Just over 1% of current job listings in Australia are identified as AI-related, and this number is increasing as artificial intelligence tools are integrated into everyday functions across non-tech industries. Roles that were previously unrelated to AI now require regular interaction with these tools, changing the view of what an AI job actually involves.
In this changing job market, candidates who show strong communication, empathy and stakeholder engagement skills are standing out. Current job market data shows that positions such as customer success managers, prompt engineers and AI ethicists no longer require coding skills, instead calling for emotional intelligence and digital literacy. Many of these roles, including those in predictive analytics and supply chain planning, combine technology with human judgment. Employers often favour candidates who have backgrounds in retail, customer service or the liberal arts.
Recruiters say salaries for these emerging AI positions vary significantly. Customer success managers may earn between $95,000 and $115,000 per year, while AI ethicists typically earn around $115,800. Entry-level jobs like data annotators generally pay around $27 an hour. Regardless of salary, the key requirement is a proactive attitude toward learning, practical tool use and upskilling through short courses in areas such as prompt engineering or automation.
The AI job market is expected to continue diversifying quickly. Roles like human-in-the-loop operator and AI fluency trainer are becoming more visible, pointing to demand for systems that support rather than replace human roles. Although some uncertainty remains around which roles will become standard, it is clear that being adaptive and skilled in working with AI is now just as important as having technical knowledge.
