AI Talent Landscape:Defining and Finding the Leaders Your Company Needs

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AI Leadership: Career Trends and Pathways

Russell Reynolds Associates’ analysis of the career paths of more than 100 AI executives around the world.

Five Essential AI Leader Profiles

Five common leadership profiles among today’s AI executives – and how to know which one is right for your company

Creative Solutions for Sourcing AI Talent

Three emerging options for sourcing AI talent, both from outside and within the company.

1 Accenture Institute for High Performance and Frontier Economics, “Why Artificial Intelligence is the Future of Growth,” September 28, 2016

2 Gartner Inc. “Predicts 2018: AI and the Future of Work,” December 13, 2017

3 Vincent, J. (5 Dec, 2017). “Tencent says there are only 300,000 AI engineers worldwide, but millions are needed.” The Verge. https://www.theverge.com/2017/12/5/16737224/global-ai-talent-shortfall-tencent-report and Gagné, J-F. (2018). “Global AI Talent Report 2018”. JFGagné.ai. http://www.jfgagne.ai/talent/

AI has steadily evolved from a near-mythical technology to a pressing reality for organizations in every industry. Hailed as the next Industrial Revolution, AI is projected to increase labor productivity by up to 40 percent, and profoundly change the nature of work.1 Current estimates show AI creating 2.3 million jobs, eliminating 1.8 million jobs and producing insights that will assist one in five workers.2

As AI technology matures, two major talent challenges confront organizations aiming to tap its rich potential. One is the growing talent shortage. Globally, millions of AI professionals will be required to bring the technology to fruition; recent research puts the current worldwide population of AI engineers and scientists somewhere between 22,000 and 300,000.3 The second relates to leadership profiles: Many AI professionals have been groomed as technical or academic experts, but not as business-minded technology executives who can bridge the gap between science and application. Combined, these two challenges mean that many organizations will have to weigh the feasibility and benefit of hiring an AI expert to lead internal efforts against partnering with an external organization that can provide the expertise.

Whether hiring or partnering, it is essential to understand the range of possibilities and capabilities in the current world of AI talent. To support CEOs and senior executives as they embark on the various phases of this journey, we’ve compiled a series of resources:

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AI Leadership: Career Trends & Pathways

35%AI Providers

23%Digital Pure Play

13%Hardware

11%Soware

6%ProfessionalServices

4%Finance8%Others

CURRENT COMPANY’S INDUSTRY

Russell Reynolds Associates analyzed the career pathsof more than 100 AI executives around the world. As agroup, they have a strong entrepreneurial streak and ahigh degree of career mobility.

The majority of senior AI leaderscurrently work within the tech sector,most with pure-play AI providerswhich partner with other firms.

Possessa PhD

Have pastacademiaexperience

Immediate previousrole was in academia

ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENTSPhDs are de rigeur and nearly half have held roles asprofessors or academic researchers

ComputerScience

AI OthersEngineering NaturalSciences

43%

21%

14%12% 12%

PAST INDUSTRY & FUNCTIONAL EXPERIENCE

TOP AREAS OF ACADEMIC FOCUS

Close to half have worked for a start-up; most of thosewho have non-technical business experience gained it byfounding a new venture.

StartupNon-tech

business experience

So�ware Company Hardware Company

42% 30%

34%55%

Area of study for highest degree achieved3

Meantenure

Gender Imbalance

82

178 8 9

8%

92%

On a demographic level, leadershipin the AI field is largely male, withonly 8 percent of such rolescurrently held by women.

While this is in part a pipeline issue – men comprise 74 percent of computer science graduates – it presents a threat in a field that relies heavily on diverse inputs to improve data quality.4 If the creators of a foundational technology like AI represent a narrow demographic, AI's ability to serve society will also be limited. In fact, some studies have already shown the biases inherent in AI applications.5 In response, a number of companies have hired AI ethicists to help them navigate such pitfalls. They are also supporting efforts in high schools and universities to a ract more women to study AI-related fields.

High Demand = Brief StintsSimilar to so�ware developers, AI professionals' career histories are characterized by shorter-than-average stints. Mean tenure is 3.5 years; only about one in five have been at their current firm more than 4 years.

