India’s advancements in the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI) have helped it establish itself as a dominant presence in the industry. Despite the numerous impressive strides, it seems that the country’s workforce might not be able to meet its requirements even in the near future.
In a recent study, management company Bain & Company claimed that India will need at least 2.3 million AI professionals to meet its workforce demand by 2027. At the current pace, the report highlighted that India will grow to 1.2 million, creating a talent gap of over a million.
“India has a unique opportunity to position itself as a global AI talent hub. However, by 2027, job openings in AI are projected to outstrip the talent pool significantly. The challenge and opportunity lie in reskilling and upskilling existing talent with emerging technologies and AI-driven skill sets,” commented Saikat Banerjee, partner at Bain & Company and leader of its AI, Insights, and Solutions practice in India.
The numbers within the Bain & Company report and Banerjee’s words are clear indicators that India needs to change its strategy when it comes to upskilling in the AI domain. Even today, the gap between the availability of AI professionals and the need of the technology in the working sector has started to create challenges for companies looking to expand their use of AI.
In the Bain & Company report, 44% of the executives claimed that the lack of in-house AI expertise has proved to be one of the major issues when it comes to the implementation of generative AI (GenAI). Other barriers include quality and accuracy concerns, data security and privacy concerns, unorganized company data, and unproven ROI on generative AI.
The rise in the demand of AI professionals is not a new phenomenon. Since 2019, Bain & Company reported an annual increase of 21% in the demand of AI professionals. The rise in compensation of them has increased simultaneously at the rate of 11%.
Bain & Company’s report highlights how Indian employees and employers need to change their approach when it comes to AI upskilling. Given the ample number of opportunities and rising compensation value, the field is becoming more and more attractive by the day. As such, it is high time that India changes its approach to fully captalize on the possibilities that AI’s rise has presented.
“The AI talent shortage is a significant challenge, but not invincible. Addressing it requires a fundamental shift in how businesses attract, develop, and retain AI talent. Companies need to move beyond traditional hiring approaches, prioritise continuous upskilling, and foster an innovation-driven ecosystem,” Banerjee added.
The talent crunch in the AI field is not limited to India. Bain & Company claimed that 50% of AI jobs in the US would be unfulfilled by 2027. Similarly, Germany might see 70% of its demand for AI professionals go unfulfilled. As for UK and Australia, they will likely have around 150,000 and 60,000 positions vacant respectively.
