The Artificial Intelligence Collaboration Centre (AICC) has added four new courses to its AI Learning Lab, giving Northern Ireland businesses structured training in generative AI prompting, ethics and responsible AI, AI risk management, and AI policy for small and medium-sized businesses.

The courses join three existing modules on AI fundamentals, AI-assisted app building and data readiness, bringing the platform's total offering to seven. All AI Learning Lab courses remain free to access for Northern Ireland businesses, delivered entirely online to accommodate SMEs without dedicated training budgets.

The expansion, confirmed by AICC, was developed in direct response to skills needs and feedback gathered from businesses, and sits on the AI Learning Lab platform the centre launched earlier in 2026.

AICC is a £16.3 million initiative led by Ulster University in partnership with Queen's University Belfast, backed by £13.8 million from Invest Northern Ireland and the Department for the Economy over five years. Ulster University, headquartered across Belfast, Coleraine and Derry-Londonderry, reported EBITDA of £17.3 million for the year to July 2024; Queen's University Belfast posted record research income of £124.6 million in its latest annual report.

The structural driver behind the new courses is the gap between generic AI awareness training and the practical governance skills businesses now need, with risk management and SME-specific AI policy modules addressing compliance questions that generic AI literacy courses do not cover, particularly for regulated sectors such as finance, healthcare and logistics that AICC has identified as priority industries.

AICC said the four new courses reflect demand identified through direct engagement with Northern Ireland businesses, positioning the AI Learning Lab as a live, responsive curriculum rather than a fixed set of modules set at launch.

For the sector, the expanded AI Learning Lab confirms that state-backed skills centres are moving quickly to convert generic AI upskilling programmes into governance and risk-focused curricula, as regulatory and compliance questions become as pressing for SMEs as basic AI literacy.

Source: nibusinessinfo.co.uk