Research suggests that AI professionals looking for a new job prioritise flexibility and stability over exciting perks. Despite recent high-profile layoffs, the wider talent shortage is ongoing. Organisations looking to attract, or retain, the best candidates are offering numerous unique benefits. However, research from BenchSci finds that AI, machine learning, and data professionals are mostly looking for flexibility and stability in their future career. "While the global economy continues to face challenges and instability, competition for tech talent is not slowing down. This research, conducted with one of the most sought-after groups in terms of tech talent, clearly shows that well-recognised names and generous salaries are no longer enough to entice the brightest talent."

January 20, 2023After five years of steady, sometimes heady, growth, AI adoption has plateaued, according to The state of AI in 2022, our annual survey of 1,500 companies. Use cases are stable, and the market for tech talent is tight, with new "hot jobs" surfacing every year. But much remains to be done about managing risk and building inclusive teams. "After a period of initial exuberance, we have reached a plateau, a course we've observed with other technologies in their early years of adoption," says partner Michael Chui. He authored the research with senior partners and QuantumBlack, AI by McKinsey leaders Alex Singla and Alex Sukharevsky; partner Helen Mayhew; and associate partner Bryce Hall.

During economic downturns, businesses resort to muscle memory and do what they've done before. That often means budget cuts--and the deepest cuts commonly target technology investment and people. This time, however, things already feel very different. Businesses increasingly see their tech talent as a hard-won strategic investment, which they are reluctant to lose. New McKinsey & Company research discovered that 55 percent of 1,100 companies surveyed globally have found it challenging to hire key data and tech roles, such as data and software engineers, data architects, machine learning engineers, and data scientists.

An ongoing dearth of tech talent and an increasing number of business technologists are driving an increase in low-code development technologies, which are projected to total $26.9 billion USD worldwide in 2023, an increase of nearly 20% from 2022, according to a recent forecast from Gartner. Business technologists work outside of IT and create tech or analytics capabilities for internal or external business use. Low-code application platforms are projected to be the largest component of the low-code development technology market, growing 25% to reach nearly $10 billion USD in 2023. Gartner predicts that by 2026, developers outside formal IT departments will account for at least 80% of the user base for low-code development tools, which is up from 60% in 2021. Other key drivers that will accelerate the adoption of low-code technologies through 2026 include an increasing number of enterprise-wide hyperautomation and composable business initiatives, the firm said.

Companies should consider a multi-faceted approach to recruited artificial intelligence (AI) and machine language (ML) talent. The race to hire artificial intelligence and machine language talent is more competitive than ever. Enterprise executives are demanding greater automation in all sectors of business and that means hiring and retraining. Is there a sweeping answer to the AI talent challenge? No, but there seem to be plenty of narrow fixes.

The General Services Administration is among the lesser-known arms of US government, but it has surprising reach. It owns or leases more than 370 million square feet of offices and other facilities on behalf of other federal agencies, and also provides vehicles and IT services. Its government tech support is a particular priority of President Biden's pick to lead the agency, Robin Carnahan. Carnahan, confirmed by the Senate in June, previously worked at 18F, a tech group set up inside GSA by the Obama administration to modernize government technology. In a recent conversation with Tom Simonite, she discussed plans to smooth online access to government services and lure more tech talent.

Waabi, founded by AI pioneer and visionary Raquel Urtasun, today launched out of stealth to build the next generation of self-driving technology. Waabi's innovative approach unleashes the power of AI to'drive' safely in the real world, bringing the promise of self-driving closer to commercialization than ever before. Waabi also announced today a $83.5-million (USD) Series A financing with backing from best-in-class investors across the technology, logistics and the Canadian innovation ecosystem. The round, which is among the largest Series A rounds ever raised in Canada, was led by Khosla Ventures with additional participation from Uber, Radical Ventures, 8VC, OMERS Ventures, BDC Capital's Women in Technology Venture Fund (WIT), Aurora Innovation Inc., AI luminaries Geoffrey Hinton, Fei-Fei Li, Pieter Abbeel, Sanja Fidler and others. AI and self-driving pioneer Raquel Urtasun is the founder and CEO of Waabi.

AI and machine learning have become unavoidable trends in customer relations. AI is unlocking and redefining the possibilities to appeal to today's most demanding consumers; meeting their ever-growing expectations and developing emotional connections to deliver a fulfilling customer experience. A report published by Juniper Research predicts that retail industry spending on AI will reach $7.3 billion per year by 2022. Notable applications like Uber and Lyft have changed the expectations of consumers with regards to taxis. The experience of traditional taxis now seems outdated and ineffective.

Advances in new digital technologies, the emergence of new competitors, new sourcing models, and changing customer expectations are dramatically changing the type of IT skills enterprises across industry verticals require. And, with new service delivery paradigms such as automation, agile, and Artificial Intelligence (AI) becoming mainstream, the underlying service delivery models to support the new talent demand profile are also undergoing significant changes. We expect technology themes such as data management and analytics, omnichannel customer experience, and cloud adoption to dominate near-term demand, and cybersecurity, Service Oriented Architecture (SOA)-based application design, and agile delivery methodologies to become mainstream. So, what does this mean from a talent perspective? Below are four takeaways from Everest Group's recent research, much of which is detailed in a newly-released viewpoint titled Closing the Gap – The Future of IT Skills in the United States.

Without strategy, AI tools won't make an impact. Most organizations would find it hard to operate without the technology they have today, and more are planning to invest larger sums to keep up in the digital marathon. This year alone, worldwide spending on digital transformation is predicted by International Data Corporation (IDC) to reach US$1.18 trillion, and the figure doubles to US$2.3 trillion by 2023. The significant investment represents a drive for companies, from startups to major government departments and national organizations, to integrate technology to streamline organizational workflow. Although the motivation to adopt digital transformation is prevalent in the majority of organizations, a lack of business impact from artificial intelligence (AI) is driving morale down in organizations. A survey by MIT Sloan Management Review and Boston Consulting Group, which consulted more than 2,500 executives, showed that 70 percent of organizations are experiencing minimal or no business impact from AI.