
Israel is Number One, Followed by Neighbors Indonesia, with the US and China Far Behind
Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – The world’s best AI talent isn’t coming from the United States or China. These two countries have been at the forefront of this technology development for the past few years.
However, Israel tops the list for the highest number of AI digital talent. This comes from LinkedIn’s latest 2024 report, which measures the global distribution of AI capabilities, surveying 31,000 people in 31 countries.
The research found that Israel far outperforms the US and China in talent development, despite having a much smaller population. Demand for human resources with AI capabilities is also increasing.
The report states that 66% of company leaders would not hire employees without AI skills. Meanwhile, 71% of them would prefer to hire someone with no AI experience over someone with experience who lacks these skills.
A LinkedIn report conducted in collaboration with Microsoft measured the distribution of AI talent using the AI Talent Concentration metric from user profiles. This assessment considers AI engineering skills such as machine learning and natural language processing, as well as AI literacy skills such as the use of ChatGPT and GitHub Copilot.
This calculation places Israel at the top of the list, with a concentration of AI talent reaching 1.98%, well above the global average.
Two other countries in the top three are Singapore with a concentration of 1.64% and Luxembourg with 1.44%. Chua Pei Ying, Chief Economist for LinkedIn APAC, said Singapore’s learning culture is prominent and makes it competitive in the AI era.
“Many countries with the highest concentration of AI talent, such as Israel, Singapore, Luxembourg, and Estonia, are small, yet they have managed to develop ecosystems that support the rapid growth of AI talent,” Chua said.
Neither China nor the US made the top 10. For China, this is likely due to its extensive censorship policies for US-made platforms, which means many local talent don’t have LinkedIn accounts, preventing their data from being compiled in the report.
Here’s a list of the 10 countries with the highest concentration of AI talent, according to LinkedIn:
1. Israel (1.98%)
2. Singapore (1.64%)
3. Luxembourg (1.44%)
4. Estonia (1.17%)
5. Switzerland (1.16%)
6. Finland (1.13%)
7. Ireland (1.11%)
8. Germany (1.09%)
9. Netherlands (1.07%)
10. South Korea (1.06%)
SOURCE : CNBC INDONESIA