Top 10 AI Skills for Success: Building a Resilient Future

Quixy Editorial Team

August 18, 2023

We are well acquainted with conversational artificial intelligence. By “conversational,” we mean something we can interact with using our everyday communication language, be it English, Hindi, Chinese, or any other language we speak. AI has been available for a long time but isn’t accessible to the average individual who doesn’t grasp the intricacies of machine learning and computer science engineering.

But how can you, as a business owner, corporate professional, or freelance expert, stay relevant in this booming age of artificial intelligence? Our curiosity stems from the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report, which projected that robots would displace 85 million jobs by 2025. This claim becomes all the more believable when considering the views of the US Bureau of Labor Statistics on automation.

However, there’s a silver lining: Gartner’s latest report on the impact of Generative AI (like ChatGPT) on jobs suggests that AI will create a net 2 million new jobs by 2025. This article presents five skills to survive, stay relevant, and compete in this AI-driven era. We’re offering more than just regular knowledge, so pay close attention to each section for hands-on tips.

But first,

What are AI skills, and why do you need them?

AI skills are not your typical skills. They’re neither purely technical nor entirely humane; they’re a mix of both. As we evolve to a point where AI showcases almost human-like intelligence and creativity, it’s vital to possess skills that AI can’t replicate. These skills are “Using AI to outperform AI, with human intelligence as the foundation.” Our upcoming explanation will shed more light on this.

So, why are these skills essential? The rationale is simple: Adapt, survive, and thrive. AI is available to anyone with an internet connection. Possessing unique, out-of-the-box skills will set you apart from those who merely use AI for leisure. Cultivating these skills can transform you into a one-person powerhouse who adds value to their employer and carves out more personal time. Remember, time is money, and with the right skills, AI can save you plenty of it.

Top 10 AI Skills You Need to Thrive in AI Era

Five skills you need to adapt, survive, and thrive the generative Artificial intelligence and Artificial general intelligence. Before we delve into the skills you need to hone, let’s lay down some foundational knowledge. There are two key aspects of AI you should be familiar with:

Generative AI

This is based on the GPT (Generative Pre-trained Transformer) model. Initially developed by Google, it was later adopted and enhanced by OpenAI and other renowned companies like Microsoft. They used it to create platforms such as ChatGPT and Bing AI, enabling humans to interact using everyday language. Unlike traditional models that operate solely based on existing data, Generative AI, as the name implies, can generate new content, drawing inspiration from the data it has been trained on.

Artificial General Intelligence (AGI)

Often referred to simply as AGI, this is the next phase in the AI evolution. AGI goes beyond just executing human commands. It can incorporate elements of Generative AI and auto GPT (a model trained to operate autonomously without specific commands) to perform tasks that might seem almost magical to us, like genome sequencing or devising new methods to predict DNA patterns.

Top 5 AI Skills

Now that you understand the true potential of AI, build these skills to stay relevant among the masses:

1. Good prompt communication, specifically in English. And emotional intelligence

“Both opportunities and AI are, and will continue to be, trained in English,” says Varun Mayya, a popular YouTuber who is also recognized as the AI ambassador in India. Watch this video, and you’ll see he’s onto something.

Now, picture this: You’re a marketing professional or a business owner needing a sales page tailored to homemakers – “mummas” eager to learn programming languages and earn through freelancing in their spare time.

Someone unfamiliar with the nuances might approach ChatGPT, ask it to draft a sales page and receive fairly generic content in return. But someone with adept communication and prompting skills, who truly grasps the emotional touchpoints of their audience and knows frameworks like AIDA (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action), will extract far superior content from ChatGPT.

For visuals on their sales page, they might turn to DALLE or Midjourney, platforms that generate images just as ChatGPT produces text. Here too, those with a knack for effective prompting and strong command over communication will undoubtedly get more value.

Tips to enhance prompt communication and emotional intelligence:

• Consider enrolling in a prompt engineering course on platforms like Udemy. Dive deep into commanding AI effectively.
• Improve your English proficiency. Immerse yourself in the language. Surround yourself with English content- movies, books, or conversations with friends and tutors.
• Cultivate self-awareness and mindfulness. Deepen your understanding of your audience. Broaden your perspectives and consider various angles to refine your emotional intelligence.

Also Read: Top AI Tools You Need to Consider for Enhanced Productivity!

2. Fact-checking and critical thinking

As AI systems like ChatGPT become more advanced at generating convincing text, human abilities like critical thinking and fact-checking will only grow more essential.

ChatGPT itself cautions users that its responses may be inaccurate or biased. While it can summarize knowledge and mimic human language, it does not have human discernment.

