Growing rush for AI talent in non-IT verticals
Gartner Inc. has released its latest TalentNeuron data this month. It reveals that in the 12 top countries GDP-wise, the requirement of AI jobs in non-IT departments grew by 74% between 2015 and 2019.
While in July 2015 non-IT departments had posted 89,895 AI jobs, by March 2019 the figure rose to 156,294 jobs. Surprisingly, although total jobs in IT departments rose from 14,900 to 68,959 during that same period – the number of AI jobs posted by IT was less than half of the requirement from other departments.
Comparable is the findings of the 2019 Artificial Intelligence Index Report, released by Stanford University. It states that between 2012 and 2019, AI jobs grew from 0.3% to 0.8% of the total U.S. job market. The report found that at the graduate level, AI has rapidly become the most popular specialization among computer science Ph.D. students in North America.
Gartner data suggests that currently marketing, sales, customer service, finance, and research and development are verticals drafting AI talent in bulk. A press release from Gartner says: “These business units are using AI talent for customer churn modelling, customer profitability analysis, customer segmentation, cross-sell and upsell recommendations, demand planning, and risk management.”
This ever-increasing demand from across verticals means that, in near future, businesses are going to face a global strategic challenge in recruiting, managing, and retaining AI talent. As voiced by Peter Krensky, research director at Gartner in the same press release, “…some leaders are successfully applying the lessons learned from the past decade. …Expanding and innovative university programs, online education, and improved tools will help address the situation, but leaders should expect the talent gap to be a persistent issue.”
The Stanford University report mentions that AI is now the most popular graduate level specialization among computer science Ph.D. scholars in North America.
Image courtesy: Gartner Inc.
