Designing transformation processes in AI

BIBB AI conference

In January 2026 BIBB hosted the conference “Zukunft gestalten! KI in der beruflichen Bildung” [Shape the future! AI in vocational education and training] in Bonn. Discussions centred on the question as to how artificial intelligence is changing VET and which opportunities and challenges are arising from this. In addition to specialist talks, the aim of the conference was to derive specific results and action recommendations for VET policy and practice. “We are not focused on technological promises or short-lived trends, but on vocational competencies, organisational ability, and specific action options for companies, training personnel and trainees” says BIBB Research Director Professor Dr Hubert Ertl.

Around 160 participants from science, business, practice and politics discussed the topics of artificial intelligence, the future of work and design approaches for VET. Opening the AI training conference, BIBB President Professor Dr Friedrich Hubert Esser made it clear that artificial intelligence will permanently accompany and change vocational education and training. Developing a new attitude and having the courage to change are, according to Esser, therefore necessary in order to be an active part in shaping the future and remaining able to take action. The AI conference looked at precisely these aspects, contextualising current developments, working on specific design tasks and encouraging specialist exchange.

The significance of AI in typical training processes from vocational orientation and training to employment and continuing education was illustrated in six sessions. An AI talk then brought together representatives from politics, economy and science with trainees and trainers for a panel discussion of senior expert speakers.

Strong VET landscape

As the national centre of excellence for vocational education and training in Germany, BIBB maintains a cooperation network with more than 30 VET institutions worldwide. While earlier digitalisation discussions were partly national in character, the AI discussions show similarities in international terms. In the international comparison, Germany has a strong VET landscape. Chambers of commerce and industry, chambers of crafts and trades, companies, trainers and trainees all form a growing, strong network.

One of BIBB’s particular strengths is that the institute covers a broad field of tasks and expertise from VET research and regulatory work to implementation in practice. The practical orientation and the transfer of scientific insights and results particularly distinguish BIBB as a centre of excellence that can effectively shape transformation processes in AI and VET.

One example of BIBB’s international work is thve institute’s cooperation with its Philippine partner institution, the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), in the field of vocational education and training. In addition to conducting a joint exchange on research design and data architecture, institutional planning processes and thematic study visits, the cooperation also included the successful continuation of the BIBB International Roadshow “Digital Media in VET”. After Bangkok (2019), a digital format (2021) and Brasilia (2022), the fourth edition of the International Roadshow was held in in Manila, Philippines in autumn 2025 together with TESDA as part of the Technology Research Forum. The focus was on the digital promotion of teaching, learning and examination processes. Examples from the Asia-Pacific region are also of great interest to the educational landscape here in Germany. In mid-January 2026, experts from TESDA visited Bonn to meet with BIBB experts and discuss research approaches for strengthening evidence-based policy advice and German VET research.

AI and VET research

At the end of 2023/start of 2024, more than one in five employed persons had already used AI individually, although there were large differences depending on the occupation. This is shown in the Labour Force Survey of the Federal Institute for Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB) and the Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (BAuA) based on a representative survey of around 20,000 employed persons. AI use by employees without a qualification or with an advanced vocational education and training qualification is below average, while AI use by employees with a training qualification or a university qualification are above average in Germany.

Another research example comes from the BIBB Company Panel on Qualification and Competence Development, in which some 3,500 companies in Germany are representatively surveyed every year. The panel shows a clear increase of AI use in German companies as of 2022, with companies providing initial and continuing VET showing an above-average AI use. Increased use is also seen in large companies as well as in companies providing business services.

Thanks to BIBB’s large-scale surveys, it was possible to draw early conclusions regarding how AI is changing work. The “QuBe-AI-Scenario” projects labour market effects for the next 15 years and beyond, based on, for example, the “DiWaBe 2.0” survey. The qualifications and occupation projections (QuBe Project) are carried out under the joint management of the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB) and the Institute for Employment Research (IAB) in conjunction with the Institute of Economic Structures Research (GWS). The Digital Transformation and the Changing World of Work (DiWaBe 2.0) survey was an employee survey conducted between July and December 2024. Comprising around 9,800 respondents, it is designed to be representative of the German workforce. According to BIBB scenarios, positions at skilled-worker level are gaining in importance, while specialist and expert-level positions are declining.

During the modernisation of initial and continuing VET occupations it is likewise being constantly assessed as to what extent artificial intelligence should be integrated into future regulations.

Innovative project from training practice

The Bavarian regional project “AI supplement certificate for trainees” received BIBB’s Hermann Schmidt Prize 2025 at the AI conference in 2026. Awarded since 1996, BIBB aims for the prize to raise awareness of innovative approaches in VET practice, and to promote and recommend them as good examples to follow.

To transfer the newest AI applications into company practice and to support knowledge transfer, the Bavarian AI Production Network of the University of Augsburg in cooperation with the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IHK) Swabia and the Chamber of Crafts and Trades (HWK) for Swabia has been looking at the possibilities of AI use in production since 2022. A result of this regional cooperation is the project “AI supplement certificate for trainees” that started in 2024. It is a modular training seminar comprising an interactive online course and two practical days. These take place in a learning environment embedded in a 5,300 m2 AI-experience world and which is specifically designed for this certificate. Here participants learn AI basics, usage possibilities and applications that they then go on to implement in their own AI projects. In view of its success so far, the project is planned for expansion to other administrative districts in Bavaria.

AI Monday forum

As part of the BIBB online event series “KI Montagsforum” (AI Monday forum), BIBB illustrated key aspects regarding the use and effect of artificial intelligence in vocational education and training during two runs in June and November 2025. In a total of nine events, “KI Montagsforum” encouraged a differentiated look at the changes in training, work and education by AI – with plenty of room for discussion and critical reflection. The online forums also addressed, for example, the differences in how AI is used in the workplace and how this is influenced by factors such as qualification, occupational field or continuing education and training. It also addressed which opportunities generative AI offers for the design of learning processes and which risks it entails for competence development and educational equality.

One of the Monday forums particularly focused on the requirements for social and methodical competencies, especially in the areas of learning capacity and creativity. To what extent do employee competence requirements differ with and without AI use? The forum analysed the connection between the use of AI and perceived increased specialist requirements, the participation in continuing education and training and skills-related matching. Another online event focused on analysing job advertisements. It was investigated how and for which purposes AI was communicated and required in different occupations – between actual requirement, image factor and strategic use. A further discussion example from the “KI-Montagsforum” was the use of ChatGPT and other Large Language Models in the areas of learning and working. Many participants in initial and continuing VET only have basic user knowledge. BIBB shared tips as to how the basics of AI use can be (playfully) taught.

The successful BIBB event series “KI-Montagsforum” will continue in 2026. Two events are already planned for June, with four more at the end of the year.

The Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB) is establishing itself as the centre of excellence for artificial intelligence in vocational education and training.

Further information

• BIBB AI Conference 2026 (in German)
• BIBB establishment panel on training and competence development
• BIBB/BAuA Employment Survey
• BIBB/BAuA Employment Survey 2024, Abstract (in German)
• The QuBe project – qualifications and occupations in the future
• The DiWaBe 2.0 Survey, ifo Working Papers 422, in cooperation with BIBB, ifo Institute – Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich: Low Barriers, High Stakes: Formal and Informal Diffusion of AI in the Workplace
• BIBB International Roadshow on Digital Media
• BIBB Monday forum (in German)
• AI certificate for trainees – University of Augsburg (in German)

Downloads

• BIBB Journal BWP 4/2025, Innovations through AI (Abstracts)