HCLTech, Pearson partner for AI-led upskilling for enterprises, Govt

Indian IT services firm HCL Technologies (HCLTech) and Pearson, a global education provider, announced a multi-year strategic partnership on Tuesday to foster upskilling and workforce readiness in the AI era. The collaboration will focus on co-developing AI-powered products and services in a dedicated AI Tech Lab, intended to close skill gaps and support career advancement.

"Pearson will leverage HCLTech's engineering and professional services capabilities, including its GenAI platform AI Force and edtech platform Career Shaper, to expand and enhance AI-powered learning programmes, assessments, and workforce analytics.
The partnership will operate across enterprises, higher education, and government sectors to help organisations and individuals adapt to rapid technological changes.

Besides, Pearson and HCLTech are partnering to integrate Pearson's AI-powered learning and assessment tools into HCLTech's HR ecosystem. This includes learning pathways, Credly credentials, and Pearson’s Faethm AI platform for talent management.
The companies will be co-developing learning products and scaling delivery via digital engineering to provide AI-powered workforce solutions for enterprises in high-demand sectors.
They are also setting up an AI Tech Lab to jointly develop next-generation learning products powered by GenAI on HCLTech’s Career Shaper platform.

Pearson CEO Omar Abbosh said the partnership will address the growing skills gap caused by AI by providing AI-driven learning tools. HCLTech CEO C Vijayakumar added that the collaboration will create transformative learning experiences and unlock competitive advantages for learners and institutions.

According to the '2025 AI Skills Report' by Pluralsight, 65% of organisations had to abandon AI projects due to a lack of AI skills. That said, AI's success in organisations relies on collaboration with employees to close the skills gap. According to a recent report by Great Place To Work, 75% of employees are eager to use AI at work if companies are transparent about its benefits. They also want training on AI tools to boost their productivity.