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As Companies Embrace AI, It's a Job-Seeker's Market (reuters.com)
An anonymous reader shares a report: Artificial intelligence is now being used in an ever-expanding array of products: cars that drive themselves; robots that identify and eradicate weeds; computers able to distinguish dangerous skin cancers from benign moles; and smart locks, thermostats, speakers and digital assistants that are bringing the technology into homes. At Georgia Tech, students interact with digital teaching assistants made possible by AI for an online course in machine learning.
The expanding applications for AI have also created a shortage of qualified workers in the field. Although schools across the country are adding classes, increasing enrollment and developing new programs to accommodate student demand, there are too few potential employees with training or experience in AI. That has big consequences. Too few AI-trained job-seekers has slowed hiring and impeded growth at some companies, recruiters and would-be employers told Reuters. It may also be delaying broader adoption of a technology that some economists say could spur U.S. economic growth by boosting productivity, currently growing at only about half its pre-crisis pace.
[...] U.S. government data does not track job openings or hires in artificial intelligence specifically, but online job postings tracked by jobsites including Indeed, Ziprecruiter and Glassdoor show job openings for AI-related positions are surging. AI job postings as a percentage of overall job postings at Indeed nearly doubled in the past two years, according to data provided by the company. Searches on Indeed for AI jobs, meanwhile increased just 15 percent.
The expanding applications for AI have also created a shortage of qualified workers in the field. Although schools across the country are adding classes, increasing enrollment and developing new programs to accommodate student demand, there are too few potential employees with training or experience in AI. That has big consequences. Too few AI-trained job-seekers has slowed hiring and impeded growth at some companies, recruiters and would-be employers told Reuters. It may also be delaying broader adoption of a technology that some economists say could spur U.S. economic growth by boosting productivity, currently growing at only about half its pre-crisis pace.
[...] U.S. government data does not track job openings or hires in artificial intelligence specifically, but online job postings tracked by jobsites including Indeed, Ziprecruiter and Glassdoor show job openings for AI-related positions are surging. AI job postings as a percentage of overall job postings at Indeed nearly doubled in the past two years, according to data provided by the company. Searches on Indeed for AI jobs, meanwhile increased just 15 percent.
I'm 36 - it's been a lot of work but ramped up at a company using machine learning in a very specific space - but gives me the time to ramp up and educate myself on techniques and everything else.
Stay current or die, it's always been true.
Good luck out there.
Automation creates more jobs than it displaces in the long run. Jobs change, and you have to be prepared to adapt, learn new things, and possibly train for a new career, otherwise, you're just trying to perpetuate a conservative system.
He's 41. Let's say it takes 5 years for these :new careers" to open up, then another 5 years for him to train up. He's now 51, with no experience in that new career, but all the attendant demands/requirements that tend to come with 51 year olds-kids in or about to enter college, desire for work/life balance, reasonable pay and benefits especially healthcare. Who is a company more likely to hire? Him, who will also probably like to retire in 10-15 years, or a 20-something fresh out of college with the exact same amount of experience in that career field who is cheaper both in absolute terms (lower salary) and more intangible terms (less likely to need/use healthcare, fewer sick days, fewer to none family obligations, etc).
Will a lucky few get hired for a reasonable wage? Sure. Will a few more be willing to take much lower wages and find a company willing to hire them? Probably. Will a lot more get kicked to the curb and told "tough luck, try applying at Walmart, Home Depot, or an Amazon warehouse"? Most definitely.
The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
If I'm reading the XKCD correctly, there will be a lot of "AI" jobs for those of us that actually know the underlying math, even if it means we're closer to 41 than 15.
Indeed. Like any other field, AI will bifurcate into "tool builders" and "tool users", with the former being much better paid, and the latter being far more numerous.
To code an AI engine you may need to know how to transpose a Jacobian matrix. To use it, you just import a library.
Disclaimer: I am a lot older than 41.