Approximately 20% of the Japanese Workforce Are “Potential AI Human Resources”

The Key to Solving the AI/IT Labor Shortage in Japan by Reskilling Job Transition

Tokyo, August 2, 2022– AI inside Inc., a provider of an AI platform with the mission of “to bring AI to every being in the world and contribute to a richer future society,”  announces the results of a survey conducted in April 2022, which asked 1,500 business persons around Japan aged 20 to 59 about their interest and intentions regarding AI/digital human resources.

• 23.6% of respondents were “potential AI human resources,” who would like to become AI human resources, and hold the key to solving the AI/IT labor shortage in 2030 predicted by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (approx. 790,000 people)
• 23.6% of the working population of regular employees in Japan (36.26 million people) equals approximately 8.56 million people
• AI human resources require skills for solving business problems, such as the ability to improve processes at work and solve problems, more than skills such as coding. 

“Potential AI human resources” accounted for 23.6% of respondents

Of those without AI skills or experience, 23.6% stated that they intend^*1 to become human resources that can utilize AI and digital tools, while 42.2% indicated that they had no intention to^*2. This means that approximately 20% of employees would like to learn AI skills and gain the experience they can utilize in the future.

According to the report from Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry,demand for IT human resources is set to significantly exceed supply, with an estimated supply-demand gap of approximately 790,000 people^*3. Although the survey results only represent a small part of the population, 23.6% of the working population of regular employees in Japan (36.26 million people^*4) equals approximately 8.56 million people^*5. This suggests that by working on developing those who would like to work as AI human resources, it may be possible to reduce the future supply-demand gap for IT human resources.

*1 Those that answered “I intend to” or “I somewhat intend to”
*2 Those that answered “I have no intention to” or “I have little intention to”
*3 Source: “Table 3-7, Transition of Supply-Demand Gap in Rate of Increasing Productivity to Balance the Supply and Demand of IT Human Resources (High-Level Scenario),” in the Survey and Report on the Supply and Demand of IT Human Resources (March 2019) Commissioned by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.
*4 Based on the working population as of May 2022 according to a labor force survey conducted by the Statistics Bureau of Japan on July 1, 2022
*5 Approximate figure, as the 36.26 million people include existing AI/IT human resources.

AI Human Resources Require Skills for “problem-solving”

Questions regarding the skills and experience required of AI personnel revealed that they are expected not only to have knowledge of AI and its fundamentals, but also to contribute to problem-solving in their work^*6.

The most common response, accounting for 33.5% of respondents, was “experience improving work processes”^*7, with a further 33.1% of respondents stating “skill/experience to discover and solve problems in business.” The next common response was “data analysis skills,” which accounted for 32.9%, suggesting that people have expectations for solving or improving business problems by utilizing internal data within company. On the other hand, the importance of AI engineering (coding) skills and specialized knowledge such as deep learning was relatively low, at 20.4% and 26.6%, respectively. This suggests that AI/digital human resources do not necessarily require skill and experience with AI engineering.

The survey results indicate that the importance of AI human resources tends to focus on skills solving operational and business problems, since the topic of AI personnel is often discussed in the context of DX (digital transformation).

*6 Respondents were asked to select all of the following that apply: “experience improving work processes,” “skill/experience for discovering problems in business,” “skill/experience with data analysis based on knowledge of statistics,” “experience in discovering  on-site adoption of systems/services,” “skill/experience with project management,” “skill/experience with machine learning such as deep learning,” “skill/experience with planning new businesses and projects,” and “skill/experience with coding in languages such as Python”
*7 Those that answered “very important” or “important”

Some consider learning the skills required for AI human resources, even though few have the experience to do so

In the question about experience learning the skills required for AI resources^*8, it was found that fewer than 10% of respondents have experience learning (or are currently learning) the top three skills, which were “experience improving work processes” at 9.6%, “skill/experience to discover and solve problems in business” at 9.3%, and “skill/experience with data analysis based on knowledge statistics” at 9.2%. However, those who are considering learning these skills accounted for more than 20%^*9 of the respondents.

Furthermore, 23.5% of respondents stated that they are considering learning “basic knowledge on AI/machine learning,” which was more than the above three skills, and this means that around 20% of all the respondents deem “basic knowledge on AI/machine learning” to be necessary.

Even companies and organizations feel they lack AI human resources, they can expect to raise the level of IT literacy among their employees and to develop a certain number of AI human resources by creating an environment for learning and experiencing these skills for “potential AI personnel.

*8 Respondents were asked to select the following skills or experience they have: “experience improving work processes,” “skill/experience discovering problems in business,” “skill/experience with data analysis based on knowledge of statistics,” “experience with on-site adoption of systems/services,” “skill/experience with project management,” “skill/experience with machine learning such as deep learning,” “skill/experience with planning new businesses and projects,” “skill/experience with coding in languages such as Python,” and “basic knowledge on AI/machine learning.” Of these, those skills that were ranked highly as skills required by AI/digital human resources in *1 were extracted.
*9 “Experience improving work processes,” “skill/experience discovering problems in business,” and “skill/experience with data analysis based on knowledge statistics” accounted for 21.9%, 22.3%, and 21.9%, respectively.

Comment from AI inside Inc. Vice President, Kurando Takahashi

To promote DX and business transformation that goes beyond the automation and streamlining of operations, it is necessary to create new value from data utilization. There is an urgent need to develop digital human resources that can utilize AI to reform businesses to achieve that goal. Reskilling the “potential AI human resources” identified in this survey can be expected to pave the way for solving the problem of the IT human resources shortage. With the popularization of no-coding tools in recent years, digital human resources now require not only basic knowledge of AI and the skill for solving business problems but also the ability to promote business, such as creating new businesses and increasing additional value for existing businesses. To achieve business transformation one step ahead, it is essential to implement reskilling as a new management strategy to transform the occupational structure of internal employees and cultivate advanced human resources.

Overview of Survey

• Commissioned by: AI inside Inc.
• Conducted by: Cross Marketing Group Inc.
• Region: Japan
• Target: Male and female regular employees aged 20 to 59 years old
• Period: April 14, 2022 (Thu) to April 18, 2022 (Monday)
• Method: Internet survey
• Valid responses: Sample of 1,500 responses

About “AI Growth Program”

The AI Growth Program is a program in which participants can learn AI utilization and business establishment from lecturers with AI business experience, based on the technology and know-how AI inside has cultivated through its service offerings. The program aims to develop human resources who can utilize AI in the business area by targeting all employees in charge of operations, DX promoters, and corporate planners in various departments of all companies and organizations.

About AI inside Inc.

With our mission, “to bring AI to every being in the world and contribute to a richer future society”, AI inside aims to realize a society in which AI spreads to every corner of people’s life. We provide a platform for anyone to utilize AI easily through our services: “Learning Center Vision,” an image recognition AI, “Learning Center Forecast,” a prediction and judgment AI, “AI Growth Program,” a practice-based AI human resource development program, “DX Suite” to digitize various information into highly accurate data, “AI inside Cube,” an edge computing service that realizes the operation of AI in a secure environment, and “Developer’s API,” a collection of intelligence APIs.  

Company Name: AI inside Inc. 
Location: 4th Floor, 3-8-12 Shibuya Shibuya-Ku, Tokyo, Japan 
Representative: Representative Director, President & CEO (Concurrently) CPO Taku Toguchi 
Founded: August 2015 
Business details: Development and provision of artificial intelligence and related information services
HP: https://inside.ai/en/ 

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