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AI Skills Carry 28% Pay Premium as Demand Surges Beyond Tech, Lightcast Finds

Prompt engineering is emerging as a core workplace competency across non-technical functions.

Overview

  • Lightcast’s large-scale analysis, drawing on more than 1.3 billion postings and over 50 million from 2024, shows listings that cite AI skills pay about 28% more, or roughly $18,000 annually.
  • A majority of AI-skill job postings sit outside IT, with generative AI roles in non-tech industries expanding by roughly 800% since 2022.
  • Sales, marketing, and other non-technical roles show salaries reaching up to $140,000 when postings list two or more AI skills.
  • Forbes highlights widely accessible training routes, including Microsoft Learn, Google Cloud, IBM via Coursera, LinkedIn Learning, Vanderbilt on Coursera, and OpenAI Academy resources.
  • OpenAI states it plans to expand Academy offerings with official certifications, with a pilot slated to begin in late 2025 or early 2026.