For the past four years, the strongest demand for talent with artificial intelligence (AI) skills has not come from the IT department, but rather, from other business units in the organization, according to Gartner, Inc. Gartner Talent Neuron data shows that although the IT department's need for AI talent has tripled between 2015 and 2019, the number of AI jobs posted by IT is still less than half of that stemming from other business units (see Figure 1). "High demand and tight labor markets have made candidates with AI skills highly competitive, but hiring techniques and strategies have not kept up," said Peter Krensky, research director at Gartner. "In the recent Gartner AI and Machine Learning Development Strategies Study, respondents ranked "skills of staff" as the No. 1 challenge or barrier to the adoption of AI and machine learning (ML)." Departments recruiting AI talent in high volumes include marketing, sales, customer service, finance, and research and development. These business units are using AI talent for customer churn modeling, customer profitability analysis, customer segmentation, cross-sell and upsell recommendations, demand planning, and risk management.

New data from Gartner Inc. suggests that the recruiting, management, and retention of artificial intelligence talent (AI) will be a strategic challenge globally for the foreseeable future. For the past four years, Gartner found, the strongest demand for talent with AI skills has come from non-IT departments. Departments recruiting AI talent in high volumes include marketing, sales, customer service, finance, and research and development, Gartner said in a press release. "These business units are using AI talent for customer churn modeling, customer profitability analysis, customer segmentation, cross-sell and upsell recommendations, demand planning, and risk management." Gartner TalentNeuron data released Wednesday shows the total AI jobs posted by non-IT departments in Top 12 countries by GDP, grew 74%, to 156,294 through March 2019, from 89,895 in July 2015.

"High demand and tight labor markets have made candidates with AI skills highly competitive, but hiring techniques and strategies have not kept up," said Peter Krensky, research director at Gartner. "In the recent Gartner AI and Machine Learning Development Strategies Study, respondents ranked "skills of staff" as the No. 1 challenge or barrier to the adoption of AI and machine learning (ML)." Departments recruiting AI talent in high volumes include marketing, sales, customer service, finance, and research and development. These business units are using AI talent for customer churn modeling, customer profitability analysis, customer segmentation, cross-sell and upsell recommendations, demand planning, and risk management. A significant portion of AI use cases are reported from asset-centric industries supporting projects such as predictive maintenance, workflow and production optimization, quality control and supply chain optimization.