Tech & AI LIVE London: Tia Cheang, Founder, Capstone Digital
As the workforce rapidly evolves under the influence of AI, automation, and generational shifts, Tia Cheang, Founder & CEO at Capstone Digital, joined Tech & AI LIVE London 2025 to unpack the pressing need for multi-generational upskilling.
During her fireside chat on the Cyber Stage titled Future-Ready Skills for a Multigenerational Workforce, Tia offered frank and strategic insights into balancing innovation with inclusive workforce development.
Gen Z, innovation and the skills paradox
Opening with a statement by the World Economic Forum — that Gen Z is central to tech-driven business transformation — Tia acknowledged the cohort's influence, though not without nuance.
“I don’t know whether it’s that they’re driving innovation or that they are the large-scale consumers of that innovation,” she said.
She pointed out that Gen Z's desire for immediacy and tech fluency pushes expectations higher across the board, but warned of a corresponding lack in softer skills such as critical thinking and communication.
“There’s a hunger for everything to be at the leading edge of something new,” she noted, while critiquing the dependency on spoon-fed solutions.
She said that Gen Z, raised in a digital world, may miss out on the problem-solving instincts older generations developed.
“They look at you to say, like, well, give me the task list of how I get there,” she said.
However, Tia made it clear that this is not a generational blame game.
“Realistically, people like myself made the problem,” she admitted, citing the very algorithmic structures that shape digital consumption and shorten attention spans.
The call was not to chastise Gen Z, but to recognise the dual responsibility of tech builders and educators in remedying skill gaps.
Industrial revolution or generational displacement?
Addressing concerns from older professionals about their place in this new paradigm, Tia rejected the idea of obsolescence.
“We're at a new industrial revolution, but that doesn’t mean those roles become entirely obsolete,” she explained.
Instead, she stressed the importance of pivoting roles rather than discarding them.
She cited AI’s disruption of sectors like marketing and communications, but stressed that strategy, architecture and domain expertise still hold immense value.
“There’s a difference between being able to code and being able to architect something,” she said.
Tia advocated for experienced professionals to serve as ‘chaperons’ for younger talent — guiding their enthusiasm with wisdom.
She further warned against letting automation create future workforce vacuums.
"Those grads we would have hired today would be in the middle tier in five years,” she cautioned, urging companies to maintain development pipelines that prepare talent for progression.
Strategic learning must be lifelong and inclusive
Tia stressed that training and development should not focus solely on early-career talent.
“Skills development has to be multi-generational,” she said.
Learning must be tailored to specific personas and job functions, not built on generic models.
She added: “Not everyone needs deep technology skills. Sometimes it’s about the application of tools.”
From data interpretation in call centres to AI literacy at the executive level, training must be practical and role-specific.
She pushed for a mix of learning formats — classroom, online and shadowing — to meet diverse needs.
“You don’t just learn when you’re 18, 19, 20,” she said. “Careers change. The way we work changes.”
On the industry’s role in filling the AI skills gap, Tia offered a stark reality.
With around 650,000 new roles expected in the AI sector over the next few years and only 2,000 relevant university graduates annually, she concluded: “Businesses are going to have to start training them themselves.”
Tia was equally candid about current shortfalls.
She said: “52% of people surveyed said they hadn’t been given training in AI.”
Resistance to training often stems from concerns over cost and retention, but she argued that investment in employee growth actually increases retention.
Despite the urgency and the gaps in higher education and government policy, she remained optimistic.
“We’re not really going to see a change until 2030, 2035,” she admitted, but said that didn’t excuse inaction today.
“The industry is going to have to start cultivating its own skills.”
In closing, Tia returned to the central question: how to ensure a stable and functioning multi-generational workforce.
She advocated for repurposing mid-career professionals, leveraging their domain expertise in AI-adjacent roles such as product ownership.
“Tech and data people are great at building stuff,” she said, “but not necessarily great at engaging with the business.”
With clarity and commitment, Tia left her audience with a simple but vital strategy — build, balance and broaden.
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