72% of US hiring managers say they will pay more for AI skills
That is from Robert Half's 2027 Salary Guide, out last week, which surveyed more than 2,000 hiring managers, business leaders and workers in the US. 72% of managers said they are increasing pay for relevant AI skills, and 42% said AI expertise is worth more than other technical skills.
But what counts as an "AI skill"? I do not think it is typing a good prompt.
A Google and Ipsos study in February defined "AI fluent" as having redesigned a large part of your work around AI. Only 5% of US workers qualified. They were four times as likely to report a promotion they put down to their AI ability, compared with people just starting out.
When Robert Half describes what employers want, prompting is not on the list either: knowing where AI adds value, building it into everyday work, and using it responsibly.
I use AI every day, and the skill I use most is not writing the prompt. It is spotting when the answer is wrong. Last month an AI produced a set of building renders for me that had quietly lost a storey. They looked lovely. They were wrong. No course taught me to catch that; years of architecture did.
Last month an AI produced a set of building renders for me that had quietly lost a storey.
So I keep wondering. We are teaching the next generation how to ask AI. The thing that pays may turn out to be knowing when AI is wrong, and you can only learn that once you know the subject itself.
The caveats, plainly: both studies are US only; the 72% is managers saying they will pay more, not pay that has already risen; and the promotion figure is self-reported.
If you could teach a child only one AI skill, would it be how to ask, or how to check? Tell me what you think in the comments 👇
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