Salary Disruption: AI and Future Pay Scales
Let's talk about our basic needs first; how to use AI to make money. As employees, of course.
With the amount of traction artificial intelligence and associated technologies have been able to gain and the number of minds expressing their interest in the wealth that AI has been instrumental in generating, I started to wonder about the impact of AI on the compensation employees receive.
More specifically, I was curious to know if there has been any trend or pattern that would clarify AI’s impact on the salary and compensation of employees across sectors and industries.
Further, I wanted to understand if there were any specific ways that employees could leverage the power of AI to increase their income and build wealth. What ensued was a search for credible evidence to find answers to these questions.
The results, however, have emerged to be contradictory.
However, such an increase would also depend upon the manner in which AI is being utilized.
Companies that make use of AI to assist employees in automating routine and repetitive tasks can significantly free up time, allowing employees to engage in more creative and strategic activities that are income boosting.
By reducing the burden of these time-consuming tasks, AI enables workers to focus on projects that require critical thinking, innovation, and problem-solving—areas where human insight and creativity are invaluable (and where AI doesn’t work as well).
This shift not only enhances job satisfaction but also drives greater value for the firm. Employees can now contribute more meaningfully to the company’s goals, leading to increased productivity, improved decision-making, and the development of innovative solutions that can give the company a competitive edge.
Hence, it is the jobs where AI can be utilized to a large extent that will have a higher compensation package as we all know that companies only pay more for jobs that, very visibly, have a positive impact their bottom lines.
Job Redundancy
However, we also have job displacement to concern ourselves with.
It can be said with some level of certainty that AI will make certain jobs redundant, considering studies by big-name firms like Goldman Sachs that reported that about 300 million jobs are likely to be affected by artificial intelligence.
However, if words of experts like Sander van’t Noordende are to be believed, there would always be a new job that only humans would be able to perform, the capabilities for which technology has yet to attain. Along similar lines, researchers have claimed that AI will not only eliminate jobs but actively create new ones.
Money Rain
Getting back to the topic at hand, however, as per another 2024 news article by CNN, jobs that are reliant on AI skills are providing considerably higher compensation packages (the reasons for which we just discussed) in comparison to those that do not necessitate the development of AI skills.
The information on CNN’s website had been derived from a study conducted by the consultancy giant PwC. As per the report, salaries of AI-related positions were about 25% higher in the US when compared to jobs with similar workloads and authority but do not depend upon AI. Similar statistical differences have been noted across the UK (14%), Canada (11%), and other parts of the world.
In India, for instance, as per a study by Amazon Web Services (AWS), workers adept at AI skills are expected to witness an income hike of 54%, with IT (65% hike) and R&D (62% hike) being the domains that are likely to experience the highest boosts in salaries. In the US, however, it is the lawyers (49% increase) and financial analysts (33% increase) that are among the top players who are expected to gain from the increasing integration of AI.
Now that we have taken in the figures, let's delve into the reasons why AI is becoming synonymous with higher earnings.
Industry experts claim that there is already a skill gap between the professionals of today and what the businesses require. Hence, the scarcity of talent is especially driving the income boost that these skilled professionals (who constitute a limited resource) are likely to experience.
Moreover, with AI being the shiny new piece of tech that every business person wants to get their hands on, the rise in the number of AI-based jobs has been significantly higher as compared to the general increase in total jobs for the data collected between 2012 to 2023.
The point of the matter is that you could be one of the scarce, AI-empowered professionals who are high in demand at the moment and attain that oh-so-valued increment in your salary.
However, it would be prudent to remember that the time to become brilliant at AI is now. As months pass us by, an increasing number of professionals are realizing that AI is here to stay and that AI is definitely the future. Hate as they may the apparent evil that is AI, it is not a piece of tech that is to be ignored.
This realization has been all-pervasive, percolating across generations from the trend-prone Gen Z to the should-be-planning-for-their-retirement Baby Boomers who are more than willing to enroll in an AI course if offered by their organizations.
Necessary Skills in the Age of AI
The question now arises is that how can you, as the employee who is barely able to make time for your family and is being crushed under the growing demands of your workplace, know what skills are going to provide you with a financial edge over your colleagues?
That is, essentially, the purpose of this article.
While, initially, it may seem that there are millions of people trying to get ahead by utilizing AI, it would be beneficial to keep in mind that these millions still only comprise a fraction of the global workforce that comprises of 3.63 billion professionals. Consequently, the time to jump on board is now.
As per an article by Forbes, a very negligible percentage of industry professionals are making actual use of AI in their workplaces. Either that or they have yet to fully understand the benefits of AI.
As per the discoveries from The Workplace Index, a research study carried out by Slack, about 66% of employees have not utilized AI at their workplaces and over 90% do not find AI reliable in helping get their work done faster. Such attitudes towards the adaptation of AI are hardly doing any favors to this tremendously large portion of the workforce.
