Job listings asking for generative AI skills are soaring, analysis finds
Malte Mueller/Getty Images
- Job listings asking for AI skills have never been higher, according to a new analysis.
- Job ads citing generative AI increased to 1,496 in May compared to just over 100 in January.
- Corporate America has been keen to show it's on top of the AI trend.
Job listings asking for generative AI skills are on the rise, a new analysis from job search engine Adzuna has found.
In May, Adzuna advertised 7.8 million job vacancies in the US. Among these, ads citing generative AI grew to 1,496 as of May this year compared to 185 job listings in January, and just three in May 2022.
Generative AI is a relatively new tech buzzword but Corporate America has been keen to show it's on top of the new trend since the launch of OpenAI's ChatGPT in November sparked interest. Companies have been scrambling to incorporate the flood of AI products released in recent months into workflows to improve efficiency and cut costs. At least 49 listed US companies bought up ChatGPT in quarterly earnings calls in May 2023, according to an analysis of Seeking Alpha transcripts by Insider.
James Neave, head of data science at Adzuna, said: "In the US, not only are markets powered by AI but with AI in focus for both investors and job seekers, we're seeing an increase in jobs citing Generative AI."
The top sectors citing the AI trend were IT, engineering, scientific and QA, accounting and finance, and sales, per Adzuna. Neave added that the platform was also seeing an increase in jobs that require working with ChatGPT.
These jobs are lucrative, too. The average advertised salary for jobs citing Generative AI is $146,244, while the average for jobs that require working with ChatGPT is $133,000, according to Adzuna.
"Based on Adzuna research, we expect businesses will continue posting more job ads citing Generative AI, ChatGPT, and chatbots as this year goes on," Neave said.
The new tech trend has already popularized some jobs, including "prompt engineers" — experts who write text rather than code to test AI-powered chatbots. Their job is to identify errors and hidden capabilities for developers, Insider's Aaron Mok previously reported. The role doesn't always require a tech-related degree and job-seekers can earn up to $375,000 a year.
AI is also seen as a threat to some jobs. In an early analysis, Goldman Sachs predicted Generative AI could lead to significant upheaval in the labor market, affecting around 300 million jobs globally. Since then, CEOs have started explicitly saying they plan to replace some workers with AI.
For example, IBM CEO Arvind Krishna recently said the company plans to pause hiring for 7,800 jobs that could be replaced by AI.