AI prompt engineers in demand — what to know about this new job

Jobs

By Alex Mitchell

This tech job can generate a lot of income, experts say.

Artificial intelligence prompt engineer — the person who formulates questions and instructions to get the most refined answers and images from programs like ChatGPT — is a highly in-demand position that pays upwards of $300,000.

“They just know how to write,” Greg Beltzer, head of technology at RBC Wealth Management, told ZDNET this week. The rapidly growing sector is prompting many professional writers to put their hats into the AI ring, Vice reports.

“You need to think like the user to help with that prompt engineering — it’s not just code,” Beltzer explained. “It’s not just development. It’s like a business technical skillset that’s also creative.”

The career advice comes as AI industry leaders warn that white-collar workers could be displaced by the fast-advancing technology.

Coders, computer programmers, journalists, software engineers, data analysts, paralegals and legal assistants are among those who should be concerned, experts say.

A data scientist — once dubbed the “sexiest job of the 21st century” — earns a cool $137,000 a year on average in New York, per BuiltInNYC.

“A good prompt engineer is more expensive than a data scientist today,” Beltzer noted.

“Just outrageously difficult trying to find somebody who has experience,” he added. “You’re not going to find someone who has more than five years of experience. At the most, you might get two or three years, but it’s hard to find.”

That doesn’t mean any old couch potato can take the reins for a six-figure position. Experience is still preferred — just a different kind.

“We’re really looking for those folks that are most likely on the business side that has a technical bent,” Beltzer reasoned. “Personally, I don’t want to make a bet until the tooling comes a little farther along.”

Business author Bernard Marr says a prompt engineer should have data, project management, organizational, and communication skills.

“You need to be able to express what you want the AI to do in a precise and clear way, just like if you were giving instructions or training to a human workforce,” Marr wrote on Forbes.com in May.

“You will need attention to detail — the greater depth you can go into about exactly what type of response or content you are looking for, the more successful you will be at prompt engineering.”

Beltzer said that there’s a “dramatic need” to train in AI prompt writing, but that branch of technology can be hard to define to an industry standard.

“Is it a science? Is it an art? Are we going to build more tools?” Beltzer asked, adding that this sweet gig may too become automated by AI.

“The good news is that once tooling is in place, it may be easier to train AI models with prompts conducted ‘systematically and programmatically,’” he concluded.