Attracting artificial intelligence talent in the time of generative AI

Public statements by leading AI researchers and recognizable people in the computer world are suggesting that AI may soon replace many jobs, including software engineers. Some even state that soon, AI will be smarter than us. We believe such statements are unhelpful when it comes to attracting talent to our field. We document several such statements. We believe that the future need for AI talent is tremendous and that we should take extreme efforts to attract students to our field. We present a sample of the expected opportunities and needs. Some of these opportunities may be attractive to students who in the past may not have considered AI as a career option. We argue that even with the anticipated automation of AI work, there nevertheless will be a prodigious need for talent to develop good AI. We summarize work that argues that AI is going to be a fundamental skill and as such should be introduced to learners across many age groups and many backgrounds. We suggest that a well-reasoned statement of the anticipated needs be developed by experts in our field and communicated to future talent. We suggest that, as part of this message, pathways forward toward developing AI talent across a wide range of backgrounds be developed and communicated.