Russian companies are willing to pay 20% more for AI skills

Over the past year, the number of vacancies mentioning AI has exceeded 4.2 thousand, which is 4% more than in 2023. In a number of industries, the growth turned out to be significantly higher — in some cases, more than twice. Specialists with skills in using artificial intelligence technologies are still at the peak of popularity, according to a joint study by TECNO and hh.ru , which was reviewed by Izvestia on April 28.

This dynamic indicates an increasing business interest in AI projects and an increase in the number of tasks related to its implementation. The IT industry (more than 1,700), the financial sector (about 1 thousand) and the education sector (more than 300) remain particularly active in this direction. At the same time, the number of vacancies with AI competencies in development increased by 136%, in education - by 101%, and in the financial sector — by 55%.

"Interest in AI in Russia continues to grow — from 2021 to 2024, the share of companies using such technologies increased from 20% to 43%, and more and more solutions are being implemented in real industries: retail, logistics, finance, industry," explained Evgeny Rybkin, Product Marketing Manager at TECNO.

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He added that this is also reflected in the labor market — today, vacancies are increasingly appearing that require skills in working with AI and understanding its practical application. Companies are looking for specialists who can not only develop, but also adapt technologies to specific business tasks.

According to the Director of Research hh.ru Maria Ignatova, automation is one of the main challenges of the near future.

"We also see this in how actively employers are implementing HR products that take the routine off the shoulders of human resources workers and automate hiring. In the coming years, the number of able—bodied people will not grow dramatically, so the best way to develop is to increase labor productivity, automation and robotization," she said.

However, according to Ignatova, it is too early to talk about how the introduction of AI will completely solve the problems of personnel starvation. At the same time, the expert recognizes that employers who implement automation are indeed the first to gain efficiency gains and can reallocate valuable employees to more complex tasks that cannot be solved using a robot.

The most popular professions today are AI engineers, neural network specialists, AI designers, AI solution integrators, neuro-art artists, and AI trainers. The latter are especially in demand: demand for them increased by 46% over the year. Among the tools that employers believe candidates should be able to work with are ChatGPT (69%), Midjourney (31%) and Kandinsky (19%). Every third company in Russia records an increase in interest in AI competencies among employees. At the same time, 10% of employers are ready to increase the salaries of specialists who own AI tools by 10-20%. Almost half of the companies also invest in employee development through mentoring, specialized courses, and certifications.

According to experts, the demand for specialists in such fields as generative AI, LLM, MLOps and video analytics will continue to grow in the coming years. It is expected that the requirements for candidates' skills will become more specific, and routine tasks will gradually be redistributed between people and algorithms.

Earlier, on April 25, the head of the AI department of the provider of cloud and AI technologies Cloud.ru Dmitry Yudin told Izvestia about the benefits of AI services at work. According to the data Cloud.ru In 62% of companies from different industries, according to the employees surveyed, AI is used centrally: employers pay for services and proactively introduce technology into business processes. The industry leading the introduction of such technologies is transport and logistics (73% of companies use AI centrally), followed by insurance and finance (63%), retail (60%), real estate and construction (60%).