UK Pilots AI Training to Tackle Youth Unemployment in Preston

PRESTON, United Kingdom, September 13, 2026

The UK government is attempting to tackle two intertwined economic challenges—one technological, one social—by teaching unemployed young people how to harness artificial intelligence rather than fearing it.

In a youth centre opposite Preston bus station, a taxpayer-funded pilot program is training 70 young people aged 16 to 24 in AI skills, with apprenticeship opportunities lined up with major employers including JD Sports, Heinz, and IT firm Agilysys.

The three-week "AI bootcamp" is designed for NEETs—those not in education, employment, or training—or young people at risk of falling into that bracket. Nearly one million young people in the UK are currently NEET, representing just over one in 10 people in that age group.

"This is an opportunity to bridge a gap, to improve productivity and bring AI into organisations," said Lauren Monks, an executive at IN4 Group, the company contracted to run the programme.

The course goes beyond basic chatbot familiarity. Participants learn to build AI tools, understand how businesses apply the technology, and use it responsibly. The program is split into two tracks: aspiring content creators can train to become AI marketing specialists, while others can prepare for IT helpdesk roles requiring AI expertise.

Khudeija Rafique, an 18-year-old from Burnley attending the course, sees potential in the technology. "It would be really helpful with whatever job I would like to go into," she said.

Remy Simms, 17, who is interested in applying for the content creator apprenticeship, says the Preston course has changed his opinion on AI. "It shows that you can work with AI and you don't have to work against it," he said. "I've got a better understanding of it and I know more about how it works."

The bootcamp's design reflects growing concern among policymakers about AI's impact on entry-level jobs. While much attention has focused on how AI might reshape graduate employment in sectors like banking and consulting, the effect on non-graduate work remains less understood.

Dr Bouke Klein Teeselink, a researcher at King's College London studying AI and the future of work, said the scheme could help answer critical questions. "We don't have really good insights into how AI affects the non-graduate market compared to the graduate market," he said. "The key test of the bootcamps and ensuing apprenticeships would be the thoroughness of the AI training and whether these newcomers made a real difference to their employers' productivity."

The pilot comes amid warnings from Alan Milburn, a former Labour cabinet minister, that the country faces "a lost generation" without action on NEET numbers. His review pointed to systemic failures in previous work programs and called for broader welfare reform, of which AI bootcamps are one small experiment.

Chris Goulden, deputy chief executive of the Youth Futures Organisation, cautioned against oversimplifying the causes of youth unemployment. "Our sense is that AI is not driving the increase in Neets since the pandemic," he said. "It's more to do with mental health issues and a general slowdown in the economy."

Nevertheless, Goulden acknowledged the logic of the approach. "If the first rung of the ladder is being taken away by AI, it is logical to give young people a foothold in the technology. Teaching young people to use AI is part of how we prepare them for the future."

The apprenticeships available at the end of the course represent a critical feature of the program. Rather than leaving participants with certificates alone, the bootcamp connects them directly to named employment opportunities at companies that have agreed to hire trainees.

16-year-old Hamid Muhammad-Asif from Blackburn, who is participating in the bootcamp, said he was "happy with both" apprenticeship options. The decision between content creation and IT helpdesk work awaits completion of the three-week training.

Experts say the true measure of the pilot's success will not be how many participants complete the course, but whether they move into sustained employment and whether their AI skills make a measurable difference to employer productivity.

The bootcamp arrives as similar initiatives emerge across the UK. From tech training for displaced manufacturing workers to coding courses in economically deprived areas, government and private sector efforts are scaling up to address the dual pressures of technological change and persistent youth joblessness.

Whether AI training proves effective for NEETs—demographically and economically distinct from college-educated jobseekers—remains an open question. But for the young people sitting around the table in Preston's youth centre, the technology is already shifting from abstract threat to practical skill.