Dive Brief:
- Nearly 6 in 10 employers are seeking workers who utilize AI to deliver output, but the supply of these types of employees is lean, according to an Indeed report published Tuesday. The job site commissioned a study of 1,001 job seekers and 300 employers.
- Only 14% of employees defined themselves as AI natives, underscoring the scarcity of workers who have sufficient know-how to use the technology to perform tasks and workflows.
- The gap between supply and demand can be closed with training, according to Indeed. Fewer than half of overall workers said they’re getting the AI training they need while more than three-quarters of AI natives said they are.
Dive Insight:
Hyperscalers have invested billions in data center and infrastructure to build out the compute needed to support use, but enterprise customers are struggling with scaling AI and skills.
The data center and infrastructure segments are pushing up global IT spending, which is set to surpass $6.3 trillion this year, according to Gartner. Meanwhile, spending on AI tools and compute often lags behind the skills needed to turn AI investments into AI adoption.
Casting a wider net when hiring workers won’t fix the gap since the external supply of employees skilled in AI is insufficient to meet the demand, according to Kyle M.K., senior talent strategy adviser at Indeed.
“The more useful move for tech leaders is to build these skills inside the organization they already have, rather than treat it purely as a recruiting problem,” he said.
In the absence of widespread formal AI training, most employees are putting in the work on their own to increase their familiarity with the technology.
“They’re motivated, but the structure doesn’t exist everywhere,” M.K. said. “Only 32% of workers say they’ve actually received proper training for the job they’re doing right now, so most of the progress happening today is happening on individual initiative.”
In fact, business tasks represent just one-quarter of total AI usage by professionals, according to CompTIA data. The rest of usage aligns with personal tasks amid the expansion of tools such as ChatGPT.
In addition to a skills shortage, leaders are contending with trust issues among staff. One-quarter of workers surveyed by Indeed said AI accuracy, ethics and privacy concerns represent the top barriers keeping them from gaining more familiarity with AI.
“People aren’t avoiding these tools out of stubbornness,” M.K. said. “They’re avoiding them because they don’t have visibility into how the tool is being used or what happens with what it produces.”
