U.S. companies are ramping up recruitment of artificial-intelligence professionals and paying a premium for talent. Firms in the tech sector and beyond went on a hiring spree after the onset of the pandemic before pivoting to a focus on efficiency through layoffs and other cost-cutting measures. The market for AI-related roles has proved resilient, job-listings data show. New AI job listings are up 42% compared with a December 2022 low point, according to University of Maryland researchers. That is in part because of ChatGPT’s late 2022 release, which set off an AI frenzy. AI-related jobs including machine-learning engineers and data scientists existed before the debut of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, said Anil K. Gupta, a professor at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business and co-lead of its artificial-intelligence-job tracker. The chatbot put a user interface on the technology, he said, opening eyes about ways to embed AI into products and workflows even as the tech talent market was still pulling back after a period of overhiring. The Maryland tracker, published in partnership with job-data firm LinkUp and consulting firm Outrigger Group, classifies AI jobs as those requiring a technical understanding of AI algorithms or models. Its measure of IT jobs comprises a broad group of computer- and math-related occupations. Other measures of the AI and tech job markets show similar patterns. On the job-search platform Indeed, AI-related postings and overall data-science and software-engineering postings are moving in opposite directions.

Full report : AI Talent Is in Demand as Other Tech Job Listings Decline.