IBM and Pearson are teaming up in a global partnership aimed squarely at one of the biggest challenges of the AI era: reskilling workers fast enough to keep up with technology. The two companies will jointly build new AI-powered, personalized learning products for enterprises, governments, and educational institutions, tapping IBM’s watsonx platform and Pearson’s massive learning infrastructure.

It’s a timely move. According to Pearson’s own research, inefficient skills development and career transitions will cost the U.S. economy $1.1 trillion in lost earnings each year—a staggering drag in a market already struggling with AI-driven job shifts, shrinking talent pipelines, and widening skill mismatches.

AI Meets Workforce Learning

Under the partnership, IBM will help Pearson develop a new AI-powered learning platform modeled after IBM Consulting Advantage. Think of it as a hybrid human + AI engine that blends expert-crafted learning content with intelligent agents, workflow automation, and data-driven insights. The goal: give learners context-aware, role-specific upskilling without the time sink of traditional training programs.

The underlying technologies include watsonx Orchestrate for workflow automation and watsonx Governance for AI guardrails—critical components as enterprises push to adopt generative AI while keeping compliance and risk mitigation intact.

For Pearson, this also represents a strategic expansion of its “learning ecosystem,” from digital credentials via Credly to predictive workforce analytics from Faethm and global certification delivery through Pearson Professional Assessments.

A Workforce Platform for IBM Customers (and Its 270,000 Employees)

As part of the agreement, Pearson becomes IBM’s primary strategic partner for customer upskilling and workforce transformation. That means IBM’s global customer base—and its own 270,000 employees—will tap Pearson’s enterprise learning stack.

This includes:

• Credly for verified digital credentials

• Faethm for strategic workforce planning and skills forecasting

• Pearson Professional Assessments, which already delivers IBM’s professional certification exams globally

Together, the combined stack could create one of the most comprehensive AI-guided learning systems available in the enterprise market.

Building Trustworthy AI for Skills Verification

The companies will also explore solutions to verify the capabilities of AI agents—an emerging pain point as enterprises increasingly rely on autonomous systems for research, decision-making, and even software development. IBM brings deep experience in responsible AI; Pearson brings more than a century of credentialing authority.

This joins a growing industry trend: as organizations race to adopt AI copilots and agents, they also need assurance that these systems perform reliably, safely, and within defined boundaries.

Why It Matters

While many tech giants—from Microsoft to Udemy Business to Google Cloud—are pushing aggressively into AI-powered learning, this partnership is noteworthy for its breadth. IBM brings enterprise-grade AI and global consulting influence; Pearson brings a learning infrastructure that’s already embedded in universities, governments, and corporations worldwide.

The result is a platform positioned to compete in both the corporate learning market and the emerging “AI skills orchestration” category—a space analysts expect to grow rapidly as companies scramble to modernize their training strategies.

Executive Perspectives

“Technology is evolving faster than human skills can keep pace… When people learn where work happens, it has an immediate impact on productivity,” said Omar Abbosh, CEO of Pearson.

“Everyone needs to build new skills for the AI era,” added IBM CEO Arvind Krishna. “Together, we’re helping companies and their teams adapt to change and succeed, while also transforming Pearson’s internal operations.”

The Bottom Line

This partnership is more than another AI-powered learning announcement—it’s a strategic bid to future-proof the workforce at global scale. With AI accelerating job transformation faster than traditional training models can respond, the IBM-Pearson play could help set a new standard for how businesses build, verify, and apply skills across the enterprise.

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