When it comes to artificial intelligence (A.I.), three major players exist in the consumer space: Google, Apple, and Amazon all have their own take on the voice-activated "smart assistant." But which of these platforms actually puts tech pros to work? Examining job postings on Dice, we see a trend. We searched for three specific identifiers: Siri, Alexa, and the Google Assistant. Our goal was to discover which digital assistant platform was actually driving job growth for tech pros. Siri, Apple’s A.I. assistant (which has existed longer than either Amazon's Alexa or Google Assistant, at least in public-facing mode), isn’t a huge driver for jobs. But while relatively few jobs are posted to Dice specifically looking for developers who have experience with ‘Siri,’ we still see a steady flow. Alexa was far and away the winner in terms of number of jobs posted. That skill has more companies listing jobs for it, and more actual jobs directly related to Alexa. It’s no surprise, either: Amazon’s open platform allows just about any device or service to weave Alexa into its workflow. Google Assistant is also very open, which would lead anyone to think it would rival Alexa in terms of job demand. It doesn’t. In fact, Google Assistant doesn’t even come close to Siri. Dice data shows jobs mentioning ‘Google Assistant’ were scarce. When we massaged the query to include or isolate terms such as ‘Google Home’ (because let’s face it, a job poster may conflate the two) there was no discernible change. All told, Alexa is the easy winner when it comes to jobs posted on Dice. Siri is a distant second, and Google Assistant barely makes a showing. But that’s not the whole story.

A.I. Jobs & Tech Pros

The quantity of jobs posted is important, but how many apply to those jobs is also key. For that, the roles are wildly reversed. If we compare job applications (both via email and URL) against direct jobs posted to Dice, your chances of landing an A.I. role get much better – as long as you don’t want to work with Alexa. Your chances are best with Siri; it’s the only one of the three that ever approaches a 1:1 ratio of jobs and applications. Google Assistant had the most steady application rates, but it’s an uphill climb. For every Google Assistant (or Google Home) job posted, we see roughly 30 applicants toss their hat into the ring. It’s a steady trend, and gets as competitive as 50:1 for Google Assistant jobs. Alexa’s synergy is also fairly steady, but your chances of landing a job for it are much higher than with Google Assistant. On average, Alexa jobs have roughly a 12:1 ratio for applications via Dice. At times, it gets as low as 2.5:1. [caption id="attachment_141333" align="aligncenter" width="1836"] Oddly, a thing you can't do via HomePod.[/caption]

The Future for A.I. Jobs

Amazon, Google, and Apple all have their A.I. flag planted. We don’t worry that any of the platforms will go away anytime soon. If you’re looking to choose a side, any are fine. Alexa is enjoying quite a moment. A ubiquitous offering, it’s now in just about every category of gadget or device you can think of. Google Assistant trails Alexa, but it’s also a cloud-first offering, which makes it equally simple to weave into any product. Apple is a lot more guarded when it comes to Siri, but its upshot may be larger. A sizable percentage of the developed world uses iOS, and Apple has taken measures to ensure those of us with iPhones, iPads and now Macs have Siri at the ready. News also suggests Apple is hiring tons of engineers to work on Siri. But as an SDK, Siri is really limited. Only certain types of apps work with it. Even the impressive HomePod can’t handle simple tasks that can be handed off to the iPhone. It’s just not sensible; we hope the rumored drove of engineers Apple is hiring can make it better. All told, ‘ambient computing’ isn’t going away. Even if Alexa jobs slow, they won’t stop. Neither will Google Assistant gigs. Apple has the most to gain in this realm, and if its near-trillion-dollar valuation and hundreds of billions of dollars in the bank tells us anything, it’s that Apple will take full advantage of Siri and A.I. moving forward. Prepare for the A.I. wars (and the need for talent) to continue.