The Race to Hire Top AI Talent

The artificial intelligence (AI) industry is booming, with businesses across sectors frantically trying to build out their AI capabilities. However, the demand for skilled AI talent will quickly far outpaces the supply, making it incredibly challenging for companies to hire the experts they need.

Our initial conversations with leaders in the life science and the advocacy and purpose spaces point to an informed wait and see approach. They don’t really know how AI will ultimately be deployed, what jobs will be affected, and how it will affect their relationships with their clients and customers. There are cost saving expectations across the board, likely meaning reduced headcount in some areas and increased headcount in others.

One of the primary obstacles is the sheer scarcity of AI-specialized skills. The field of AI spans disciplines like machine learning, natural language processing, computer vision, and more - each requiring highly specialized technical expertise. There simply aren't enough graduates from relevant STEM programs to satisfy industry's insatiable appetite for this talent.  A report by TalentNeuron this month shows a rapid drop in the workforce pool when you stack the multiple skill sets needed to work in AI like Python, AWS, machine learning, and computer vision. There are only about 7100 candidates nationwide who are proficient in this combination of skills.

Geography also plays a major role. AI talent tends to cluster in innovation hubs like the San Francisco Bay Area, Boston, and New York. Companies located outside these tech meccas face an uphill battle attracting top AI researchers and engineers, who are often lured by the prestige, resources, and high compensation of leading tech firms and academic institutions.

Salary expectations pose another barrier. The most sought-after AI experts command astronomical salaries. Many businesses, especially smaller companies and non-tech firms, simply can't afford to compete with the compensation packages offered by tech giants and deep-pocketed investors.

Beyond the core technical skills, companies are also struggling to find AI talent with the right complementary capabilities. Strong communication, project management, and business acumen are increasingly important for AI practitioners to collaborate effectively with cross-functional teams and deliver real-world impact. This hybrid skill set is exceptionally hard to come by.

An emerging area of concern is the acquisition of AI ethics talent. As AI systems become more sophisticated and pervasive, there is a growing need for specialists who can help organizations navigate the complex ethical, legal, and social implications of AI deployment. However, this is a nascent field with a very limited talent pool. Recruiting individuals with the right combination of technical, policy, historic perspective, and philosophical expertise is extremely challenging.

Salmela’s approach has been to continually educate ourselves, interview AI experts, and map where the hiring is happening.  We have had a few conversations with client’s considering developing AI consulting practices, with two leaning into the AI Ethics as a service offering. One industry leader I interviewed mentioned AI Ethics should be a part of every strategic conversation about AI deployment, and feels that will be hard to achieve considering the dearth of talent qualified to do the work.

Salmela has begun mapping the AI Ethics space in anticipation of the rise of this practice across consulting practices and internally. In any new or tight talent market recruiting in adjacent spaces will be critical and will require a nuanced translational recruiter skill set to land effective adjacent talent. This is very challenging, time consuming, and important work as we navigate this new world.

Ultimately, the competition for AI talent will only become more competitive. Organizations that can find innovative ways to attract, develop, and retain these in-demand experts will be best positioned to unlock the transformative potential of artificial intelligence.

Photo by Michael Dziedzic on Unsplash