It’s hard to imagine a world in the future where artificial intelligence (AI) doesn’t play a large role in the way we live and work. By drastically reducing the time it takes us to complete tasks, it is set to disrupt almost every industry on Earth.
As the AI industry grows, so too does the opportunity to make a living working with AI. The industry offers a number of incredible, diverse career paths, and there couldn’t be a better time to get started.
Here are 10 of the highest paying AI jobs and careers you can pursue in 2023 and beyond.
1. AI Entrepreneur
Average salary: Broke to billionaire and everywhere in between.
An AI entrepreneur identifies problems in the world and creates an AI-powered solution to solve them.
For example, Tome is an AI tool that saves you time by creating slide deck presentations for you. It just raised $43m at a $300m valuation, making the entrepreneurs that created the tool very rich indeed.
2023 is a turning point for AI, where ordinary folks with no coding experience can create AI-powered products. To get you started on your AI entrepreneurship journey, here are 100+ business ideas that you can start today using AI tools.
2. AI Product Manager
Average salary (in the US): $183,088 / year
An AI Product Manager is a person who leads and guides a team to build an AI-based solution.
For example, let’s say Amazon wants to create an AI-powered chatbot for its customer service. To make this product, Amazon will need AI developers to build the machine learning models, a graphic designer to design the user interface and how it will look, and a customer service expert who knows what questions are regularly asked. It’s a complex task that involves lots of people, and will need someone to manage the project and make sure it is delivered to a high standard, within budget, and on time. Hello Product Manager.
An AI Product Manager has expertise in deep learning and machine learning, and knows how AI techniques can be used to solve any given problem. They will be able to determine exactly how an existing product can be improved by using machine learning.
The ideal candidate
- Expert level knowledge in deep learning / machine learning.
- A great motivator and communicator.
- You love innovating and experimenting.
- Leadership skills: You have to guide your team, and sometimes even micromanage them.
- Loves to analyze: Identifies and defines the metrics that will show whether your product is working.
- Extremely proactive.
3. AI Research Scientist
Average salary (in the US): $160,708 / year
An AI Research Scientist asks new and creative questions that can be answered by AI. They work on cutting-edge research projects and develop new AI technologies that businesses can use to improve their processes.
It is the job of an AI Research Scientist to push the boundaries of what is possible with AI. Before a company invests millions into developing a new tool or product, it is the research scientists who prove their viability. For example, AI tools that detect anomalies in medical scans will be heavily researched by AI Research Scientists before being deployed by companies in the real world.
The ideal candidate
- You are literally a mad scientist.
- You are as curious as they come. You are consistently questioning why things are the way they are, and how they can be improved.
- You are persistent and tenacious and don’t give up after experiencing setbacks.
- A deep understanding of machine learning, data science, and AI algorithms is non-negotiable.
4. AI Sales
Average salary (in the US): $100,000-200,000 (mostly based on performance)
When a company has created an AI solution, they need a team of talented sales people to find customers and sell it to them.
For example, let’s say a company has created an AI product that listens to team meetings and summarizes the meeting and sends notes to everyone after the call. An AI sales specialist will find businesses and give demos to persuasively demonstrate how this AI tool can improve that team’s productivity.
People in sales are mostly rewarded with commissions, so if you are talented at selling AI tools, you will be handsomely rewarded.
The ideal candidate
- You’re an extrovert with a silver tongue.
- You’re persuasive.
- You quickly understand complex topics and can explain them in simple terms.
5. Natural Language Processing Expert
Average salary (in the US): $137,266 / year
Natural Language Processing (NLP) is the process of taking sentences and forming some kind of understanding and comprehension from it. An NLP expert can take unstructured speech and text and turn it into something that a computer can understand.
For example, Alexa and Siri listen to what you say and use NLP algorithms to turn it into something they can understand. They generate their response, and then use another NLP algorithm to provide the answer in language that you can understand.
It’s NLP that allows these tools and many others (like ChatGPT) to create responses that look, sound, and feel as if a human has made them.
The ideal candidate
- You’ll need a love for linguistics and a fondness for fancy algorithms.
- A deep understanding of the complexities of human language.
- You’ll need to be a computer science and coding wizz.
- Experience with programming languages such as Python and Java.
- Being creative and innovative won’t hurt.
6. Machine Learning Engineer
Average salary (in the US): $132,076 / year
A machine learning engineer creates models that can analyze large datasets to make predictions.
Uber uses machine learning to predict how long it will take your driver to arrive outside your door. Netflix uses machine learning algorithms to personalize recommendations to each user based on viewing preferences. Amazon uses machine learning to power its product recommendations. You get the gist.
The ideal candidate
- Algorithms get you going.
- You’re a maths wizard. Algebra, calculus, and statistics are your life.
- You’re a coding ninja. You have experience programming with languages such as Python, R and Scala.
7. AI Software Engineer
Average salary (in the US): $127,442 / year
An AI Software Engineer designs and develops software applications that use AI and machine learning techniques.
For example, an AI software engineer might work on developing computer vision algorithms for use in self-driving cars. Google’s AI software engineers will be developing and improving the company’s AI-powered virtual assistant as we speak.
The ideal candidate
- You love identifying problems and thinking of clever ways to solve them.
- Background in computer science or engineering.
- You speak in code and have experience with programming languages such as Python, Java and C++.
8. AI Consultant
Average salary (in the US): $124,677 / year
An AI consultant advises businesses on how AI and machine learning can be applied into their operations to improve efficiency, reduce costs and increase revenue.
Let’s say a marketing team writes thousands of emails every single day reaching out to prospective and existing customers. That team could use AI email-writing tools like Hoppy Copy to drastically reduce the time it takes for their team to write emails. An AI consultant would show that business how to implement AI technologies like this, and might even train the employees on how to use it effectively.
The ideal candidate
- Strong understanding of AI tools, machine learning and data analysis.
- Communicates complex concepts in simple terms.
- Analytical mindset with a passion for problem-solving.
- Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal.
9. AI Data Analyst
Average salary (in the US): $113,210 / year
Companies collect a lot of data. About 2.5 quintillion bytes of data are collected every day. I don’t even know what that means, but it sounds like a lot.
It’s the job of Data Analysts to interpret that data to provide insights into custom behavior, market trends, and other useful information. An AI Data Analyst leverages artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms to help derive those insights and automate data-driven decision-making.
The ideal candidate
- Part Sherlock Holmes, part mathemetician.
- You have a passion for numbers, and are comfortable with large amounts of data.
- You have a creative approach to problem-solving.
- You’re irritably curious. You want to understand and explain everything.
10. User Experience Specialist
Average salary (in the US): $80,000 / year
A user experience (UX) specialist makes things look nice and intuitive to use. They get into the mind of the user and understand what it takes to make a tool or platform easy to understand.
When you go on Netflix or Instagram, you don’t need a tutorial on how to navigate and use the platform. That is because they have been designed by UX experts to be easy to use.
A UX specialist in the AI industry will help companies that are developing AI-powered products to design tools and platforms so your grandma could use it.
The ideal candidate
- You have the eye of an artist, the mind of a scientist, and the heart of a passionate user.
- You have a creative flair and a natural talent for design.
- You are empathetic and can put yourself in the shoes of your users.
- Experience with UX design tools like Sketch and Adobe XD.
