The continued innovation and adoption of artificial intelligence is transforming the world of work. As these changes bring significant disruption to global labor markets, organizations are finding they need to stay up-to-date on how these changes will affect them, so they can plan for and build a future-ready workforce.

To shed light on these developments, we’ve released the Lightcast Global AI Skills Outlook: a highly interactive, free resource that looks at employer demand for AI skills across 16 labor markets: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

In this piece, we delve into some of the findings of the Outlook, and the implications they have for building a future-ready workforce.

AI as a job enhancer, not job replacer

The most significant takeaway from the Lightcast Global AI Skills Outlook is that AI is not currently replacing jobs; rather, it’s augmenting them. This is not only taking place in tech jobs, but also in non-tech jobs. For example, we highlight roles such as Research Associate and Writer, where employers are increasingly requesting skills including Generative Artificial Intelligence and ChatGPT. Yet it is not that Research Associates and Writers are suddenly going to find themselves out of work. Rather, necessary skills are changing as these AI skills are now becoming an integral part of these roles.

It might seem counter-intuitive, but with AI playing an increasingly big part in both tech and non-tech jobs, the role of durable skills (sometimes referred to as soft skills) actually takes on even more importance. Skills such as critical thinking, communication, and creativity are all complementary to AI skills, since they provide the vital human element to tasks in the workplace that AI cannot accomplish.

AI as an enabler of new career opportunities

The finding that AI skills are more about job enhancement than job replacement has huge ramifications. The discussion moves away from being about mitigating potential AI-induced job losses, to how we upskill people with AI tools and complementary durable skills to improve their career mobility and productivity. 

The potential for unlocking new career pathways for individuals is huge – if you have two key ingredients at your disposal. The first is the ability to extract meaningful insights on AI skills from job postings. The second is the ability to understand the relationship between jobs by using the concept of skills adjacency to identify “next-step” careers and the skills that are needed to make the transition from one to another. 

Through Lightcast Global Job Postings and Lightcast Career Pathways, we can do both. For example, we can see from Lightcast data that roles where one or more AI skills are mentioned often pay a salary premium over and above the same roles where AI skills are not requested. Postings for Marketing Managers in the US that mention AI skills have a salary premium of almost $33,000 more than those that don’t, for example. 

We can also use the Career Pathways model to trace how a Marketing Manager might upskill to the more highly paid Product Manager, with one of the skills needed to make the transition being the AI-enabled “user story”.

AI as a global phenomenon

AI has become widespread across the globe, albeit with differing levels of demand and types of skills in different countries. Understanding hotspots is vital for employers seeking to source or locate their future-ready workforce. 

Overall, demand for AI skills has been trending upwards over the last decade, although there was a slight decline in 2022-2023 (partly attributed to changes in job posting practices and the changing composition of roles among top AI employers). The top in-demand AI skills across the 16 nations in 2023 were artificial intelligence, machine learning, and Apache Spark.

The US dominates demand for a number of AI skills. Out of the top 50 cities for Generative AI skills demand, 31 are in the US. It also dominates in terms of the percentage of job postings mentioning AI skills for a number of occupations. For example, looking at Cybersecurity Analyst and Data Scientist postings mentioning AI skills, the US had 17 and 19 cities respectively in the top 25. 

The other country with significant AI demand in a number of roles was Germany, with eight of the top 25 hotspots for both Research Associates and UI/UX Designer.

Preparing a Future-Ready Workforce

As AI continues to transform the world of work, preparing a future-ready workforce is essential. For education providers, community leaders, and employers, the strategic implications of our findings in the Lightcast Global AI Skills Outlook are profound. Here are just some:

Education Providers

Look for opportunities to include the teaching of in-demand AI skills and key complementary durable skills in your courses and programs, informed by the kind of up-to-date insights on the future-ready workforce we’ve presented in the Lightcast Global AI Skills Outlook.

Community Leaders

Look to harness the power of data to understand the AI skills-related interventions that are needed in your area, so that you can invest in training, upskilling, and reskilling your local population to equip them to take their place in the workforce of the future. 

Employers

Look to build a future-ready workforce by integrating AI tools into your workplace, along with the appropriate training to upskill your workforce in both AI and complementary durable skills, creating clear career pathways for your staff and enhancing productivity.

Webinar

As well as visiting The Lightcast Global AI Skills Outlook, you can also join us for our webinar on 29th August, where we'll be taking in an even more in-depth look at some of the key findings of our research into AI skills demand.

💡 Want to learn more about AI skills and Career Pathways? 

• The Lightcast Approach to AI

• How to Use AI in HR — Intelligently

• The Stanford AI Index Report

• Guide to Career Pathways for Employers

• How to Retain Talent Using Career Pathways