You won’t get a prize for guessing that search interest in the term “will AI take my job” has rocketed over the past six months. At the end of July 2022, search interest for the term was at 21, but by the end of April this year, Google registered a search interest of 100––its highest ranking––for the term.
This curiosity surge is likely prompted by the November 2022 introduction of ChatGPT, the now-famous AI chatbot model developed by OpenAI. And with serious concerns being expressed by tech leaders about the technology, worries are accelerating.
In May, Geoffrey Hinton, the “Godfather of AI”, announced his resignation from Google, saying he now regretted his work, and that some of the dangers around AI chatbots were “quite scary”. Hinton pointed out that “right now, they're not more intelligent than us, as far as I can tell. But I think they soon may be.”
His concern is echoed by the recent Statement on AI Risk, issued by the Center for AI Safety. Signed by a group of top AI researchers, engineers, and CEOs, the statement says that “Mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war.”
What the average worker wants to know right now is if they’ll still have a job in a few years’ time. This isn’t a new fear––in fact, jobs are lost to technological advancements all the time. A century ago, most of the world’s population was employed in farming, for example.
Professional services company Accenture thinks that 40% of all working hours could be impacted by generative AI tools, and a Goldman Sachs study says that generative AI tools could impact as many as 300 million full-time jobs worldwide.
Emerging jobs
However, it isn’t all bad news, not by a long shot: The World Economic Forum (WEF) estimates 97 million new jobs will emerge by 2025 to enable humans and machines to work together.
One of those roles is prompt engineering. This refers to the process of designing and refining prompts to achieve desired outcomes when using large language models like ChatGPT.
Prompt engineers are vital because it is their skills that are essential to crafting well-defined prompts which have the precision required to deliver the right kinds of outputs. And as with all skills, prompt engineering takes practice, especially as it is such an emerging field.
Right now, experts are few and far between, but OpenAI is seeking to change that with its free ChatGPT Prompt Engineering for Developers course. Designed to teach prompt engineering best practices for application development, participants will also discover new ways to use large language models, including how to build custom chatbots, and will gain hands-on practice writing and iterating on prompts using the OpenAI API.
The field is only set to grow, with LinkedIn data finding that the number of posts referring to “generative AI” increased 36-fold in comparison to 2022, and the number of job postings containing the term “GPT” rising by 51% between 2021 and 2022.
Despite the fact that prompt engineering doesn’t necessarily require programming or specific technical skills, the pay is high, with salaries in the US reported to be between $230,000 and $335,000.
For those with existing skills, it is a good time to be working in the artificial intelligence sector. The Digital Europe Programme (DIGITAL) is investing in learning and training opportunities that will create new AI experts with objectives and specific topic areas that will receive a total of €1.98 billion in funding.
If you are interested in a new job now, then the Tech EU Job Board is a great place to start. Discover thousands of open roles all across the tech industry, like the three below.
Neofonie GmbH seeks a Head of Artificial Intelligence in Berlin. You should be an experienced management expert with an eye for potential and opportunities in the areas of search, text analysis, and machine learning, and will have already demonstrated this expertise in several research and technology projects.
In this role, you’ll take control of consulting, research, and implementation activities for data-related challenges in a wide variety of industries and application areas, and further develop the research and technology roadmap in close cooperation with sales and professional services.
In Paris, BNP Paribas has an opening for an Analytics & AI Communication, Culture, and Transformation role. Here, you’ll establish relationships with representatives of all the Analytics and AI teams to maintain a view of the topics of interest and news for these teams, as well as many other tasks.
To be considered, you’ll need a BAC+5, at least three years of experience in banking, insurance, or another B2C industry and you’ll have worked in a marketing, communication, or event function in the field of data and artificial intelligence.
Or, discover this AI Ethics Lead job at BT in London. You’ll be understanding in assessing the value and risks of a wide variety of use cases, impacting customers, colleagues, partners and wider society. You’ll be collaborating with many different teams across BT, including business units, DS and AI teams, policy and legal, and advising senior stakeholders at director level and above.
Requirements include five or more years experience in leading data and/or AI ethics initiatives in a commercial setting, proven success in collaborating with data scientists and in engaging and managing a complex set of stakeholders, and strong technical awareness of a range of AI techniques and approaches, together with their pros and cons, with respect to data and AI ethics.
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