AI is set to transform hiring requirements: Report

“AI is transforming the way we work, creating new opportunities for innovation and growth, while simultaneously posing unprecedented challenges, especially when it comes to talent,” Ken Englund, EY Americas Technology, Media and Telecommunications Leader, said in a statement. “Our recent pulse poll demonstrates that technology companies generally have a positive sentiment toward the next productivity wave. There’s a lot of excitement at these companies in terms of how they will successfully apply their own industry tools to themselves.”

AI’s impact: A double-edged sword for workplace culture

This survey paints a nuanced picture of the impact of AI on workplace culture. While 72% of respondents reported their employees are using AI at least daily in the workplace, with top use cases being coding and software development (51%), data analysis (51%), and internal and external communication (47%), the poll also highlighted many concerns related to regulation.

Nearly half of the respondents said they believe more regulation is needed, particularly regarding potential AI-generated bias (48%), privacy protection (48%), and safeguarding intellectual property rights (47%).

Interestingly, though many leaders report concerns about AI and believe that more regulation is needed around this technology, most technology business leaders (85%) believe that emerging technology has had a positive impact on their workplace culture,” the report added.

The EY report also found that despite these challenges and red flags, AI investment showed no sign of abating, with 82% of tech leaders planning to increase their AI investment next year. “From a hiring standpoint, tech leaders are focused on investing in specific roles, such as cybersecurity analysts (69%), data scientists (68%) and AI engineers (68%),” the statement said.

The report also noted that to help their employees navigate the complexities of the AI landscape, business leaders are deploying multiple strategies to support and upskill them. “Nearly two-thirds of technology business leaders (64%) say their company has put internal development programs in place to help employees keep pace with rapidly changing generative AI (GenAI). Three out of four technology business leaders (76%) say they have implemented internal technical certifications to help employees keep pace with GenAI,” the EY report based on the poll said.