Most bosses want their future employees to have skills in AI

There’s some good news and some bad news for those who will be job seeking in the decade ahead, according to a new report from the ed-tech firm Multiverse. 

First the good news: 42% of respondents in the survey said their organization is either currently or planning to widen hiring criteria to consider candidates for positions that do not have a college degree. And 37% say they plan to adopt a skills-first approach to hiring.

Given the ever-increasing cost of college in the United States and the decades of student loan debt that many Americans have to take on just to get a four-year degree, this is welcome news for those who cannot afford to or don’t see the financial value in going to college. If you can gain in-demand skills another way—say through online boot camps—Multiverse’s survey suggests this will be good enough for over a third of employers.

Now the bad news: The skill that employers in the survey said they most want future employees to have is knowledge of AI. This is bad because, before the rise of ChatGPT last year, the only time the average worker probably gave any thought to AI was when it appeared as a villain in a sci-fi movie. Indeed, a recent survey from LinkedIn revealed that nearly half of employees think they should know more about AI than they do, and 39% have also admitted to pretending they know more about AI in front of their coworkers than they actually do.

But as ChatGPT and other AI systems are increasingly being adopted by workplaces, it’s no wonder employers want prospective job candidates to have knowledge of such tools. Multiverse’s survey reveals that an employee’s knowledge of AI is so paramount to employers that 72% of business leaders say their company will likely invest in an AI skills program to help train employees. Likewise, 83% say their organization is moving quickly on AI skills training.

The takeaway? It’s probably a good idea for workers to start acquainting themselves with AI tools, though most companies aren’t going to expect their employees to have a college degree in artificial intelligence.

Multiverse’s survey was conducted by the Starr Conspiracy in July 2023. Respondents included 1,011 business leaders across 21 industries in the United States and the United Kingdom.