A recent article in Tagesspiegel warns of a growing gap between the rapid advance of AI and the development of the skills needed to use it effectively. According to the latest “AI Jobs Barometer”, both the number of AI-related job vacancies and companies’ demand for AI skills are increasing worldwide. In Germany, however, the picture is more mixed.
Job requirements are also changing significantly in Germany. So far, however, this shift has had little connection to how strongly individual occupations are actually exposed to AI. Internationally, skills requirements in AI-exposed occupations changed more than twice as quickly between 2019 and 2025 as in jobs less affected by AI. In Germany, by contrast, the corresponding figure is just 0.02. Instead, changes in skills requirements are being driven mainly by other factors such as demographics, sustainability and regulation.
This creates a risk that skills development in Germany will increasingly become disconnected from the demands associated with greater use of AI. The risk is compounded by the fact that Germany is primarily seen as a market for AI adoption, with the focus on using existing systems rather than developing them.
The key question, therefore, is whether AI is used competently or simply consumed. In addition to technical knowledge, confident and responsible use of AI requires judgement, data literacy, communication and adaptability, as well as critical thinking.
In other words, a successful AI transformation requires three dimensions:
- Mindset – a culture of experimentation,
- Toolset – the use of tailored tools designed for specific needs rather than generic licences,
- Skillset – the ability to make collaboration between humans and machines productive.
By Maria Kleiner
Source: Tagesspiegel Background, 27 July 2026, by Katharina Holzapfel