Despite fears that AI will put many workers out of a job, the technology is already creating some novel high-paying roles.
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AI may be coming for some jobs, but it's also creating new employment too.
Early studies predicted that the widespread application of AI had the potential to spark mass job losses, with some industries such as law and finance feeling the heat more than others. But despite the doom and gloom, AI is also set to have some positive effects on the job market.
Adverts for AI-related roles, for example, are already increasing across job websites.
Karin Kimbrough, chief economist at LinkedIn, told Business Insider that conversations about AI had spiked on the platform over the past year.
"Professionals and employers alike are rapidly adopting AI and generative AI across a broad range of industries. The pace of adoption is notable, especially compared to what we've seen in the past with the rise of technologies like cryptocurrency and virtual reality," he said.
LinkedIn found there had been substantial increases in terms such as "ChatGPT," "prompt engineering," "prompt crafting," and "generative artificial intelligence" on member profiles globally.
LinkedIn said there had been a 60% increase in mentions of generative artificial intelligence and GAI products between January and September this year.
The number of companies with a "head of AI" role has also more than tripled in the past five years, growing 13% since December 2022, according to LinkedIn data.
Job search engine Adzuna has also seen several new job titles emerge over the past year as generative AI boomed.
"Prompt engineers are our hot take as the job for 2024," James Neave, Adzuna's head of data science told BI.
"This job didn't even exist before generative AI came into the spotlight, and now companies are clamoring to hire people skilled in making the most of the new technologies. At the moment, job openings for this role are quite small, but we see that growing as more companies look to unlock generative AI gains," he said.
There were seven adverts for prompt engineers in the UK active in October compared to none last year, according to Adzuna data shared with BI.
Prompt engineers write questions and prose for AI chatbots to test and improve their answers. Some of these roles have salaries as high as $375,000 – and don't always require tech degrees.
Analysts at Adzuna also saw an increase in job listings for AI ethics officers, chief AI officers, AI auditors, AI trainers, and machine managers. Machine learning engineers, workers who were notably in short supply even before the AI boom, also saw an average salary increase from October last year.
In the US, Neave said Adzuna's data showed that more than 7,000 US jobs are now asking for "generative AI" expertise, while ads for almost 59,000 roles were asking for "machine learning" knowledge.
Not all of these new roles require workers to have a tech background, either.
