Demand for AI "Surging"

[willendure]

"Demand is surging worldwide across companies, industries and nations."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-68366467

Apparently. There was some speculation prior to nVidias earnings call that the company was vastly overpriced, but the earnings certainly stacked up to more than expectations.

Why is there not a matching surge for contractors with AI skills? Which are certainly niche and not so easy to find.

I remember in 2001, when I started contracting with virtually no previous job experience behind me. There was such a high demand for Java developers at the time, they were literally pulling people off the street. My brother told me about a friend who was laying bricks, read a book on JSPs for Dummies, and walked into a £100/hour contract.

I feel like I am expecting a similar demand surge for the AI revolution.

Is it just because the UK is in recession now, and has been failing to invest ever since the 2008 crash, that we are seeing weak demand?

Still too soon?

Or something fundamentally different about this new tech cycle?

[dx4100]

There is a demand for AI skills... but most of us don't have those skills...

Ive done a full blow course on AI using python and the level of mathematical knowledge required is a bit beyond me I have to say and probably beyond most other devs. I played around with ML.NET which has a much lower entry point and using what I learn't on the python course I reckon I could extract some value with it. But no one is using ML.NET :P

Traditional devs won't be doing AI is the conclusion I have come too. Its a different breed of person. The average dev will be working on pipelines to service the AI models and handling the outputs.

If you want to do AI, learn Python and go do a mathematics degree :P

[ResistanceFighter]

If anybody is willing to share links to courses/resources that they found useful that would be great

The few courses I started were far too general and focused on "setting up this AI black box on Azure" which was a tad frustrating

[cojak]

There is a demand for AI skills... but most of us don't have those skills...

Ive done a full blow course on AI using python and the level of mathematical knowledge required is a bit beyond me I have to say and probably beyond most other devs. I played around with ML.NET which has a much lower entry point and using what I learn't on the python course I reckon I could extract some value with it. But no one is using ML.NET :P

Traditional devs won't be doing AI is the conclusion I have come too. Its a different breed of person. The average dev will be working on pipelines to service the AI models and handling the outputs.

If you want to do AI, learn Python and go do a mathematics degree :P

In the late 90’s I worked for a large global finance company that was a leader in neural networks, those programmers were a different breed from us COBOL programmers working on their customer facing apps (and they earned a lot more money).

I suspect that AI programmers are the next generation of those guys.

[dx4100]

If anybody is willing to share links to courses/resources that they found useful that would be great

The few courses I started were far too general and focused on "setting up this AI black box on Azure" which was a tad frustrating

https://www.udemy.com/course/the-dat...ence-bootcamp/

Enjoy...

[jamesbrown]

Agree with dx4100. The demand is primarily for people who can design and apply AI effectively, which requires a mathematical background that will be beyond 99% of traditional devs (without a lot of effort/additional education). It is more analogous to quants at investment banks who do, indeed, code, but they are not principally contracted for their coding skills (unless they are contracted to actually implement low latency solutions), rather their ability to design and implement mathematical models.

[edison]

The race for AI specialists actually started several years ago. I can't remember the company (might have been Amazon or Uber, possibly OpenAI) but one big tech poached almost the entire computer science faculty working in AI, circa 50 people, from a top US university. At the time there were just an estimated few thousand people globally with the skills these companies were looking for.

A few years ago, big US tech companies were offering around $400k starting salary for new PhDs from the best unis - Stanford, MIT etc. The last time I saw something similar here was Facebook about 2 years ago, offering £130k for new Masters/PhD grads in London.

I'm no maths expert but I don't think the top companies are looking for AI people with a maths degree from a good uni. The people they're after are in very short supply and are of a different mindset altogether. My mother in law worked in the Cambridge Uni maths department and some of the stories I've heard confirm that the people with these types of brains are just a different breed.

[edison]

Just to add an example.

A friend of mine was personally interviewed by Google's founders for a job. He's based in Silicon Valley and advises tech companies on using and developing AI. He's worked in AI for many years, has dozens of patents, won prestigious awards etc. His knowledge of foundational AI models seems astounding. I can barely comprehend 10% of what he says. Compared to even very good devs, I'd say he's some sort of polymath, near genius.

[jamesbrown]

I'm no maths expert but I don't think the top companies are looking for AI people with a maths degree from a good uni. The people they're after are in very short supply and are of a different mindset altogether. My mother in law worked in the Cambridge Uni maths department and some of the stories I've heard confirm that the people with these types of brains are just a different breed.

As a maths bod, I can reasonably confidently say that they're looking for people with advanced skills, people that have much more than an understanding of the fundamentals (e.g., linear algebra) and have experience of applying AI in the real world. I think the "unicorns" that you're referring to are sought in all disciplines, not just AI. But, yes, universities are an obvious place to recruit (the staff, that is).

[jamesbrown]

And, yes, Google are prolific in "poaching" the best people from unis. I can certainly think of a few stars in my general area who are now working for Google, presumably on stupid money.