A rapid expansion of AI skills is underway — as tens of millions of workers race to meet demand from employers.

Why it matters: With millions of jobs at risk — and potentially more to be created — as a result of AI, the ability to acquire new AI-related skills is set to affect individual careers and the economic trajectory of whole nations.

• More than half of the 3,000 executives surveyed by IBM estimate that 40% of their workforce will need to be reskilled as their businesses implement AI and automation in the next three years.

What's happening: In the last five years, the number of U.S. LinkedIn members in "Head of AI" roles has grown by 264%, and users across the board are reporting a rapid acceleration in acquiring AI skills, according to a n report from LinkedIn.

• Before ChatGPT's launch in November 2022, just 7.7% of users claimed AI skills. Within seven months, that number nearly doubled to 13%.

By the numbers: In Singapore, which has the highest overall AI skills rate globally, 20 times as many people self-reported AI skills in June 2023 compared to 2016.

• Finland, Ireland, India, and Canada were next in the global rankings in terms of the pace of AI skills growth.
• The U.S. is slightly above average, with nine times as many workers reporting AI skills as compared to 2016.

Between the lines: Skills are self-reported on LinkedIn, and it's unclear how many workers may be inflating their AI abilities.

• LinkedIn chief economist Karin Kimbrough told Axios the explosion in profiles claiming AI skills is mostly a response to real market demand: "We're seeing a 21-times increase in job postings that are mentioning AI."

The big picture: AI will have vastly unequal impacts between occupations.

• LinkedIn calculated that 96% of software engineers' skills may be affected by generative AI, but just 11% of a construction specialists' skills would be similarly affected.
• 45.2% of teacher skills include more mundane tasks where generative AI could enable greater productivity (e.g., lesson planning, curriculum development, teacher training). More than half of a teacher's job involves people skills, which are unlikely to be replaced by generative AI.
• LinkedIn members are using the keywords "Prompt Engineering," "Prompt Crafting," "Generative," and "Generative Artificial Intelligence" 15 times more frequently in their profiles now than in January.
• Early trends in the spread of generative AI may be best understood by looking at business functions, rather than economic sectors. Any company with significant marketing, sales, customer service, or software engineering needs is likely already affected by generative AI, regardless of sector.
• More than 75% of executives said generative AI is already affecting entry-level positions whereas only 22% said executive or senior manager level roles were being impacted, per the IBM report released yesterday.

Yes, but: Demand for so-called soft skills — such as flexibility, ethics and social perceptiveness — is also intensifying, per LinkedIn.

• 92% of U.S. executives surveyed for LinkedIn's June U.S. Executive Confidence Index agreed that "people skills are more important than ever."

What they're saying: The relatively uneven spread of AI skills between even advanced economies "reflects which countries were already very digitally skilled and literate," said Kimbrough, who noted that rankings leader Singapore is helped by being a small country with a longstanding national skills agency.

• Kian Katanforoosh, CEO and co-founder of Workera, a platform for mapping workers' skills, told Axios that successful AI adoption for a company ultimately depends on employing skilled workers rather than buying the best tech: "The major bottleneck has been people and keeps being people," he said.

As teachers head back to the classroom for their first full year of post-ChatGPT reality, a new course series aims to help them better understand the opportunities and challenges presented by generative AI, Ina writes.

Why it matters: Many teachers have deep interest in the technology that affects them and their students, but they often lack easy and accessible resources to stay up to speed with the evolving tools.

Driving the news: The "AI 101 for Teachers" courses were created in a partnership between the Khan Academy, Code.org, ETS (the folks behind the SAT and other standardized tests), and the International Society for Technology in Education.

• The series kicks off with Code.org head Hadi Partovi and Khan Academy founder Sal Khan in a fireside chat discussing the issues facing K-12 teachers today.
• That video is available today, while others in the series are coming next month and will cover the basics of AI, AI ethics and AI bias.
• Code.org is also expanding its "How AI Works" series to include discussions of computer vision, neural networks and bias.

The big picture: Educators are on the front lines of the generative AI revolution as tech-savvy students have been early adopters, often turning to ChatGPT to "help" with their homework.

• Some schools were quick to ban the technology. Others see it as here to stay and are working to find ways to incorporate AI without letting students become reliant on a tool that does the work for them, without necessarily educating them.

Yes, but: Generative AI could potentially deliver a vision of personalized education as well as improving learning by aiding overburdened teachers. That's even more true in developing countries with a lack of teachers and schools.

What they're saying: "This is the year for AI in education," Code.org CEO Hadi Partovi told Axios.

• "Surveys show that 44% of teenagers plan to use AI for their schoolwork, but our schools aren't prepared," Partovi said, adding his hope is that the course "will help support schools and teachers in integrating AI in their classrooms — not only to use AI but also to teach how it works."
• "One of the key ways to capture the benefits of AI for education, while mitigating the risks, is providing folks with digital literacy around the topic," Sal Khan told Axios.

Go deeper: Sal Khan explains why GPT-4 is ready to be a tutor

• Dave Limp, a 13-year Amazon veteran who leads the company's devices division, is stepping down later this year, in a move that surprised many inside and outside of Amazon, the company told employees Monday.
• Astrophysicist and folk artist Moiya McTier has joined the Human Artistry Campaign as "explainer-in-chief."
• The $900,000 corporate AI job is here — in this case, a machine learning product manager at Netflix. (Wall Street Journal)
• Forget SEO — why AI Engine Optimization (AEIO) might be the key to future influence. (VentureBeat)

Alligators in the sewers! Not an urban myth in Florida, but rather a Friday maintenance check for staff of Oviedo City. "Thank goodness our crews have a robot," wrote officials.