From Mark Cuban to Bill Gates, top thought leaders have confirmed that the future of work revolves around artificial intelligence. Tech hubs, both in and out of Silicon Valley, are now in a race to perfect AI and these companies are seeking top talent to do so.
As competition stiffens among HR teams, leading tech companies are now willing to shell out lucrative salaries to fill these roles with the brightest and the best.
According to job site Glassdoor, the average AI job commands $111,118 annually — more than twice the U.S. median base pay for full-time workers of $51,220 per year.
Though AI has received a bad rap for stealing jobs, the artificial intelligence sector has continued to make a splash in the hiring world.
At a recent Adweek Panel, execs at IBM and Microsoft discussed the proliferation of AI and its impact on the job market.
"[AI] is going to create all sorts of new jobs," said Jordan Bitterman, CMO of IBM Watson Content and Internet of Things Platform. "I think it's nothing but upside and exciting for those who know what to do with it."
Aaron Levie, CEO of Box, agrees that AI development will lead to unfounded innovation in a variety of sectors, which will ultimately increase job opportunities.
"If you look at human history, any time there has been some major technological innovation, you ultimately have some significant increase in productivity that then creates the need for a new set of industries, a new set of jobs," says Levie.
Chuck Edward, Microsoft's head of global talent acquisition, confirmed that artificial intelligence is one of the most in-demand industries in an interview with CNBC Make It and a quick google search shows hundreds of open positions within the company.
IBM has also revamped its hiring practices in order to find fresh talent to fill these new AI roles. Joanna Daly, IBM's vice president of talent, tells CNBC Make It that the company will now now be focusing on skill-based hiring rather than education level.
So when it comes to AI, which companies are hiring the most new talent? According to Glassdoor research, Amazon, NVIDIA and Microsoft lead the pack. However, an increasing number of financial service firms, consultancies and government agencies are also emerging as major employers of AI talent.
The job site also noted that most open AI roles are still located in a few central locations, namely San Francisco, Seattle, Boston, Los Angeles and New York City.
Here is the full list of top employers hiring AI talent according to Glassdoor:
| Employer | Open AI Jobs on Glassdoor | Percentage of Open AI Jobs on Glassdoor |
| 64 | 13% | |
| 31 | 6% | |
| 18 | 4% | |
| 17 | 3% | |
| 14 | 3% | |
| 12 | 2% | |
| 12 | 2% | |
| 10 | 2% | |
| 9 | 2% | |
| 8 | 2% | |
| 8 | 2% | |
| Uber | 7 | 1% |
| PCOInnovation | 6 | 1% |
| 6 | 1% | |
| 6 | 1% | |
| All Others | 284 | 55% |
| Total | 512 | 100% |
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See also:
Why Elon Musk might be right about his artificial intelligence warnings
Why this artificial intelligence expert says Elon Musk is 'selling fear'
Why these IBM and Microsoft execs say you shouldn't be afraid of robots stealing your job