As entrepreneurs and business leaders, we need to take responsibility for vetting the information we rely on – whether it comes from AI or anywhere else. Rather than assuming ChatGPT’s responses are factual, we should have a skeptical, inquiring mindset. It’s because AI hallucinates. Watch this video to know.

Tips to think critically and better fact-check:

• Don’t automatically trust AI. Example: Just because ChatGPT provides marketing copy doesn’t mean it’s effective or accurate for your audience. Verify its claims.
• Look for inconsistencies. Example: If ChatGPT claims your industry is growing at 15%, but your data shows 5% growth, probe the discrepancy.
• Check key facts elsewhere. Example: Validate market size statistics ChatGPT provides against reputable industry reports before including them in your pitch deck.
• Evaluate alignment with experience. Example: Use your on-the-ground knowledge to gauge if ChatGPT’s proposed social media strategy resonates with your brand identity and customer base.
• Apply human judgment. Example: Review ChatGPT’s pricing recommendations through the lens of your business context and objectives vs blindly implementing them.

By honing our critical thinking skills, we can enjoy the capabilities of AI while minimizing the risks of misinformation. Our human judgment will be the key safeguard against any system’s potential flaws. With an insightful, inquisitive approach, we can reap AI’s benefits while spotting inaccuracies others might miss.

Also Read: AI Revolution: Top 60 Statistics and Predictions

3. Constant learning for effective decision-making

With AI advancing rapidly, the only constant is change. Yesterday’s cutting-edge AI capabilities become today’s table stakes. As business leaders, continuous learning is imperative to make smart, informed decisions.

Consider a marketing leader needing help writing ad copies. They could ask ChatGPT to generate the content. But without constantly learning about new trends in conversational AI, they may miss out on superior options like Claude or Anthropic that could produce more nuanced, human-like text.

Or imagine a retailer wanting to forecast demand. An AI algorithm created even 6 months ago likely cannot match the accuracy of the latest predictive modeling techniques. Without constantly learning, they may rely on outdated tools. Through the automation of intricate tasks, AI empowers citizen developers to channel their energies into the imaginative aspects of application development.

Tips to fuel constant learning:

• Set aside learning time daily. Example: Block 30 min each morning to read AI news.
• Follow thought leaders. Example: Subscribe to Garry Kasparov’s tweets for AI strategy insights.
• Leverage new AI tools. Example: Use the latest generative AI options to craft product descriptions.
• Attend conferences. Example: Join roundtables at AI Summit to stay atop trends.
• Experiment rapidly. Example: Test the new ChatGPT model for customer service before competitors.

4. Ability to leverage AI to save time for yourself and your clients

AI has incredible potential to augment human capabilities and make us more productive. But simply incorporating AI tools isn’t enough – we need to use them strategically.

Consider a social media manager at a startup. They could ask ChatGPT to draft captions for their posts. Or they could give ChatGPT background on the company’s brand and target audience so it can generate on-brand, tailored captions. The second approach better leverages AI.

A smart AI strategy understands which tasks best suit automation versus human effort. As a manager, focus your time on high-value work like building relationships and overseeing creative direction. Empower AI to handle repetitive tasks like first drafts of content.

The key is identifying repetitive tasks that can be augmented with AI. This allows us to focus our energies on high-value work only humans can provide – like strategic planning, relationship building, and creative direction.

Tips to leverage AI to augment your productivity and save more time:

• Identify mundane tasks. Ex: Use AI to transcribe meeting notes instead of manual typing.
• Set clear guidelines. Ex: Provide AI with your brand guide to generate on-brand content.
• Review, don’t recreate. Ex: Refine AI-generated social media posts rather than crafting from scratch.
• Focus on high-level work. Ex: Spend time on long-term strategy versus day-to-day task management.
• Continuously adopt new capabilities. Ex: Use the latest natural language models to speed up copywriting.

Also Read: Advances in Artificial Intelligence: Power of Generative, Conversational, and Hybrid AI

5. Attain more and more practical experience

Mastering AI requires getting your hands dirty with real-world applications. Beyond learning theoretical concepts, we need practical experience leveraging these rapidly evolving tools.

For example, take an entrepreneur wanting to use AI to optimize their e-commerce business. Simply reading about recommendation engines won’t suffice. By actually building a basic product recommendation system for their shop using AI services, they will gain invaluable hands-on experience.

