Although we don't have the kind of personal robots described in science fiction movies, artificial intelligence (AI) has gradually become an inseparable part of our daily lives. Forbes announced that "AI will become mainstream in 2019." Thanks to AI, we can use smart phones to store checks. AI can automatically clear the received spam to the spam mailbox. Passenger sharing apps such as Uber use AI to calculate departure and arrival times. AI can also recommend Amazon merchandise and Netflix series based on your usage habits and preferences. Have you used web search today? If so, then you probably interacted with the AI.
As AI gets deeper and deeper into our professional and personal lives, the Indeed analysis team studied platform data to understand the relevant situation of AI work in 2019. What is the best position? Which position has the highest salary? Where is the best opportunity? Some results may surprise you.
The growth of AI jobs is slowing down, and interest in AI jobs is also declining
The number of AI jobs on Indeed has increased by 29.1% from last year. However, this increase is much lower than the data of the previous two years. The increase in AI jobs from May 2017 to May 2018 was 57.9%, and the increase from May 2016 to May 2017 was 136.3%.
You can view the 2018 research results through this link:
http://blog.indeed.com/2018/08/23/artificial-intelligence-report/
At the same time, the interest of job seekers is also flattening out: From May 2018 to May 2019, searches for AI-related positions on Indeed dropped by 14.5%. In contrast, its search increased by 32% between May 2017 and May 2018, and by 49.1% between May 2016 and May 2017. This year's downward trend also shows that there are far fewer qualified practitioners than job demands. AI workers in the future may still be studying at school or waiting for training.
It is worth mentioning that the search for AI jobs is not directly proportional to the provision of AI jobs. For example, the job of a data scientist is to obtain raw data and use programming, visualization, and statistical models to extract an actionable part of the organization. Since data is what we think of as the "new oil", data scientists are in great demand. Our research shows that the number of data scientist positions increased by 31% from 2017 to 2018. However, in the same period, job searches only increased by 14%.
Machine learning and deep learning engineers dominate the top 10 AI jobs
In order to understand the most popular AI jobs published between 2018 and 2019, our analysis team identified the top 10 job descriptions that mentioned the most "artificial intelligence" and "machine learning" positions.
We found that this year's machine learning engineer's job description mentioned the most AI and machine learning keywords (the same result in 2018). Machine learning engineers develop equipment and software that use predictive technology, such as Apple's Siri or weather forecast applications. They ensure that the machine learning algorithm has data that needs to be processed, and can analyze large amounts of real-time data to ensure that the machine learning model is more accurate.
Although the job descriptions of machine learning engineers still contain the most relevant keywords, they contain a higher proportion in 2018 (75% in 2019 and 94.2% in 2018).
Many of the top 10 jobs requiring AI technology in 2019 were not found on the 2018 list. For example, deep learning engineers appeared in second place for the first time. Deep learning engineers develop programming systems that simulate brain functions and other similar tasks. These engineers have played a key role in three rapidly developing fields: autonomous driving, facial recognition, and robotics. According to the results of a study, the global facial recognition market alone can grow from US$3.2 billion in 2019 to US$7 billion in 2024.
Other new positions on the 2019 top 10 list include:
Senior Data Scientist
Junior Data Scientist
Development consultant
Director of Data Science
Chief Data Scientist
In contrast, analysis directors, statisticians, chief scientists, computer scientists, research engineers, and data engineers did not appear on this year's list.
每年的差异可以反映出不同类型的公司对于数据科学家的需求在增长，很多雇主现在需要一个完整的数据科学团队，需要从初级到总监级别的数据科学家。相对而言，2018 年的榜单中列出的都是一些通用的数据科学工作，比如数据科学家、首席科学家和计算机科学家。招聘不同水平的员工可以吸引更加广泛的人才，这可以帮助组织更好地在激烈的劳动力市场中占据一席之位。
平均工资最高的 AI 工作
机器学习工程师不仅仅是职位描述中提到最多 AI 关键词的工作，它还是工资最高的工作之一。和 2018 年相比，这还是平均年薪增长最多的工作。
2018 年，机器学习工程师的工资还排在第三名，而今年就获得了首位的好成绩。工资和排名都增长了，今年该岗位的平均年薪比去年增长了 8409 美元，比人力资源公司 Mercer 预测的平均 2.9% 的工资增长率高出了许多。
相同的是，算法工程师的平均年薪今年也涨到了 109313 美元，增长了 5201 美元，约 5%。这两个岗位工资的增长可能是因为组织要在当前 AI 就业市场中吸引更加卓越的人才。
和我们之前的榜单一样，平均工资排名显示了整个 AI 市场的发展和成熟。一些通用的职位，如分析总监、数据工程师、计算机科学家、统计学家和研究工程师都出现在了 2018 年的榜单上，但没有出现在今年的榜单上。在 2019 年的榜单上，新出现的岗位包括更有差异性的一些数据科学工作，比如高级数据科学家和首席数据科学家。
纽约和旧金山是领先的 AI 工作城市
和去年相比，2019 年 AI 工作最高比例的城市区域排名并没有很多改变，尽管有一些变化，还有一些新进入榜单的城市。
2018 年和 2019 年，纽约和旧金山地区排名分别是第一和第二。然而，纽约已经失去了一些优势：去年，纽约 AI 工作比例约为 11.6%，而 2019 年下降到了 9.72%。相比之下，旧金山 2018 年占比为 9.6%，但现在仅仅比纽约少了一点点。（旧金山在 2019 年 求职者最佳城市 中也排名第二）
New York's number one ranking may surprise you, because people usually think of it as the birthplace of financial services to publishing, but now many industries are beginning to use AI. Many West Coast technology companies (such as Amazon, Facebook, and Google) have played an important role in the region. There are also many AI-related startups in New York, such as AlphaSense, Clarifai, Persado, and x.ai.
Compared with 2018, there are three groups of regions on this year's list that have swapped their rankings. In 2018, San Jose ranked third (9.2%) and Washington fourth (7.9%). But this year, Washington ranked third, and San Jose ranked fourth. In 2019, Boston (down from fifth place) and Seattle (up from sixth place) swapped, and Chicago lost seventh place to Los Angeles (previously eighth). Dallas-Fort Worth remained ninth, while Philadelphia was ranked tenth last year and was squeezed out of the list by Atlanta this year.
Can AI create more job opportunities than it can reduce?
In the next few years, the biggest question remains whether AI can create more jobs.
Some studies have shown that AI actually creates more job opportunities than decreases. According to the 2018 Employment Outlook Report released by the World Economic Forum, by 2022, human and machine or AI automated labor conversion will replace 75 million jobs, but at the same time 133 million new jobs will be created. Gartner predicts that AI will create 2.3 million new jobs and replace 1.8 million jobs in 2020. According to a Dun & Bradstreet report in 2019, 40% of organizations have added jobs due to the adoption of AI, and only 8% of organizations have laid off employees due to the emergence of new technologies.
In any case, AI is expected to grow and develop into a universal workplace tool.
As a writer from Harvard Business Review summed it up: “Soon, every technology will be transformed from a tool mastered by the elite to a mainstream tool. AI is now undergoing the same transformation. We are entering that anyone can use intelligent algorithms. Solve the times they encountered problems."