Top Investments in AI Talent by Big Techs in Recent Years

As technology advances further, numerous companies are realizing the effectiveness of artificial intelligence and investing more in its implementation. The implementation does not necessarily mean adoption rather they are trying to advance each and every aspect of AI. One significant area where even big techs are not leaving loops open is AI talent.

Big corporations across every sector, from retail to agriculture, are trying to integrate machine learning into their products. At the same time, there is an acute shortage of AI talent. This combination is fueling a heated race to scoop up top AI startups, many of which are still in the early stages of research and funding.

Moreover, a report by Paysa indicates that US companies across all industries are investing US$1.35 billion in AI talent. The study looked at AI talent-hiring trends from April 2017 through September 2017. The results of this study underscore major investment and hiring trends in AI technology — demonstrating that momentum is continuing to build as businesses across every sector incorporate AI technology into products, solutions, and services.

However, with time the hunger for acquiring great AI talents has also risen among big techs. It is expected that the investment will eventually raise more through 2020 as well.

According to the Paysa study, these are the top 10 companies that are heavily investing in hiring AI talent.

• Amazon: US $305,832,434

• Microsoft: US$124,062,524

• Apple: US$105,371,161

• Google: US$33,567,049

• Inuit: US$28,344,107

• Facebook: US$22,948,321

• NVIDIA: US$22,295,391

• Booz Allen Hamilton: US$21,863,372

• Oracle: US$17,199,495

• GE: US$16,550,125

Although, the investment amount has risen in past 2 years yet the fact is intact that aforementioned companies are in the race to achieve the greatest for their success and business expansion.

In 2018, the University of Cambridge collaborated with Microsoft to help tackle the problem of 'brain drain' in AI and machine learning research. The software giant is helping increase AI research capacity and capability at Cambridge by supporting visiting researchers, postdoctoral researchers, Ph.D. students and interns from the UK, EU and beyond. The organizations said a shortage of skills in AI and machine learning has led to many large tech companies recruiting from academia, leaving behind a shortage in research and teaching capacity at universities.

According to a May 2019 report, Microsoft is investing in certification and training for a range of AI-related skills in partnership with the education provider General Assembly. The goal is to train some 15,000 people by 2022 in order to increase the pool of AI talent around the world. The training will focus on AI, machine learning, data science, cloud and data engineering and more. In the new program's first year, Microsoft will focus on training 2,000 workers to transition to an AI and machine learning role. And over the full three years, it will train an additional 13,000 workers with AI-related skills.

Moreover, as Apple poached a senior Alphabet executive to head its AI efforts, Microsoft created a pair of new AI teams and Amazon.com hired every machine learning expert it can get its hands on, perhaps the biggest question to ask isn't how such moves put one tech giant's AI efforts ahead of another's, but rather how their massive investments in this space are leaving many other companies — both within tech and elsewhere — on the outside looking in.

All of these efforts are being enabled by a hiring spree that has contributed to a major shortage of AI talent.