China has hopes of becoming a leader in artificial intelligence, but the industry is suffering from a lack of talent, according to a new report from the South China Morning Post. This shortage of professionals is leading to a bidding war, sources tell the newspaper, in which some technology companies are offering qualified graduates more than three times as much as firms in other sectors.
Baidu, a search engine leader in the country, is reportedly offering machine learning scientists an annual payment package of $220,000, which is more than the likes of even Apple and Google have been prepared to pay out.
Industry-wide, the average salary for graduates entering the AI sector in China is now 35% to 50% higher than for those entering other sectors, Edward Hsu of advisory firm Willis Towers Watson, told the South China Morning Post.
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Overall, China has at least 700 “AI-related companies” but only around 50,000 “practitioners,” stated the report, basing its figures on data from LinkedIn. By comparison, the United States has around 850,000 capable practitioners of artificial intelligence, while India has some 150,000, and Britain holds roughly 140,000. France and Australia each boast about 50,000, the same number as China despite vast population differences.
“The AI talent shortage is expected to be one of the issues that comes up for discussion at the annual closed-door Central Economic Work Conference this month, where members of the ruling Communist Party and government discuss how to implement the vision for a technologically advanced nation set forth earlier this year by President Xi Jinping,” according to the report by Sarah Dai.
In July, the State Council in China proclaimed that it would push to support policies that could help create an AI industry in the country valued at more than 1 trillion yuan by 2030.
Given a similar lack of talent, the related field of Big Data is another area that is offering high salaries to potential employees in mainland China, states a study from Willis Towers Watson and IDG Capital.
(Photo credit: anthonychong / Pixabay)
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