The world needs 'millions' of AI engineers, Judge Tencent

In a report, Tencent considers that artificial intelligence requires the expertise of millions of engineers.

That's a much larger number than the 300,000 specialists currently accounted for by the Chinese company.

Are there enough engineers to support the ambitions of companies in the field of artificial intelligence? No, according to Tencent.

The Chinese company based in Shenzhen has looked into the issue and believes that the job market needs more AI specialists than the current workforce.

The Asian company estimates that the 'researchers and practitioners' specialized in this field of research are about 300 000 in the world. However, the Chinese giant - whose revenues continue to grow, boosted by mobile games - considers that the needs are not covered at all: we would need that 'millions' of individuals make artificial intelligence their theme. predilection.

WAGES ARE EXPECTED

Although this assessment may seem exaggerated, it is nevertheless part of a general trend: technology companies regularly mention the difficulty they have in hiring specialists in this sector. The consequence of this labor shortage is obvious: wages are flying up, sometimes reaching millions of dollars including bonuses of all kinds.

Several industry observers believe that AI can not prevail if it is not adopted by enough companies.

For Tencent, the democratization of this technology must go through an essential step, that of education.

In addition, the Tencent report also speculates on the competition that should be exacerbated internationally as artificial intelligence grows.

The company believes that the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom and China will be key players in this competition. Uncle Sam is already far ahead of his competitors, notes Tencent, because the country has a certain lead and is fortunate to have more universities and specialized startups than its counterparts.

Tencent's observations on the labor market situation concerning AI but also the fact that the Chinese company does not list France as one of the countries that can claim a leading position in this market will perhaps inspire to be the work of Cédric Villani;

indeed, the MP is conducting a mission on artificial intelligence on behalf of the government.

'AI is one of the most important transformations, the most radical in the next ten years,' said Mounir Mahjoubi, Secretary of State for Digital. 'States that succeed in mastering these technologies will have an advantage for the next century,' he added. It is therefore necessary that France is at the rendezvous, especially that 'French research is very active on this subject', according to Cédric Villani.

Moreover, of the 300,000 engineers identified in its report, the company estimates that only 200,000 are actually employed; the others are still in the study phase and are not fully available for the professional market - sometimes they are double-hatted, as are those researchers who want to eradicate biases in the treatments they perform. IA.