Artificial intelligence (AI) has seen remarkable growth and transformation in recent years, revolutionising various industries and shaping the future of technology. The development of AI has been entirely exponential, driven by advances in computing power, the availability of big data and progress in machine learning algorithms. AI has the potential to have a significant impact on a wide range of different roles and functions within industries, as AI systems are now able to perform complex tasks that once were exclusively in the field of human intelligence.
The AI market
is expanding rapidly, with forecasts suggesting to reach unprecedented levels in the coming years. The development of AI presents many opportunities for organisations to innovate, improve efficiency and deliver new services. However, it also raises important considerations in terms of ethics, transparency and responsible development of AI. Recognising the transformative potential of AI, the European Union has taken significant steps to shape the development, deployment and regulation of AI technologies. EU policy initiatives aim to ensure ethical and trustworthy AI while promoting innovation and competitiveness. Artificial intelligence should identify biases and educate people about equality, regardless of race, colour, origin, gender, age, language, religion, political opinion, economic or social status of birth or disability, or any other reason protected by human rights.
In the context of the EU-funded ARISA project, the ‘AI skills needs analysis report’ aims toachieve a comprehensive understanding of the AI skills required on the European market. The report is intended to set the basis for the AI skills strategy for Europe, which will be developed in the next phase of the ARISA project and will respond to the identified skills needs.
The main conclusions of this needs analysis provide the starting point for the discussion on the AI skills strategy. The main conclusions on the roles that require competence in the field of AI are:
- The roles of AI practitionersthat are most needed are data scientists, data engineers and in particular machine learning engineers, including NLP engineers and computer vision engineers.
- An emerging role, which requires urgent attention, is a prompt engineer.
- Supporting roles are also emerging in AI management and management, with the greatest need for AI strategies, AI ethics officers and AI quality controllers.
- Organisational decision-makers, such as business leaders and middle managers, as well as policy makers, need basic knowledge and skills in AI.
- Policymakers and policymakers rely on AI advisors that combine deeper knowledge and skills in AI with policy or business expertise.
- These findings can feed into ESCO professional roles by suggesting adding (or changing) roles
The main conclusions on the skills needs of AI professionals and the need for AI skills of policymakers and policymakers are:
- Each AI professional role (e.g. data scientist, machine learning engineer) has its own specific set of technical skills that may also differ depending on the specific context of the AI professional.
- Each AI professional role also requires a set of competences on cross-cutting topics (e.g. ethics, security), soft skills (e.g. problem solving) and functional skills in organisations.
- Policymakers and policymakers need basic knowledge and skills in AI, including the basic-terminology, the ethos of AI, as well as the warms-D legislation;
- AI advisors need advisory skills in the field of AI covering, for example, AI risk management, AI compliance, AI strategy and AI implementation.
- Both the basic knowledge of AI & Skills and advisory skills in AI require urgent attention for Europe to move forward in the field of AI.