AI is becoming more commonly integrated into the South African business world.
The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) is expected to eventually displace many jobs, but the outlook for South Africa's new job market is that emerging technologies have seen a rise in the number of AI specialists and professionals over the past 12 months. It shows the increasing demand for.
This is one of the key findings of the first edition of online job portal Pnet's monthly job market trends report, released this week.
This report reviews SA recruitment activity and regional employment trends based on Pnet's online job advertising data and aggregated candidate data obtained from online recruitment platform The Stepstone Group South Africa.
Each edition of the report analyzes the most in-demand jobs and job categories, provides a snapshot of specific roles, uncovers demographic data that helps recruiters plan their hiring, and provides job seekers with a snapshot of the most in-demand jobs. Let us know what's happening locally. job market.
According to the report, it is becoming common for AI to be incorporated into the South African business world, either as part of customer-facing products and services or internally. As a result of this growing trend, AI specialists and experts are increasingly sought after by organizations in a variety of sectors.
Looking at trends over the past 12 months, the top three in-demand AI roles are data scientist (29%), data analyst (24%), and data engineer (16%).
Other jobs requiring AI skills include software developers (11%), machine learning specialists (9%), business analysts (4%), sales professionals (4%), and IT architects (3%), according to Pnet. %) is.
“AI is no longer just a buzzword…it is changing the world, especially the world of business, at an exponential rate,” says Anja Bates, Head of Data at Pnet. “While many people are still wary of AI, the reality is that most of us already use it on a daily basis.
“AI may seem like a distant and mysterious technology, but we are already beginning to embrace it and benefit from it in our daily lives.
“When analyzing job openings for AI candidates, the report reveals that strong skills in programming, data science, statistics, analytics, and machine learning are important in the AI field.”
Distribution of AI jobs over the past 12 months.
Mr Bates gave examples of how ordinary South Africans use AI every day, including personalized online advertising, online search engines such as Google, chatbots/digital assistants such as Siri and Waze, and online shopping. I am listing it.
AI is shaking up South Africa's software developer market, according to the 2024 South Africa Report: State of the Software Development Nation, published last month by developer employment market OfferZen, with the majority of software developers surveyed cited AI as their favorite industry.
According to OfferZen, employment of software developers in SA has fallen by 5% in the past 12 months, but AI is expected to boost job placements in the industry.
Anja Bates, Head of Data at Pnet, said:
An International Monetary Fund report released in January found that AI will have ripple effects across the global economy, impacting 40% of jobs in emerging markets and 26% of jobs in low-income countries. Ta. Furthermore, we found that half of the jobs affected by AI will be negatively affected, while the remaining jobs could greatly benefit from the productivity gains that AI brings.
AI adoption in South Africa remains at a low level compared to global peers, but the rapidly evolving landscape recognizes the critical role of AI in taking efficiency to new levels and increasing productivity. Pnet points out that more and more companies are looking to develop their skills, leading to an increased demand for new local skills.
Last year, SA released ChatGPT, a chatbot developed by OpenAI, followed by a number of similar open source AI models. Experts say further advancements and further adoption of AI tools are expected this year.
Generative AI and AI are expected to be transformative technologies in SA, with benefits felt in multiple sectors, including healthcare, education, finance, and agriculture, among others. This is according to a research report compiled by global consulting firm Boston Consulting Group in partnership with Microsoft SA and Wits Business School.
According to research firm Statista, SA's AI market is expected to reach $3.18 billion in 2024. The compound annual growth rate is projected to reach 18.35% between 2024 and 2030, and as a result, the SA market is expected to reach $8.74 billion by 2030.
“Over the past five years, we have seen an incredible 182% increase in AI job openings,” says Bates.
Pnet notes that Gauteng has the highest number of AI employment opportunities (63%), followed by the Western Cape (19%), with the majority of local AI employment opportunities (8%) not reflecting a specific geographical location. doing.
Top 5 AI skills in demand in South Africa.