The pace of AI development aligns with thatof agile so�ware development. AI practitionersfollow this pace as well. Many are comfortablespending short stints in any one company orjuggling many projects simultaneously.

>2015 to 19.910 to 14.95 to 9.94 to 4.93 to 3.92 to 2.91 to 1.9<1

YEARS AT CURRENT COMPANY

3.5years

Mediantenure

1.9years

39

3 32

4 American Association of University Women. “Solving the Equation: The Variables for Women’s Success in Engineering and Computing.” https://www.aauw.org/research/solving-the-equation/5 Julia, A., Larson, J., Matuu, S., & Kirchner, L. ProPublica. “Machine Bias.” https://www.propublica.org/article/machine-bias-risk-assessments-in-criminal-sentencing

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Talent Migration?

Our research indicates the majority of senior AI expertise is concentrated in six regions, namely the US (42 percent),China (25 percent), UK (12 percent), Asia Pacific (12 percent), Canada (5 percent) and Continental Europe (4 percent).

APAC12%

Canada5%

UK12%

US42%

China25%

Continental Europe4%

Changing macro-economic and political conditions have recently led to increased – and o�en unequal – cross-regional movements. Most notably, 31 percent of AI leaders moved from the US to China for their most recent role, compared with just 5 percent moving in the opposite direction. The UK and Canada have also seen an influx of AI leaders, with 50 percent of those in the UK and 67 percent of those in Canada coming from outside the country.

THREE FACTORS CONTRIBUTE TO THIS INCREASE IN MIGRATION

Flourishing opportunities in China: The Chinese government has designated AI as a key economic driver with aims to foster it as a $1 trillion industry by 2030. As an example, the government has built a $2.1 billion technology park tailored to AI development. Private equity investors have put in over $4.5 billion into 200 AI companies in the past five years.6 In addition, the wealth of available data and comparatively flexible data privacy protocols in China support AI development needs.

Uncertainty around US research funding and political climate: The US appetite for science investment has been a constant source of anxiety in recent years, with no clear direction on future funding levels. At the same time, the US State Department has also recently toughened visa restrictions for Chinese graduate students planning to study aviation, robotics and advanced manufacturing.7

Increasing prestige and global expansion for non-US AI companies: While US so�ware companies have led the field in the past, non-US companies are rapidly becoming global players. China’s Alibaba is leveraging sophisticated AI to enhance sales, pushing Singles Day sales to $31 billion – a 27 percent increase over the previous year.8

While we see these concentrations of AI investment and talent, we also see an increasing trend for technology companies to invest in localized talent pools. Google is opening an AI research lab in Beijing, while Alibaba is opening five AI labs overseas in the US, Russia, Israel and Singapore. Ultimately, this could lead to more regional migration rather than international movement.

Methodology: We identified 103 executives around the world with backgrounds in AI-related areas such as machine learning, neural networks, and natural language processing who are currently in technical roles leading AI development within their organizations. These executives represent a total of 69 organizations across 14 countries. Forty-two percent hold VP-level or above titles, including 15 percent who are founders.

6 Churchill, O. Nature. “China’s AI dreams.” https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-00539-y7 Mervis, J. Science. “More restrictive U.S. policy on Chinese graduate student visas raises alarm.” https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/06/more-restrictive-us-policy-chinese-graduate-student-visas-raises-alarm8 Liao, R. TechCrunch. “Alibaba sets new Singles’ Day record with $31B in sales, but growth is slowing.” https://techcrunch.com/2018/11/11/alibaba-singles-day-2018-31b/

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CUTTING EDGE EXPERTYann LeCun

Currently VP and Chief AI Scientist at Facebook, as well as a professor at New York University for more than 15 years. Founding director of the NYU Center for Data Science; has also founded start-ups in the so�ware, hardware and technology consulting sectors.

RENAISSANCE TALENTBeena Ammanath

Concurrently holding positions asfounder & CEO of Humans for AI, and global VP of AI, data and innovation for Hewle� Packard Enterprise – as well as Dean's Advisory Board Member at Cal Poly University.