Why?
This is because the integration of AI has become a top concern for C-suite executives of nearly all companies from those that are just starting out to those who have laid the foundation of the business world as we experience today.
AI has gained priority even over concerns such as inflation and the widening of the economy. Resultantly, those employees who fail to become AI-savvy are likely to experience career slumps.
Now that I imagine that you have been sufficiently convinced that hate it or love it, learning more about AI is a necessity, let’s talk about the skills that are likely to help you gain a salary hike.
Prompt Engineering
First, and I feel, a little intuitive, is the skill of prompt engineering. Anyone who knows anything about Generative AI has heard of prompt engineering. It is currently one of the most desired skills in the corporate milieu. But for those who are new to the scene, what exactly is prompt engineering?
By definition, “prompt engineering is the process of guiding generative artificial intelligence applications to generate desired outputs, using detailed instructions to create high-quality and relevant output.”
To put it more simply, prompt engineering is phrasing your instructions in such a way that the results become more relevant to the problem or question you have.
Although it may seem easy to master at first glance, to become one of the best at any skill, no matter how simple it may look in the beginning, it is essential to put in dedicated effort and regular practice. So take that course and improve your career and wealth outcomes as being skilled in prompt engineering can propel your income by as much as 47%.
As far as my knowledge goes, Ansh Mehra is the person if you want to learn prompt engineering. Andrew Ng, another big name in the domain of AI, also offers courses to become better at engineering on his website.
Data Analysis
The second skill that you must master, and is likely to take you much longer than prompt engineering, is data analysis. Although it might take you a long while to master data analysis, or even further, data science, to reach the level of creating AI or ML (machine learning) models, even elementary data analysis would do you a great deal of good.
AI models are trained on large amounts of data and hence, if you are capable of handling large datasets which can then be fed to the organization’s in-house AI models, it is likely to benefit you by powering up your compensation package.
Coming from a social sciences background and currently working in the people team for a highly globalized and innovative organization, I, myself, am on the path of developing (trying to, more like) an expertise in people analytics (more on that later). The point remains, however, that the importance of being data-savvy cannot be overstated.
There are a multitude of courses available online, most of which can be availed for free. For example, data science specializations on Coursera have courses that can be audited. Plus, if you would like a certification of the course and are unable to pay, you can also apply for financial aid directly on the website. It is a pretty simple and intuitive process so you should not encounter any problems.
Growth Mindset
The third skill that you need to develop in order to succeed (I feel like one of those this-is-the-only-way-to-succeed writers after writing this part of the sentence) is to develop a growth mindset. Growth mindset is a psychological concept propounded by Carol Dweck, which is an attitude towards lifelong learning and development.
It is about having the belief that if you put in the required energy and effort, you will grow and achieve your desired goals. On the opposite spectrum is the fixed mindset. The contrast between the two is similar to the nature-nurture debate, where people with a growth mindset believe that intelligence and abilities can be developed with deliberate practice, whereas people who have a predominantly fixed mindset believe that one’s intelligence and capabilities are inherent and rigid.
There are a few tried and tested methods, with that additional charm of scientific backing, that can help you develop a growth mindset. One would be to consider challenges as opportunities to expand your knowledge and evolve. Instead of running away and avoiding any problems as they arise, try to face these obstacles head-on. Such essential practice not only results in heightened confidence but also allows for tremendous personal growth.
Another great method of developing a growth mindset is to make a conscious effort to learn something new every day. This will help you form a habit of seeking knowledge and nurturing a mindset that thrives on learning. Further, try to embrace failures as valuable learning experiences.
This is an easy one to say and, frankly, a very difficult one to practice. However, once you begin to believe that every time you make a mistake or do not achieve the desired result, you are only provided with an opportunity to reflect and improve, the concept of growth mindset will become more relatable and approachable to you.
And, finally, practice resilience. It is true that I just mentioned that it is essential to embrace failures and view them as opportunities to learn and improve. However, it is even more important to try and try again till the time you get it right.
This is where resilience comes into the picture. It is one thing to try something once, not achieve success, and call it a day. On the other hand, it is something completely different to keep trying till you finally accomplish the goal you have set for yourself. Not only does this build your confidence but also aids in the long-term development of self-assurance and determination, which is what is required to succeed in the modern-day workplace.
There are a number of other skills that can help you enhance your career in the age of AI, such as natural language processing (NLP) and being adept at coding. However, if you are just starting out, I feel like the above three are the most basic skills that can serve as the foundation for further learning and development, which will have a direct impact on your overall income.
And that wraps up the latest edition of The Channel. Hopefully, you found reading the article worthwhile. What are your thoughts on AI and salaries that we are getting? Have you experienced any boost in your compensation due to AI? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments!
Until next time,