Working With Generative AI is a New Kind of Job: Employment Positions Up 20% in US in May

According to data from the job portal Indeed, job postings in the United States related to generative AI experienced a significant increase of about 20% in May.

Artificial intelligence, ChatGPT – artistic concept image. Photo credit: Pexels / Cottonbro Studio, free license

This statistic indicates an emerging trend where different companies are actively seeking to leverage this technology, which is widely regarded as a key driver of future growth.

The May figure of 204 generative AI job postings per million was more than double the level observed in 2021, highlighting the growing interest in AI, particularly fueled by the success of OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

Among the AI job postings on Indeed’s U.S. platform, data scientist roles accounted for 5% of the total, while positions such as software engineer, machine learning engineer, and data engineer were also in high demand.

ChatGPT and other generative AI platforms change the way we work with documents and other types of content. Image credit: Stanley Dai via Unsplash, free license

The introduction of ChatGPT has notably increased job seeker interest in AI-related roles, according to Nick Bunker, Director of Economic Research at Indeed.

“There has been a notable increase in job seeker interest in AI-related jobs, especially since the introduction of ChatGPT,” said Bunker.

This surge in generative AI job postings comes at a time when the broader tech job market is facing challenges due to significant layoffs at companies like Meta Platforms and Amazon.com, as they navigate an uncertain economy. Overall, tech jobs in the United States have declined by 43.6% since June of the previous year, with the number of available AI jobs struggling to keep up with the job seeker interest.

Indeed’s data also revealed a substantial increase in searches for generative AI jobs, rising to 147 per million total job searches in May, compared to virtually zero searches a year earlier. Their U.S. website displayed generative AI job listings from prominent companies including Meta Platforms, Apple, TikTok, Pinterest, and Amazon.com.

Written by Alius Noreika