Leaders in AI come from a particularly wide variety ofbackgrounds. While each leader brings certain advantages,a prime consideration for an organization hiring or partneringwith AI talent is how well the profile matches its current stageof AI maturity (strategy, design, implementation or evolution).It is also important to consider how each profile fits in withthe existing leadership and technology teams, to ensurecollaboration and buy-in across the enterprise. Based on ourexperience in the market and our recent analysis of more than100 AI leaders across 14 countries, we find five commonarchetypes of AI leaders.

Five Essential AI Leader Profiles

CUTTING EDGE EXPERT

RENAISSANCE TALENT

AI ENGINEER

UNCONVENTIONAL TRAILBLAZER

AI ETHICIST

© Copyright 2019, Russell Reynolds Associates. All rights reserved.

AI LEADERS AND THEIR ARCHETYPES

AI ENGINEERHae-Jong Seo

Currently developing autonomousdriving R&D at NVIDIA. Has held senior engineering roles in semiconductor and consumer electronic companies.

AI ETHICISTTim O’Brien

General manager of Microso�’s AI Programs, playing a key role in AI policy, ethics, advocacy and evangelism. Has been deeply involved in Microso�’s strategies over the years, as well as in other technology firms.Also a guest lecturer at INSEAD on business dynamics and culture in technology.

UNCONVENTIONALTRAILBLAZERJeffrey Ma

The subject of the movie ‘21’ and thebook ‘Bringing Down the House’ for spo�ing white spaces in gaming. Has pioneered the usage of data analytics in sports. Currently the SVP of product and analytics for Due�o, and was previously VP of analytics and data science at Twi�er.

CUTTING EDGE EXPERT¡ Provides the apex of human knowledge on AI, computer science or data science. ¡ Most are well-respected professors who have conducted academic research,

are widely published in AI fields and are making their mark collaborating with businesses.

Suitable for sophisticated AI companies where a 1 percent speed increase in algorithms is a competitive advantage.

RENAISSANCE TALENT¡ Provides a balanced mix of technical knowledge, business acumen and social

expertise.¡ Some are start-up founders who would have good stakeholder and project

management skills.

Suitable for sophisticated companies focusing on deeper integration between technology and business.

AI ENGINEER¡ Builds the physical design needed to develop (and/or embed) the AI algorithms

by appropriately marshalling technology resources along a defined roadmap¡ Hands on and action-oriented; not responsible for a broader, enterprise-wide

technology vision

Suitable for companies in the intermediate stage of AI transformation with a solid strategy in place. They will provide a robust framework for scalable AI development and implementation.

UNCONVENTIONAL TRAILBLAZER¡ These trailblazers provide a fresh perspective on AI as they are unfe�ered by

tradition, usually coming from less traditional backgrounds.¡ May lack deep technical or business expertise, but makes up for it with flexibility,

vision and an ability to identify white spaces.

Suitable for companies which have met roadblocks while implementing AI. O�entimes, they bring new energy into the AI transformation journey.

AI ETHICIST¡ Balances business and technical expertise with philosophical and sociological

perspectives. ¡ Advises companies on the implication of AI development, taking into account

concerns from the government, citizens, employees and society at large.¡ This role would be akin to oil companies having environmentalists as advisors.

Suitable for all organizations, especially for large-scale enterprises in which AI would have an outsized impact.

9 Susan Caminiti, “AT&T’s $1 Billion Gamble,” CNN.com, March 13, 2018. https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/13/atts-1-billion-gambit-retraining-nearly-half-its-workforce.html

CONSIDER JOINT APPOINTMENTS

Academia is a leading source of AI expertise, yet many academic researchers are reluctant to leave their university posts entirely. One solution for executives at companies aiming to bolster AI capabilities is to create flexible working arrangements with academic researchers, allowing them to hold joint positions in academia and industry. As an example, academics at Facebook usually spend 80 percent of their time at the company and 20 percent conducting research.

RE-TRAIN MID-CAREER EMPLOYEES

Many current AI leaders began their careers in a related field such as computer science, data science, statistics or electrical engineering. This comes through in our data: AI leaders have spent 9.1 years working directly with AI, on average, but have total career experience of 19.9 years, excluding time spent in PhD programs.

