A new survey from LinkedIn has shed light on employee's scramble to be seen as AI-savvy, as the emerging technology takes hold and becomes more common place at work.

Among the skills we're adding to our profiles, ‘Question Answering', ‘Classification' and ‘Computer Vision' were all among the top AI-related skills mentioned.

We explain just what these mean, and why having AI skills is seen as vital to employers in 2023.

If these terms don't mean much to you, then don't panic too much, there's still time to catch up. Maybe it's time to sign up for a free AI training course?

Question Answering is an AI model that can, as you might expect, receive a question from a user in human language, interrogate a database, and respond with the correct answer.

Classification in AI relates to how models group and sort data, anything from recognising the difference between a spam email and a legitimate one, to much more complex sorting, such identifying hate speech one a social media platform.

Recommender Systems, as the name suggests can be used to make recommendations to people. One of the most common, everyday examples you'll see of this is on Amazon, where data about individuals browsing and shopping habits are fed into the algorithm, and used to suggest products that the user may be interested in.

Computer Vision is the process by which AI makes sense of images, video, audio and so on, and extracts relevant information from them. You have probably come across this when searching your image gallery for a certain photo. Search for the term ‘cat', and you'll be presented with all the snaps you've taken of furry felines, as AI can identify in the images.

Natural Language Processing, or NLP, is one of the core components of AI platforms such as ChatGPT. It's the ability to understand prompts and commands written in human language.

AI Skills as a Recruitment Tool

While AI in the workplace is still a relatively young concept, the effect it has had on companies in that short space of time can't be understated.

In its survey, LinkedIn consulted with executives, and found that AI is very much at the forefront of their minds. 44% stated that they intend to increase their use of AI in their organizations in the next year. 47% also agreed that using generative AI would increase productivity.

However, despite the negative predictions earlier in the year about huge job losses as a result of AI, even from Open AI CEO, Sam Altman, only 4% of those surveyed claimed they would reassess roles and reduce headcount as a result of AI.

AI's Impact Will Vary Depending on Industry

In its study, LinkedIn notes that while the scope for AI and what it can help workers achieve is huge, the effects won't be universal.

For example, LinkedIn gives on example of a teacher. It estimates that 45% of a teacher's role could be complemented with generative AI, through tasks such as lesson planning, training and curriculum development. However, it also argues that more than half a teachers time is spent working with students, which an AI is unlikely to be able to replicate.

Conversely, LinkedIn also gives the example of software engineer roles, which it argues could be augmented up to 96% with AI. With the vast majority of coding time removed, engineers could spent more time developing new skills and learning new systems.

LinkedIn's picture of AI in the workplace is generally positive. Employers want it, employees can learn it, and it will afford everyone more time. If you've got any AI skills in your back pocket, we'd suggest adding them to your LinkedIn profile, and if you've yet to jump into the world of AI, check out a free course.