Can learning artificial intelligence (A.I.) skills boost your salary?

A new study by Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Access Partnership found that employers “are willing to pay an average of 47 percent more for IT workers with A.I. skills.” Employees specializing in everything from finance and business operations to sales and marketing saw similar boosts. (The study surveyed 3,297 employees and 1,340 organizations in the U.S.)

Moreover, 93 percent of employers and 86 percent of employees “expect to use generative A.I. within the next five years to increase innovation and creativity, automate repetitive tasks, and boost learning.”

Generative A.I. is already finding its way into many organizations. For example, a recent report by the newly launched Upwork Research Institute found that 62 percent of business leaders were using generative A.I. for research, while 40 percent were relying on it for coding. There’s also an increased emphasis on training: Online learning platform Udemy noted a 5,226 percent increase in ChatGPT-related learning in the first few months of 2023, and generalized A.I.-related skills learning on Udemy Business has risen by 60 percent year-over-year, according to its 2024 Learning & Skills Trend Report. 

Learning some types of A.I. skills could enable you to earn an extraordinarily high salary. Earlier this year, for instance, a Netflix posting for a machine learning product manager job listed the salary range at $300,000 to $900,000, and the streamer’s other A.I. and machine-learning jobs can pay as much as $750,000. Amazon, Upwork, Google, and other companies all pay generous six-figure salaries for A.I. talent, according to one recent breakdown. 

But even if you don’t want to become an A.I. specialist, A.I. tools will surely find their way into your workflow. If you’re a software engineer or developer, stay aware of the no- and low-code tools that could fundamentally change how you do your job. Learning “prompt engineering” may also unlock opportunities.