Each year, INSEAD team up with Adecco to produce their Global Talent Competitiveness Index (GTCI), which looks at the structural factors that underpin the development, recruitment and retention of talent.  This year they’ve brought on assistance from Google to help explore talent in the age of AI.

With AI being arguably the biggest technological trend the world is experiencing, the researchers wanted to explore how AI is affecting talent from a range of angles, whether it’s the need to train people to adapt to changes in the labor market, the ethical issues surrounding AI development, or the international competition in AI and its impact on talent.

“The purpose of the GTCI is to be a tool for action,” the researchers say. “It is our hope that the data, inputs, and considerations contained in the following pages can be of value to the decision makers of private and public organisations involved in talent and job creation.”

The report uncovered a number of key themes:

• The gap between high and low-performing countries is widening – The report highlights how the relative scarcity of AI talent is not only seen across industries, but also between nations. They highlight how many people in developing countries lack even basic digital skills, and this is contributing to a clear digital divide between nations.
• AI can allow nations to skip generations – Despite this, the authors also believe that AI can allow developing nations to skip a generation, technologically speaking. While this is possible, however, they also accept that it isn’t very common, as structural issues tend to undermine the ability of countries to do this.
• Cooperation is needed to ensure AI benefits all – There has been as much written about the concerns with AI as there has about the tremendous potential it has for transforming society. To ensure that it develops in a way that benefits a broad section of society, the report urges a cooperative approach to development and regulation of AI. From a talent perspective, this means providing the training opportunities people will inevitably need.
• Reskilling in the workplace must be a priority – Building on the previous point, the authors urge employers to focus intensely on reskilling their workforce so they can work successfully with AI-based technologies. Life-long learning is the new way of things, so it’s vital that organizations find a way of enabling learning to happen all the time rather than at sporadic moments.
• Sustainable AI only comes if it’s accepted by society – There are competing narratives around AI at the moment that threaten to distort the image communities have of the technology. The authors believe it’s vital that stakeholders across the workforce are empowered to develop alongside AI.

  “Policymakers and regulators will have key roles to play—including through the provision of social safety nets—to ensure smooth job transitions,” the report says. “Since AI-induced changes will be fast and broad-ranging, it will be important for educators and leaders to realise that new generations will continue to attach key importance to values and seek jobs that offer them opportunities to contribute in a meaningful way to society.”

• Cities are competing to become AI hubs and talent magnets – There is something of an arms race around the world at the moment to try and gain a degree of AI ascendancy. This is leading to countries, and often more specifically cities, striving to become real hubs of AI, with aggressive policies designed to attract star talent and startups.

  “Currently, and increasingly in the future, cities continue to be the main testbeds for new AI-based tools such as facial recognition, tele-surveillance, and self-driven vehicles,” the report says. “Experience shows that perceptions of the value of such technologies vary greatly from one city to another, which is a phenomenon worth watching before these tools can be sustainably deployed.”

AI-driven cities

As in previous editions, the researchers devise an index to rank cities based upon their attractiveness for AI development.  The rankings are constructed using a wide range of variables, including Internet speed, ease of doing business, foreign-born population, number of major universities, environmental quality and affordability.

New York comes out on top, with London close behind, and Singapore rounding out the top three. There’s then a slight gap before San Francisco in 4th and Boston in 5th. The top 10 is then completed by Hong Kong, Paris, Tokyo, Los Angeles and Munich.

“Combined with the trends detected and assessed in previous editions of the Global Talent Competitiveness Index (GTCI), the emergence of AI in city strategies points to an acceleration of the significance of the role of cities on the front of global talent competitiveness,” the report says.

The report also provides country profiles, which those who are also familiar with INSEAD’s Global Innovation Index will be instantly familiar with, as many of the same metrics are applied.  In an age where there appears to be growing competitiveness on support for AI, both at a national and regional level, the report does provide an interesting means of comparing progress with peers around the world.