Usually I talk about AI and how it's already changing recruiting. Or I did about five minutes ago. But let's talk about something else: AI jobs themselves are going to change recruiting as well -- by putting increasing pressure on recruiters to fill the soaring number of AI-related positions. The World Economic Forum estimates that by 2022 we're going to create 133 million jobs in artificial intelligence and machine learning. Spending on AI is projected to surge -- from $12 million in 2017 to $57.6 billion by 2021. And a recent survey found that 61% of organizations most frequently picked Machine Learning / Artificial Intelligence as their company's most significant data initiative for next year.

It's hard to find a business or technology publication these days that don't have an article covering the upcoming dominance of artificial intelligence or its more advanced cousin, machine learning. And artificial intelligence is even beginning to make inroads into the operations of the recruiting function itself. But unfortunately, many recruiting leaders have yet to realize that executives at their firm will soon begin to demand that their function develop the capability to recruit a sufficient number of people in the area of artificial intelligence/machine learning. If you're not convinced of the impending need for this new recruiting capability, this article provides a quick overview of the top seven reasons why recruiting functions need to immediately begin developing a sophisticated recruiting plan covering this extremely difficult talent acquisition area. The top firms already have a huge lead, so you must catch up -- the top five global firms by market cap value are already in the lead in making machine learning their primary focus.