In the latest chapter of the evolution of artificial intelligence in society, automation has been increasingly used by businesses and industries in recent years: on factory floors, in logistics warehouses, and in software development.
After decades of development and investment surrounding AI, the last several months have seen the introduction of more complex and conversational AI— a level of automation in which the software makes and executes decisions without humans — accelerating adoption in the labor market. Even a significant portion of teachers say they've used it. The Walton Family Foundation and Impact Research surveyed 1,002 K-12 teachers and found 51% had used ChatGPT within the two months following its launch.
Freshworks analyzed public job posting data from January 2022 to March 2023 that Revelio Labs compiled from popular hiring platforms to identify the jobs that most often mention they're seeking workers with skills in artificial intelligence.
These AI tools take prompts from human users and churn out answers or products in a fraction of the time it would require a human to do the same work. And seemingly every week, entrepreneurs are bringing more complex AI-based tools to market—so much so that a cottage industry of newsletter publications has cropped up to track and share each one that's released.
Some of these tools will generate videos based on text inputs from users describing the video they want to be created. Others will produce fantastical images that never actually existed. Popular stock photo provider Shutterstock recently launched an AI image generator of its own.
Business leaders have touted the tools as potentially able to enhance the productivity of workers, allowing them to create more products with less time and resources. When considering their customers, leaders are exploring the potential of AI-powered chatbots and automations to enhance customer experiences by speeding up response times, personalizing messaging, facilitating outreach, and more.
In an open letter published by Bill Gates in March, the billionaire founder of Microsoft called the development of AI "as fundamental as the creation of the microprocessor, the personal computer, the Internet, and the mobile phone."
Others, including SpaceX founder Elon Musk, have cautioned that moving too fast in developing these tools could be dangerous and harmful to society.
Job postings from the last year show employers in certain industries aren't keen to fall behind if the technology truly ends up being as consequential as the soothsayers preach. Many industries are seeking workers with knowledge of how to best use these tools, including in finance and science. Still, software-related tech jobs have taken the lead in mentioning the technology when hiring new talent.
According to Revelio data, engineering roles and those working with data rank high in terms of jobs in which employers are seeking AI skills in job posting over the last year. And the largest share of job postings for these roles is for jobs in major cities on the U.S. coasts.
