AI skills fetch IT engineers 11% higher incomes

At the entry level AI engineers make 8.57% more than non-AI ones, the report by Levels.fyi, a platform that provides salary data in the U.S., shows. The gap widens to 11.08% at the staff engineer level.

The median salary for AI engineers in the U.S. was US$300,600 as of March, the highest ever. Some companies pay much more than the median level.

Self-driving car company Cruise, for example, offers its senior level AI engineer $450,000, and Amazon pays $427,500.

"As AI shakes up much of the industry, it also raises the bar for engineering compensation in 2024," Levels.fyi analyst Alina Kolesnikova said.

"It's a testament to where businesses are choosing to invest and where they aim to compete for top talent."

A report by professional services firm PwC says U.K. employers are prepared to pay an average 14% wage premium for jobs that require AI skills, with legal and tech sectors seeing the highest premiums of up to 58%.

This puts the U.K. in second place behind only the U.S., which is prepared to pay on average 25% more for AI skills.

Companies are making big plans to train the next generation of AI workers.

J.P. Morgan has invested an unspecified amount in establishing an AI research center at Carnegie Mellon University in the U.S. and Amazon has pledged to educate two million people worldwide on generative AI by 2025.

In April U.S. tech billionaire Elon Musk said salaries for engineers must be increased to prevent them from being lured away by OpenAI with huge sums.