NYT: there is a shortage of personnel in the market of AI technologies

NYT: there is a shortage of personnel in the market of AI technologies

The largest technology companies rely on artificial intelligence, developing voice assistants and self-managed cars. However, as the New York Times writes, specialists in the field of artificial intelligence are not enough. To get them, IT-giants are ready to pay even novice developers of neural networks amounts that amaze the imagination. Strangely enough, but this only increases the deficit of AI-frames.

According to nine employees of high-tech companies who wished to remain anonymous, even a graduate student in the field of AI can count on a salary of $ 300,000 to $ 500,000 per year. This also applies to people with a lower level of education and little work experience. The most famous AI experts receive shares in the capital of companies and conclude million-dollar contracts for 4-5 years - then, like professional athletes, to extend or renew them on new terms. Most of all, managers with experience in managing AI projects are valued.

The explosive growth in wages of AI developers has several catalysts. First, it is the production of autonomous cars, where traditional automakers compete with the Silicon Valley. Secondly, it is the investment of technological giants, such as Facebook and Google, in the creation of voice assistants, smart homes and AI-moderation of social networks. The field of AI is still full of intractable problems, and in the world there are not enough qualified employees to solve them. According to Element AI, an independent laboratory in Montreal, there are less than 10,000 people worldwide who have sufficient skills for serious work with artificial intelligence.

Moreover, the giants of the industry themselves provoke a shortage of personnel. With such a small number of AI specialists, they willingly hire the best representatives of academic circles; Thus, the number of professors who can teach technology to students falls. In recent years, for the work in business, four of the most famous AI teachers at Stanford University have left their posts. A similar picture is observed at the University of Washington: six of the 20 professors of artificial intelligence preferred teaching to work in commercial companies. Only some scholars find a way to compromise and preserve university posts, while a number of universities are meeting them, allowing to divide the time between teaching and working in business.

According to experts, the behavior of companies is rational, although it can adversely affect society. The situation is illustrated by Google spending on the British IAEP laboratory DeepMind, which it acquired in 2014: according to available data, last year about $ 138 million was spent on staff salaries out of 400 employees, that is, on average $ 345,000 per employee. It is difficult for small companies to compete with such figures. To survive, they seek talent in unexpected places, for example, hire physicists and astronomers with the necessary mathematical skills. Other start-ups hire developers of neural networks from Asia and Eastern Europe, where such specialists are not so much in demand.

Finally, we note that it is easier to understand the basic terms of in-depth training than it seems, this requires a little more than the mathematics of the secondary school. A number of organizations, commercial (Deeplearning.ai) and non-profit (Fast.ai), offer relevant online courses. At the same time, experts believe that in the foreseeable future the situation with the lack of specialists in the field of AI will not be resolved. To train a qualified employee it still takes a lot longer than there is patience with IT companies.

Source: hightech.fm