New Udemy Data Shows Individual AI Adoption Outpaces Organizational Support in Japan
Udemy expands its AI-powered offerings to bridge Japan’s skills gap
Tokyo, Japan – July 9, 2025 – Udemy, a leading AI-powered skills development platform, today released new research revealing a widening gap between organizational support and employee adoption of AI in Japan. Despite growing interest in AI, only 34% of professionals say their company encourages its use, and out of those professionals, 49% say their company provides any formal GenAI learning, revealing a clear gap between enthusiasm and enablement. In response, Udemy is launching its suite of AI-powered learning solutions in Japan to help bridge the country’s growing AI skills divide and accelerate workforce transformation.
According to Udemy’s research, AI is rapidly transforming workplaces in Japan and empowering professionals to boost productivity, foster innovation, and unlock new career opportunities across industries. Key insights from the research include:
- Strong Individual Adoption, Lagging Organizational Support: Amongst employees who claim their company encourages the use of AI at work, only 49% say their employer provides adequate AI training or learning programs.
- Employees Invest in Upskilling Themselves: 32.9% of professionals have directly paid out-of-pocket for AI tools and training, underscoring strong demand for access to AI-driven capabilities.
- Security Concerns Restrict Adoption: 21.1% of those surveyed who have not adopted AI tools cited security concerns and uncertainty as the primary obstacles to wider AI use, followed by 19.5% citing a lack of clarity on practical applications.
- Younger Professionals Lead the Way: AI adoption is highest among professionals in their 20s (53.3%), pointing to a generational shift in AI fluency and workplace innovation.
- Productivity as a Core Benefit: Professionals who use AI for work cite increased efficiency (65.6%), improved work quality (47.8%), and enhanced idea generation (36.9%) as the top reasons for adopting AI tools. Popular platforms include ChatGPT, Gemini, and Microsoft Copilot.
Empowering Japan’s Workforce Through Personalized Upskilling
As part of its continued investment in Japan, Udemy is rolling out new capabilities and localized solutions designed to empower both individuals and organizations to build critical AI fluency. These offerings support the country’s evolving workforce needs by providing personalized, scalable, and outcomes-driven learning experiences.
- AI Assistant and Skills Mapping in Japanese: AI Assistant delivers real-time, personalized support through natural language guidance. It responds instantly to course-related inquiries, helping prevent disruptions and supporting seamless skill acquisition. Skills Mapping enables learning leaders and organizations to define key competencies and align them with curated learning paths at scale. These features have been available in Japan since April 2025 and are already in use.
- AI-Powered Role Play: Role Play provides interactive simulations that help learners practise soft skills – such as pitching new business opportunities or negotiating – in risk-free, instructor-designed scenarios. The English version is already available, and the Japanese version is scheduled for release within 2025. Once launched, organizations in Japan will be able to customize Role Play experiences based on their own unique business needs.
2025 marks a significant milestone for Udemy as it celebrates the 10th anniversary of its strategic partnership with Benesse to drive personalized skills development for professionals and organizations across Japan, including recently launched AI solutions. Over the past decade, Udemy has solidified its position as a trusted partner in advancing skills development and mastery in Japan, empowering more than 2 million learners, 3,400 instructors, and 2,000 organizations, including more than 70% of Nikkei 225 companies.
On July 11, Udemy will host its third annual FWD Japan event in Tokyo, bringing together several Nikkei-listed companies and spotlighting its latest innovations while engaging with leaders to explore the future of work.
To learn more about AI-powered upskilling, visit https://www.benesse.co.jp/udemy/business/.
Methodology
The data referenced in this release was collected in June 2025 through an online survey of corporate professionals in Japan. The study surveyed a total of 4,305 respondents, including enterprise employees and independent workers across six key industries: banking, insurance, electronics manufacturing, automotive manufacturing, IT, and professional services. The survey aimed to gather insights on AI usage, adoption trends, access to training, and perceived barriers to implementation within the workplace.
About Udemy
Udemy is an AI-powered skills development platform transforming how companies and individuals across the world build the capabilities needed to thrive in a rapidly evolving workplace. By combining on-demand, multi-language content with real-time innovation, Udemy delivers personalized experiences that empower organizations to scale workforce development and help individuals build the technical, business, and soft skills most relevant to their careers. Today, thousands of companies, including Ericsson, Samsung SDS America, On24, The World Bank, and Volkswagen, rely on Udemy Business for its enterprise solutions to build agile, future-ready teams. Udemy is headquartered in San Francisco, with hubs across the United States, Australia, India, Ireland, India, Mexico and Türkiye.
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