Artificial intelligence job growth crashed because of the coronavirus, but it's starting to pick back up. Here's what you need to know about the job market and how to pick up skills (LNKD)

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• As the coronavirus crisis has shrunk the job market in general, AI job growth has slowed too.
• Both LinkedIn and ZipRecruiter saw a decrease in AI job posting growth since mid-March, but there are signs that AI job growth could bounce back — maybe even stronger than before. 
• There are a handful of online resources for those curious to pick-up AI expertise or skills. 
• Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

Artificial intelligence has been one of the hottest areas of tech and the economy in the last few years, and AI job growth has reflected that: AI roles ranked at the top of LinkedIn’s Job Of Tomorrow report in December, and the World Economic Forum estimated in January that 16% of new jobs would be in AI. 

Then came the COVID-19 pandemic and corresponding economic downturn, which led to up to 40 million US jobs disappearing. How is the “job of tomorrow” faring now? New data from job boards shows that while the number of AI jobs is still growing, that growth has slowed dramatically during the coronavirus crisis. 

On Monday, LinkedIn released new research showing that growth in the number of AI jobs openings has slowed, and the growth in applications for available jobs has dropped even more sharply. 

“Our analysis shows that no sector of the labor market is fully immune to the impact of downturns, but some have proven to be more resilient than others — the AI specialist role is a key example,” sai d Guy Berger, principal economist at LinkedIn. “Scarcity of these workers continues to give them bargaining power.” 

Between January 6 and March 15, before the realities of COVID-19 had fully settled in, AI job listings on LinkedIn were growing 14% year-over-year. Then, from March 16 to May 24, as US shelter-in-place orders started to take effect, AI job growth slowed to 4.6% year-over-year. 

AI job applications slowed too: Applications were growing 50.8% year-over-year before the pandemic, and only 30.2% after. 

The more dramatic slow-down in applications “suggests that candidates in that job market may be playing it safe during a period of uncertainty,” wrote Jenny Ying, a senior data scientist at LinkedIn, on the company’s blog.

The jobs that LinkedIn studied – which had AI or ML (for machine learning) in the title – typically have “a very high bar for candidates,” Ying wrote, adding that most new hires transition from existing, in-demand tech jobs, such as software engineering jobs or data science roles, Ying says. 

Some employers believe that the coronavirus will actually lead to increased applicants, as some AI startups crumble during the crisis. 

“C3.ai continues to hire exceptional data scientists and AI professionals,” says Tom Siebel, CEO of C3.ai, which posted billboards on Bay Area highways late last year advertising its hiring. “We expect to see the current trend of increased applicant interest accelerate as the recession and market uncertainty shake out second and third-tier AI startups and larger corporations continue to defund internally developed AI projects.”

As Siebel mentions, some companies that planned AI expansion may pause those goals. 

“The experimental long-term stuff will have to wait,” says Julia Pollak, a labor economist at ZipRecruiter, an online job board. “The goal for businesses right now is survival, not exploring new markets, new products, and new technologies.”

ZipRecruiter saw AI job postings drop to 582 the week of April 26, from 1,798 the week of January 19. As of last week, new job AI job postings have crept back up to 810. 

Both LinkedIn and ZipRecruiter believe AI job growth will bounce back.

“In the long term, however, COVID-19 could actually boost the adoption of AI,” says Pollak. “With more shopping, working, learning, exercising, and entertainment taking place online, companies will have even more user data at their fingertips. The companies that figure out how best to use it will be at a distinct advantage in the future.” 

Similarly, LinkedIn’s Ying wrote that AI is increasingly becoming “a tool in the toolbox for solving business problems, with expertise spread throughout people in many different roles at a company.” 

With that in mind, AI skills could be useful for anyone that wants to make their resume more marketable. Online training site deeplearning.ai said that interest in its courses is booming. 

“Over the past few months, we’ve seen a large influx of students trying to up-skill and adapt ahead of the curve,” said Ortal Arel, the company’s director of partnerships.

Here are other resources for job-seekers interested in picking up AI expertise or skills during the quarantine: 

• Take a free, seven-week machine learning course at Harvard, or pay $200 to get a certificate upon completion. 
• Take a $50 introduction to AI online from deeplearning.ai. Many more advanced classes and a forum for students are also available. 
• Take a six-week course on using AI in business strategy and earn a certificate from the business school of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
• Put AI to work for you as a job-seeker by understanding how tech companies use algorithms to find applicants. 
• Look into AI jobs in the five states where the industry is booming fastest. 
• Take AI classes on LinkedIn where you can also build your network and apply for openings. 
• Learn how to apply artificial intelligence in the Salesforce system by taking any of 100 AI classes on Trailhead, the company’s free online learning academy. 

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