Antire is launching ARCH Fellowship, a selective accelerator program for aspiring forward-deployed AI engineers, designed to close the gap between fast-rising AI adoption and the practical capability needed to turn it into real business value.
Artificial intelligence is moving into Norwegian business at speed. Adoption is rising fast, but the practical capability needed to turn AI into real value is not being built at the same pace. At the same time, the path into the industry has become narrower for early-career talent who need hands-on experience to get started.
That gap is becoming harder to ignore. NHO’s latest competence barometer shows that 6 in 10 member companies have an unmet skills need, and NHO has also reported that nearly 7 in 10 companies lack AI competence. Statistics Norway reported in 2025 that 3 in 10 Norwegian enterprises use AI technology, up from 2 in 10 in 2024.
The question is no longer whether we can afford to invest in young technologists. The question is whether we can afford not to.”
This is the backdrop for ARCH Fellowship, Antire’s selective accelerator program for aspiring forward-deployed AI engineers. The program is built to give young technologists hands-on experience with applied AI from day one, working on real customer problems alongside experienced specialists.
Instead of waiting for talent to become “ready” in theory, the program is designed around practice. Participants work closely with experienced AI and machine learning experts, contribute to live projects, and build the kind of capability that only comes from solving real problems in real environments. That is where practical AI capability is built, and where future forward-deployed AI engineers are shaped.
“AI is developing faster than the systems around it can adapt. When education cannot keep up on its own, and the market leaves less room for training, we need new ways of building capability through practice,” says Kåre Søyland, CEO of Antire. This is also the thinking he expands on in his interview with TechWatch. Read the interview here.
Formal education still matters. But in a market that changes quarter by quarter, it is unrealistic to expect traditional study paths alone to produce people who are fully operational in applied AI. If early-career technologists are not given the chance to build real experience, businesses lose access to much-needed capability while talent remains stuck on the sidelines.
For Norway, this is about more than recruitment. It is about execution. Businesses want to use AI, but many still lack the skills needed to implement it in practice. Closing that gap will require more than discussion. It will require structures where new talent works side by side with experienced practitioners on real deliveries, with clear goals and measurable outcomes.
That is what ARCH Fellowship is designed to do. And it is why Antire believes the question is no longer whether we can afford to invest in young technologists. The question is whether we can afford not to.
Learn more about the ARCH Fellowship here ARCH Fellowship | The springboard for AI engineers of the future.