Recent studies describe a scenario associated with Artificial Intelligence in which one out of every two medium-sized companies will have an ‘A.I. project’ in 2022. The USA accounts for 41.2% of the market, followed by China, Japan and Canada. In Europe, this asset is expected to exceed 26 billion by 2025; significant numbers are recorded in Italy. According to an analysis by the Rome Business School, the made-in-Italy I.A. market in 2021 alone recorded an increase of 27%, reaching 380 million euros in turnover and doubling its value in just two years. Moreover, 53% of medium-sized companies in Italy claim to have launched at least one Artificial Intelligence project in the last calendar year.
Artificial Intelligence professions, the most represented figures
This growing interest on the part of companies has inevitably also led to a revolution in the labour market, where AI-related professions are increasingly in demand. Among these the main ones are:
- Artificial Intelligence Engineers
- Data Scientists
- Machine Learning Engineers
- Artificial Intelligence Hardware Specialists
- Data Labeling Professionals
- Data Protection Specialists
For instance, machine learning engineers and data scientists, figures who often complement each other, are responsible for defining AI models and interpreting the results obtained in order to help companies make intelligent decisions in relation to their business objectives. Or, Artificial Intelligence hardware specialists are professional figures responsible for creating the hardware necessary for the application of AI. Many companies in the tech sector are equipping themselves with them in order to achieve a high level of specialisation in this field and internalise functions that in the past tended to be outsourced to third-party companies.
Artificial Intelligence professions, what is data labelling?
A third highly sought-after professional figure in this field is the data labeling professional, i.e. someone who is able to handle data labelling. In particular, collecting and organising data in a correct manner becomes essential in order to make such data usable. This figure is now indispensable to apply AI algorithms in any field.
Finally, another figure that is becoming increasingly important is that of data management and protection. This is because data are the source needed to enable artificial intelligence to function and are also the output obtained from their processing, so protecting the data and information used is becoming increasingly important. For instance, such figures are in charge of authentication, encryption, backup, application and database security, access control, etc…
Artificial Intelligence professions, what impact will they have on the market?
This brief overview allows us to reflect on a number of aspects related to this field. The first, and perhaps the most trivial, is related to the fear, which we might call myopic, that can often be observed when talking about artificial intelligence. Undertaking a technological transition process aimed at using AI algorithms in one’s own business does not imply firing one’s staff and replacing them with computers; some functions and activities can probably be replaced, but for others it will be necessary to hire new staff. In fact, as is confirmed by the emergence of these new professional figures, artificial intelligence is always linked to human intelligence. According to some studies, AI will eliminate at least 1.8 million jobs, but at the same time more than 2.3 million new ones will be created centred on these innovative systems. It follows that the scenario ahead is characterised by an increasingly widespread use of AI in the business environment, leading to the gradual automation of certain activities, something that has already occurred in previous industrial revolutions.
Artificial Intelligence professions, Unexpected Developments
The second food for thought related to the new professional figures identified in the world of AI stems from the fact that these figures seemed very distant from the reality of ten or twenty years ago. Probably in another five or ten years, there will still be new and different ones, and this is related to the very nature of artificial intelligence, which is constantly evolving and expanding. Therefore, it appears to be an area where the possibilities for growth are very wide and differentiated between the various fields of application, and the search for personnel is constantly increasing.
Finally, the speed at which AI is expanding and being used and its future prevalence in various sectors also imply a responsibility to train the workforce in the evolution towards which we are heading.
