Dearth of aspirants makes AI take a back seat in Aussie

When we consider the factor of creating independent machines to replace humans, it brings about the irony that we need plenty of skilled personnel to build such an industry. This overall consequence is the fact that, the augmentation of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine dominance in Australia has been put off for later. According to the world’s largest job portal, Indeed, the number of AI jobs in Australia is at its all time high and yet there is a paucity of people to take those jobs over. There has been a surge of AI job roles by over 300 percent in the last 12 months, causing the gap to widen largely. Looking at a larger picture the aspiration to be the industry’s best artificial intelligence experts has risen by 463 percent in the last two years and yet, that does not suffice to meet the 17 fold rise in open posts. The point that 30 percent of these searches are that of Australians looking out for oversea career opportunities leaves the gap between number of postings and aspirants bigger.

Another research points out that, if enterprises in Australia were to grip AI technologies, a $400 billion rise can be seen in the GDP of the country by 2035, hence, significantly increasing the annual economic growth rate. The research points out that artificial intelligence scaling can reduce the time taken to double the economic size, by half. Looking at job front, the conventional roles available in artificial intelligence are that of Machine Learning Engineers and Software Developers in diverse areas such as commerce, banking and universities. Although some of the applicants may have a qualification in machine learning, they are required to have prior experience and a graduate degree in subjects such as mathematics and physics. Of all the roles sought by employers, 42 percent are those of Machine Learning Engineers and 29 percent of data scientist roles. 

With the rapid growth of potential for extensive application of AI technology, investment in education and the apt skill-sets required to set the industry moving progressively will be the key to the growth of the AI sector in years to come.