Lloyds staff complete 400,000 AI courses this year

Lloyds Banking Group reported that about 65,000 employees have completed roughly 400,000 courses through its AI Academy since January. The training is part of a programme to make all 67,000 staff AI literate by the end of 2026.

The AI Academy provides courses in data literacy, data visualisation, machine learning and applied AI. Staff across Lloyds Bank, Bank of Scotland and other group units have taken the training. The bank said the courses sit alongside new roles and apprenticeships designed to build in-house AI capability.

The group has opened 300 new positions focused on agentic AI, to be filled by internal and external candidates. Job types include data and AI scientists, engineers, responsible AI specialists and AI product managers. More than 700 employees are already working on practical AI use cases.

One use case is an AI financial assistant currently used by about 500,000 Bank of Scotland customers.

Lloyds has also launched a Level 6 AI Engineering apprenticeship for an initial cohort of 33 apprentices. Emma Richards, a member of that cohort, described the programme as a chance to ‘build practical skills in software engineering while learning how AI can support the work we do every day’ and said applying those skills with support from experienced colleagues will help build her confidence.

The bank has relaunched its Data and AI Summer School after more than 90,000 registrations across 200 sessions last year. This year it plans to run more than 250 sessions covering data visualisation, machine learning and applied AI.

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An industry report from 2025 found a higher share of US employees report receiving formal AI training than European workers. The report recommended combining classroom learning, peer-to-peer social learning and on-the-job experience, citing a suggested mix of about 10% formal learning, 20% social learning and 70% learning by doing.

Sharon Doherty, the group’s chief people and places officer, commented that the bank is focused on making AI deliver ‘real benefit in day-to-day roles – helping colleagues make better decisions and enabling us to provide faster, more effective and more personalised support for customers.’

Lloyds said it aims to blend formal courses, apprenticeships and hands-on projects so employees can apply AI tools directly in their roles, and to embed responsible practices and governance within product and engineering teams.