The future of work is never set in stone, but the emergence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been a game changer.
While there are fears around its potential impact on workers, more and more companies are seeking to hire people whose skills match their growing AI needs.
Image: mojo_cp/Adobe Stock
The World Economic Forum’s The Future of Jobs Report 2023 found that AI is expected to be adopted by nearly 75% of surveyed companies, with 50% of organizations expecting it to create job growth. The study found that the fastest-growing roles are driven by technology, digitalization and sustainability.
What’s at the top of the list of fast-growing jobs? AI and machine learning specialists. In the top 10 growing skills, the report highlighted AI and big data, whereas training workers to utilize AI and big data ranks third among company skills-training priorities in the next five years.
High-growth sectors
AI is expected to create 133 million new jobs globally, according to separate data. By looking at what roles companies are hiring for, the study revealed which AI-related roles are growing in popularity.
One area experiencing fast growth is in data management, and data roles across the board have increased by 80% since 2015. Job vacancies for data scientists increased by 110% year-on-year, while data engineer vacancies tracked an average of 86% year-on-year growth.
The demand for AI professional skills is increasing across virtually every American industrial sector in which there is data, according to Stanford University’s Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence. It says that the AI capabilities most likely to have been embedded in businesses include robotic process automation (39%), computer vision (34%), natural language text understanding (33%) and virtual agents (33%).
The most commonly adopted AI use case in 2022 was service operations optimization (24%), followed by the creation of new AI-based products (20%), customer segmentation (19%), customer service analytics (19%) and new AI-based enhancement of products (19%).
Opportunities
Given the scope of AI itself, the jobs related to this burgeoning field can be wide-ranging, offering workers a suite of options to upskill or reskill. AI can come into play across customer service — think of chatbots or self-checkouts; journalists can use AI-based transcription services; companies will want data scientists who can pinpoint where AI would be useful for their products.
When we think of generative AI like ChatGPT, we can think of a machine learning engineer, who builds and designs the AI that learns. There are also AI engineers who develop and train the algorithms that allow the AI to be applied and used. Then, there are the data engineers who work on the infrastructure around data storage and processing.
Do you love the world of robotics? Robotics engineers are also under the AI jobs umbrella and can work across a range of industries, including manufacturing and medicine. They might work on overseeing robots, or they might be involved at an earlier stage in design.
Software engineers, also known as developers, work in the design, testing, development and maintenance of software applications — they’re the ones who are great at coding, are knowledgeable about various programming languages and can use their skills for everything from working in aviation to gaming.
Data scientists analyze data and extrapolate the important, actionable points from it. They’re good at finding patterns and trends, but they’re also good at communicating those findings in an understandable way.
AI will be part of the workplace’s future — so it’s no surprise that from marketing to legal, healthcare to customer operations, companies are cottoning to the need to hire staff into the AI space.
Are you looking for AI related roles? Here are some currently available via the TechRepublic jobs board.
Machine Learning Engineer 3, Adobe, San Jose
Adobe is a digital product used by everyone from emerging artists to global brands. Its San Jose office is looking for a Machine Learning Engineer who has expertise in software engineering and machine learning. The hire would research, develop and deploy large-scale machine learning solutions for business, working closely with data scientists, engineers, researchers and product managers. Read the key skills and qualifications for this role.
Data Scientist/Senior Data Scientist, StackAdapt, Canada
For this remote role, StackAdapt — a self-serve advertising platform — is looking for a Data Scientist to join its engineering team. It’s looking to expand its data science efforts and says it utilizes the latest technologies to solve challenges in traffic, data storage, machine learning and scalability. Amongst other skills, the ideal hire will have a comprehensive understanding of machine learning. Read all about the role here.
Senior Architect, Data, AI, Information Architecture, the Travelers Companies Inc., Hartford
This property casualty insurer has been going for over 160 years, but it’s clearly happy to move with the times. The Travelers Companies is looking for a Senior Architect who has experience with specific DevOps and machine learning practices. Find out more about the job here.
Written by Aoife Barry