Tips for building AI expertise through practice:

• Start small, but start now. Identify a minor pain point in your business to tackle with AI as a learning project. Ex: Build a basic chatbot for your company’s FAQ page.
• Join communities of practice to learn from others applying AI in tangible ways. Ex: Attend meetups to learn from others’ AI implementations.
• Document your experiences in detail, including failures and lessons learned. This knowledge will compound. Ex: Keep detailed notes when testing out generative AI for marketing.
• Open source your work for feedback and to help others learn. Collaborating will accelerate progress. Ex: Share code for an AI prototype to get feedback from developers.
• Offer workshops or mentorship to share your knowledge and further refine your skills. Teaching is learning. Ex: Teach a class on getting started with AI in business at a local college or create YouTube video tutorials on your AI experiments to help fellow entrepreneurs.

Technical AI skills

1. Programming Languages

1. Python: Widely used in AI and data science for tasks like deep learning, neural networks, data mining, and visualization.
2. Java: Applied in genetic, procedural, and intelligence programming for AI systems.
3. C++: Utilized for developing core AI elements like artificial neuron models and neural net functions due to its high performance.
4. Julia: Known for its performance in machine learning and data analytics.
5. R: Popular in machine learning and AI for numerical analysis, statistical computations, and neural networks.
6. Scala: Useful for complex algorithms and large datasets, making it valuable for machine learning.

2. Machine Learning Algorithms

Machine learning algorithms are the heart of AI. They enable computers to learn from data and make decisions or predictions without explicit programming. These algorithms can be categorized into supervised, unsupervised, and reinforcement learning. Supervised learning involves training a model on labeled data, while unsupervised learning deals with unlabeled data for clustering or dimensionality reduction. Reinforcement learning is used for decision-making in dynamic environments. Understanding these algorithms, such as decision trees, support vector machines, and neural networks, is vital as they underpin many AI applications, from recommendation systems to natural language processing.

3. Deep Learning and Neural Networks

Deep learning, a subset of machine learning, focuses on artificial neural networks inspired by the human brain. These networks consist of interconnected layers of neurons, which process data hierarchically. Deep learning has revolutionized AI, powering applications like image and speech recognition, autonomous vehicles, and game-playing agents. Understanding neural network architectures, backpropagation, activation functions, and optimization techniques is essential. While not every AI role involves building neural networks, grasping their principles and significance is crucial for comprehending advanced AI applications.

4. Big Data Analytics

As AI applications demand vast amounts of data, big data analytics is crucial for efficiently handling and processing this data. Big data technologies like Hadoop, Spark, and NoSQL databases are used to manage and analyze massive datasets. Distributed computing, parallel processing, and data partitioning techniques are applied to scale AI systems. This skill ensures that AI models can handle the volume, velocity, and variety of data encountered in real-world scenarios, enabling accurate predictions and valuable insights.

5. Data Visualization

Data visualization is the art of translating complex data into visual representations like charts, graphs, and dashboards. In AI, it plays a vital role in conveying AI-driven insights to non-technical stakeholders. Effective data visualization helps tell a compelling story from AI-generated results, aiding decision-makers in understanding trends, patterns, and anomalies. Tools like Tableau, Power BI, and Python libraries like Matplotlib and Seaborn commonly create informative and engaging visuals. Mastering data visualization ensures that the value extracted from AI models can effectively communicate and apply in business or research contexts.

6. Data Engineering

Data engineering is the backbone of AI applications, involving data collection, storage, and preprocessing. It’s the process of making data accessible, reliable, and ready for analysis. Data engineers design and maintain data pipelines, ensuring data quality and integrity. They use tools like databases, data warehouses, and ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) processes to provide data to AI algorithms. Whether you’re developing recommendation systems, predictive models, or AI-driven dashboards, data engineering skills are essential for managing the data that fuels AI-driven insights and decision-making.

AI is evolving rapidly, so sustained practice is key to staying relevant. We can build world-class expertise by working hands-on with the technology, sharing our experiences, and learning together. The future favors the curious!

Never feel overwhelmed by AI; embrace it with a positive mindset

The fact that you’re here, reading this article, indicates you’re striving to stay ahead and remain relevant in this rapidly evolving tech era. Kudos to you! You’re genuinely a step ahead of many. But it’s natural to feel overwhelmed by AI at times.

From our experience, it can sometimes induce a sense of missing out or even restlessness. However, it’s crucial to have faith in yourself. Yes, artificial intelligence is smart and will only get smarter. But every time you learn about it, you’re already advancing. New tools and technologies will continue to emerge. Your reaction to them will shape your skillset.

Avoid the trap of thinking, “AI can’t do this” or “AI can’t do that.” Always maintain the optimism that you can keep pace. You’ll stay in the game by consistently and steadily enhancing and building upon your skills.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)