According to a study, 92% of employers in the Asia Pacific region believe that their organizations will be AI-driven by 2028. 

Amazon Web Services (AWS) and business management consultancy firm Access Partnership have released a study titled Accelerating AI Skills: Preparing the Asia-Pacific Workforce for Jobs of the Future. The study surveyed close to 15,000 workers and nearly 5,000 organizations across nine countries in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region. 

The results of the study have shown that workers who acquire skills related to artificial intelligence (AI) can expect substantial benefits in return. According to the study, APAC employers are actually willing to pay a salary premium of over 33% for workers with AI skills. 

The figure, however, depends on the department. The study shows that workers in the following departments could experience a salary increase if they acquire AI skills: 

• IT – 44% salary increase
• Research and Development – 41% salary increase
• Sales and Marketing – 39% salary increase
• Finance – 37% salary increase
• Legal – 33% salary increase
• Human Resources – 33% salary increase

2024 Work Trend Index

This substantial benefit will undoubtedly encourage workers to acquire the necessary AI skills and expertise. In fact, 83% of workers surveyed have also expressed their desire to acquire these skills to advance their careers. 

These findings from AWS are consistent with those from Microsoft and LinkedIn’s 2024 Work Trend Index. The 2024 Work Trend Index shows that LinkedIn has seen a 142x increase in members adding AI skills to their profiles last year. 

In particular, the following industries have the greatest percentage of members who added AI aptitude skills to their LinkedIn profiles:

• Administrative and Support Services – 16%
• Real Estate – 15%
• Entertainment Providers – 13%
• Retail – 11%
• Professional Services – 10%
• Construction – 10%
• Technology, Information, and Media – 10%
• Hospitality – 10%
• Consumer Services – 10%
• Wholesale – 9%

How to Obtain AI Skills

Workers interested in acquiring more AI skills, knowledge, and expertise have different ways they can go about learning more about AI. One approach is taking online courses and programs related to AI. 

Open online course provider Coursera, in particular, has launched a total of seven generative AI courses, specializations, and certificates that workers can take to upskill. 

• Generative AI for Software Development Skills Certificate from DeepLearning.AI
• Programming with Generative AI course from IIT Guwahati
• Artificial Intelligence Graduate Certificate from the University of Colorado Boulder
• Generative AI in Marketing Specialization from UVA Darden 
• Responsible Generative AI Specialization from University of Michigan 
• Change Management for Generative AI course from Vanderbilt University
• Generative AI for Kids, Parents, and Teachers course from Vanderbilt University 

Coursera also has enhanced eight entry-level Professional Certifications with updates related to generative AI. These Professional Certificates are as follows:

• Data Analyst from IBM
• Data Engineering from IBM
• Data Science from IBM
• Full Stack Software Developer from IBM
• Cybersecurity Analyst from Microsoft
• Power BI Data Analyst from Microsoft
• Marketing Analytics from Meta
• Social Media Marketing from Meta

Courses, specializations, and certificates available on Coursera and other online learning platforms may require a fee. If this proves to be costly for some interested workers, there are other ways to acquire AI skills and knowledge. 

There are efforts by the government, private companies, and industry groups to upskill workers in AI. In fact, an AI Council was set up early this year to help workers upskill in generative AI.