Looking ahead, companies in search of AI talent should consider proactively recruiting and training experts in adjacent areas, including existing employees. Some companies are already pursuing this path on a large scale. One model is the approach AT&T has adopted: The telecom giant has invested $1 billion in upgrading the skills of about 40 percent of its workforce in areas like data science and computer science through on-demand platforms.9

ENCOURAGE A START-UP MINDSET WITHIN AN ESTABLISHED ORGANIZATION

AI experts who have current or past start-up experience are more likely to switch companies than others. Those with start-up experience have joined a mean of 4.7 companies throughout their career, compared to 3.6 companies for those without. While this is a positive for those looking for AI talent to help build a new team and structure from the ground up, hiring such entrepreneurs can create frustration in the long term.

To help retain such leaders long enough to see an AI organization to maturity, executives at established companies may want to consider cultural changes that allow for experimentation, innovation and risk-taking in some of the ways that a new venture does.

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Creative Solutions for Sourcing AI Talent

Given the shortage of AI talent, leading companies are increasingly looking for creative solutions to solve talent needs. Beyond outsourcing AI development entirely, there are a variety of ways to tap the talent needed for transformation.

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Looking ahead

As CEOs and other top executives look to hire their next or first AI leader – or partner with others to develop AI strategy and applications -- the first step is to clearly define the specific needs at hand. Is the task to begin an AI initiative, or to sharpen an existing effort? Is it to stake and industry leadership claim, or to defend against being left behind? Tactically, what applications will be most relevant and how should they be prioritized?

The answers to these questions will help clarify which types of AI leadership profiles to consider, and also which trade-offs are acceptable. Is an executive’s AI technology expertise or business acumen more important? How about his or her propensity for disruptive innovation compared with the likelihood of a long tenure? In all cases, however, AI executives must have the capability to adeptly translate business requirements into technical specifications and AI outputs into insights.

AI is a far-reaching and far-sighted solution space which requires patience, determination and resources to succeed. The leaders who are chosen today will likely have an outsized impact on the future. Is your organization ready?

Russell Reynolds Associates is a global leadership advisory and search firm. Our 425+ consultants in 46 offices work with public, private and nonprofit organizations across all industries and regions. We help our clients build teams of transformational leaders who can meet today’s challenges and anticipate the digital, economic and political trends that are reshaping the global business environment. From helping boards with their structure, culture and effectiveness to identifying, assessing and defining the best leadership for organizations, our teams bring their decades of expertise to help clients address their most complex leadership issues. Find out more at www.russellreynolds.com.

DAVID FINKE leads RRA's global Technology sector as well as its global Hardware and IOT practices. He is based in Palo Alto.

ZHENG WEI LIM is a member of the knowledge team for RRA's Technology sector. He is based in Singapore.

GLOBAL OFFICES

Asia/Pacific ɳ Beijing ɳ Hong Kong ɳ Melbourne ɳ Mumbai ɳ New Delhi ɳ Shanghai ɳ Singapore ɳ Sydney ɳ Tokyo

EMEA ɳ Amsterdam ɳ Barcelona ɳ Brussels ɳ Copenhagen ɳ Dubai ɳ Frankfurt ɳ Hamburg ɳ Helsinki ɳ Istanbul ɳ London

Americas ɳ Atlanta ɳ Boston ɳ Buenos Aires ɳ Calgary ɳ Chicago ɳ Dallas ɳ Houston ɳ Los Angeles ɳ Mexico City ɳ Miami

ɳ Minneapolis/ St. Paul

ɳ Montréal ɳ New York ɳ Palo Alto ɳ San Francisco ɳ São Paulo ɳ Stamford ɳ Toronto ɳ Washington, D.C.

ɳ Madrid ɳ Milan ɳ Munich ɳ Oslo ɳ Paris ɳ Stockholm ɳ Warsaw ɳ Zürich

AUTHORS

FAWAD BAJWA is a member of Russell Reynolds Associates’ global Technology Officers practice and leads the Artificial Intelligence work globally. He is based in Toronto and New York.

NICK CHIA is a member of RRA's Technology sector as well as its Industrial & Natural Resources sector. He is based in Singapore.

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