00:00 Speaker A
Anthony, you released your monthly employment report for November. There are a lot of data points here, so let's start there. There are many indicators, but perhaps it starts with a high level of need. Anthony, what is the big message that you think this report sends about where we are in terms of the relationship between AI and labor demand?
00:27 anthony
Well, we've been running this report for four months now, and I think there are two trends that have persisted throughout this report. That's, you know, something we're very optimistic about. One is to create. As we know, AI is creating new demand for AI skills. That's not surprising at all, right? Machine learning is up 16% this month, and quality assurance and engineering testing is up 19%. So maybe that's expected. But what's really interesting is that on top of that, there's a really enduring demand for creative skills. Like graphs, graphic design was the number one AI-related skill this month. Well, top 3 video editing, video editing related skills, top 3 of the top 10 skills. So really this layer of human creativity at the end of what AI can generate is, you know, a huge demand for that perpetual demand.
01:23 Speaker A
Anthony, I'd like to expand a little bit on one data point that you mentioned earlier. Why is quality assurance testing increasing by 19%? What does this tell Anthony about the reliability of AI?
01:41 anthony
I think that's consistent with what everyone experiences every day, right? This is where AI can make these truly magical things happen. It can integrate a lot of information and convey it in a very vivid way. But is it really ready for prime time? The same goes when writing code. This shows that you can generate a lot of code, but do you really need a human touch to make sure this is accurate? What are the bugs? Is this code doing what you intended?
02:12 Speaker A
Here's another statistic that I thought stood out to me. Anthony, in this report of yours, 85% of companies say AI literacy is becoming increasingly important. What exactly does that mean? AI literacy?
02:29 anthony
Yeah, I think this is a really interesting statistic. This comes from a survey of companies that we conduct. As you know, this statistic has roughly gone up from around the mid-50% in August, and it's a clear reminder that businesses are seeing the value of AI and incorporating it into more and more processes. But that human touch and the ability to actually interpret, whether it's code, whether it's a video, whether it's copy, what the AI has produced, you know. Know your marketing copy, blend it and incorporate it.
03:00 anthony
Being out in the real world is really worth it. And what we're seeing on this platform is that independent talent with that capability earns about 40% more than talent that isn't AI-enabled.
03:16 Speaker A
Anthony, let me know if you agree with this in the future, I've heard some people say that AI won't take your job, but if you know how to leverage AI and are trained in AI skills, it may take your job. I'm interested in how you judge that.
03:37 anthony
Well, we're very optimistic that AI will once again create entirely new jobs that we've never heard of before. The new one just generates optimization for the generation engine, right? So it's the successor to SEO. It may not have existed two years ago, but I can imagine it will in five years, you know, you'll make a lot of money if you do it well, right? So, again, we really think there will be a lot of net new jobs. We don’t think AI will just take away jobs.
04:09 anthony
whole cloth. We say that, but we certainly see a fragmentation of the job, right? So, especially the elementary, entry-level, or let's call it the basic components of the job, that part can really be automated very well. Um, but that last layer, that human touch, there's going to be tremendous value there and there's going to be tremendous value for people with those skills.
04:36 Speaker A
Anthony, I think there's probably a younger audience that's watching right now, and they're probably wondering, what are the AI skills that I need? Should they look to future-proof their resumes whenever possible? Can you give them any advice based on the data?
04:55 anthony
Well, I think there is some optimism. Again, our platform posts approximately 1 million job listings annually in the United States. It's aimed at independent talent and is very dynamic. This report is designed for that purpose. See where the demand for new skills is flowing. What's really encouraging is that there are 250,000 experts on the platform. Because this is a relatively recent thing and I don't want to say that these skills are actually easy to develop, but they can be developed.
05:27 anthony
We developed them quickly and are progressing very quickly. As you know, even the list of top 10 skills changes quite a bit from month to month. This month, the top 3 out of 10 were video editing and other creative skills. So if you can move people's emotions, whether it's marketing copy, whether it's video, whether it's audio, if you can move people's emotions, there's obviously value in that, and I think that's going to become more and more valuable over time.
05:58 Speaker A
Anthony, it's great to be on the show today. Thank you for your time. I appreciate it
