AI aptitude could be a career differentiator

No matter your thoughts on AI, the tech’s growing influence on the world of work can’t be disputed. The arrival of ChatGPT late last year has brought the power of AI into the public domain, presenting a way to automate tasks and bolster output across nearly every industry.

Being able to get the most out of the technology could not only increase your productivity, but differentiate yourself from the uninitiated, and help future-proof your career. And for professionals dedicated to the art of teasing out the right content from an AI model, it could even spell a six-figure salary – with no coding skills or computer degree required.

• Four in five leaders (82%) say employees they hire will need new skills to be prepared for the growth of AI, according to Microsoft’s 2023 Work Trend Index report
• AI prompt engineers could command salaries well over $300,000
• Soft skills – such as communication and critical thinking – could be the key to unlocking AI

A growing market for AI-savvy professionals

Microsoft’s 2023 Work Trend Index report found that over four in five leaders (82%) say employees they hire will need new skills to be prepared for the growth of AI. Furthermore, the report recommends that every employee needs an AI aptitude. Whether or not you agree with that sentiment, it’s becoming increasingly clear that a familiarity with AI will be beneficial – if not necessary – for many future jobs.

ChatGPT alone has already made its mark on the hiring market. According to TIME, the number of job postings containing “GPT” rose by 51% between 2021 and 2022, while Microsoft’s report states that, as of March 2023, the number of US job postings citing GPT are already up 79% year-over-year.

Does this mean that everybody needs to be a crack coder or AI evangelist? Not at all – the intuitive nature of a large language model (LLM) like ChatGPT means that there’s no technical requirement to start leveraging the technology. In fact, soft skills such as emotional intelligence and analytical judgement may be the key to unlocking AI’s potential.

Let’s say, however, you want to take your AI communications to the next level – what’s next? Some organisations are looking for prompt engineers; professionals who can coax the most valuable content from a generative AI model.
 

What is a prompt engineer, and how do you become one?

AI prompt engineering is an emerging job field – one which could pay well over $300,000 to those with the right background. Google-backed AI start-up, Anthropic, is currently advertising a “Prompt Engineer and Librarian” role with an expected salary reaching $375,000. These roles go beyond the preserve of tech companies though; Boston Children’s Hospital and law firm Mischcon de Reya have also been listing prompt engineer vacancies.

“It’s probably the fastest-moving IT market I’ve worked in for 25 years,” says Mark Standen, Intelligent Automation Practice Director at Hays. “Salaries start at £40,000, but we’ve got candidates on our database looking for £200,000 to £300,000 a year. Expert prompt engineers can name their price.”

Aside from lucrative earnings, what makes prompt engineering unique is the lack of technical skills typically required in tech. Despite – or perhaps partly due to – AI’s inherent technicality, many of the skills needed to manipulate an AI model to your advantage are soft: communication, critical thinking, and emotional intelligence, for example. Rather than coding in a desired response, prompt engineers enact a kind of role-play between themselves and the AI model; manipulating language to create the narrative they desire.

Looking forward, it’s unclear how long prompt engineer roles will continue to exist as AI models advance and become more attuned to users’ requests. I’m yet to be convinced that there will be a longer term ongoing need for ‘AI Whisperers’ who can hack the system to get a desired result. After all, it’s in everyone’s interest to make the tool as user friendly as possible, and the technology is only in its infancy at present. When search engines first emerged, it took the public a while to learn how to use them effectively, but it’s second nature to us all today.

With that being said, getting a head start with ubiquitous AI tools such as Bard and ChatGPT – which are unlikely to disappear anytime soon – will only aid your employability and keep you ahead of the curve. Here’s how to get started:
 

Asking AI the right questions

Believe it or not, there’s an art to using ChatGPT. Sure, it’s easy to simply type the first question that enters your head, but putting greater thought into your prompts could yield more accurate and human-like results. So how do you go about getting the answers you’re looking for?

• Be specific: while generative AI-powered chatbots like ChatGPT are growing in sophistication every day, they still have their limitations – such as (to date) not being able to read your mind. Planning out a series of questions and qualifiers can be beneficial, and you can even instruct a chatbot to behave in a certain way to produce the desired result. Don’t be afraid to ask an AI model to use a certain tone of voice, structural technique, or level of formality.
• Practice: it’s worth spending time playing around with a chatbot’s capabilities and using the tool to create different forms of content, from marketing emails to sales pitches. In many cases, it’s unlikely that your first prompt will hit the mark. Through trial and error though, you’ll gradually begin to squeeze out the specifics you’re looking for, all the while learning how to get the answers you require faster.
• Fact-check: the more you use a particular AI tool, the more you’ll start to notice the cracks appear; repetitive phrasing, a lack of coherence, or even inaccuracies. Learning how to spot the latter is particularly important, and you should consider cross-referencing any facts, figures or statements that seem out of place, or potentially biased. Additionally, you can also ask the model to provide you with sources that support any of its claims.
  There’s far more to generative AI models than these points alone allude to, but they’re a solid starting point for tuning the output you’re looking for.
   

Make AI work for your career

Whether you’re looking to break into prompt engineering or simply level up some of your day-to-day work processes, having an AI aptitude will help future-proof your career. While your job may not be at risk from AI itself, those with a greater understanding of AI tools might be better placed to reach the latest employment opportunities. In the future, we may all become a kind of prompt engineer – getting to grips with the likes of ChatGPT and other AI tools could be a wise investment.

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