Learn at your own pace, tackle projects designed to teach you how generative AI works, and pad your resume with your choice of courses. 

Final Thoughts

The future of work will be powered by generative AI. In fact, it’s already begun. As AI advances, its prevalence will only continue to grow. The best way to remain competitive is to master in-demand skills and follow up with emerging trends. Udemy offers a wide range of courses to future-proof your career. Start learning today!

[1] https://northernlight.com/a-serious-study-of-generative-ai-used-in-business-finds-dramatic-quantifiable-benefits/