How is FedEx's AI Literacy Initiative Upskilling Employees?

FedEx has begun its AI literacy initiative as it looks to upskill its close to half a million global workforce. 

Developed in partnership with Accenture, the training is designed for employees of all levels and hopes to make its staff more efficient and prepared to progress in their careers. 

Vishal Talwar, Executive Vice President and Chief Data and Information Officer of FedEx, told CNBC of the initiative: “The more we invest in our talent being on the leading aspect of that learning journey, the better off they will be, the better off we will be and the better off the broader industry is going to be.”

Advancements in AI upskilling

Upskilling employees in AI is becoming a bigger priority for business leaders as the technology develops – with nearly three quarters saying that AI literacy is essential for day to day work and 60% reporting skills gaps in their organisations, according to the State of Data and AI Literacy Report. 

To develop AI capabilities within the business, FedEx’s training has been designed to suit employees in a wide range of roles. 

Its training – which operates through Accenture’s LearnVantage platform – comprises of personalised, role based learning and live sessions, which Vishal says is designed to grow and change alongside business needs. 

Vishal said: “This is a living curriculum that will continue to refresh itself every month, every quarter, and we have that in our engagement with Accenture.

“It was one of the key attributes that we asked for to make sure we designed for something that remains future-relevant.”

Employees are also being encouraged to develop ‘communities of practice,’ where they can share ideas and discuss business use cases of the technology within peer groups. 

Developing a bespoke AI learning model 

When developing the AI learning platform, all C-suite executives across the company reportedly took two days leave to travel to Silicon Valley and ensure it was selecting the right partner. 

Vishal said: “I have never seen an organization’s full C-suite take off for a two-day to just learn

“That humility that we have to learn, you can’t build it with just launching a programme in isolation. So I truly mean it when I say the whole organisation is having a joint experience.”

In December, the company announced it was partnering with Accenture for the project, which involves the company providing FedEx with a customised AI education platform – a platform FedEx described as “tailored” and “scalable” in a statement. 

Raj Subramaniam, CEO of FedEx, said of the partnership: “The future of business is being shaped by data and AI more than ever before.

“As FedEx continues its evolution into an AI-powered enterprise, our people remain at the heart of everything we do. We’re investing in AI education tools to help our team members grow their skills; support safer, smarter work and unlock new opportunities across the business.”

Accenture’s AI strategy

Accenture itself has been investing significantly in its AI upskilling and reskilling strategy.

In a Q1 2026 earnings call, CEO Julie Sweet told investors: “the workforce needs new skills to use AI, and new talent strategies and related competencies must be developed.”

The company has invested US$1bn into LearnVantage, and is tracking employees’ levels of AI usage when making decisions on who to promote. 

The company underwent an internal rebrand in 2025, which involved merging multiple business functions into a ‘Reinvention Service’ as part of its AI adoption strategy. 

Discussing this in an interview with Great Place to Work, Julie said: “Being a reinventor is believing that every part of the enterprise and their product has to be reinvented using tech, data, AI – new ways of working, new ways of engaging.”