The global AI talent pool currently stands at approximately 3 million professionals, with 32.6% working in the United States and 24.4% in China. This data was shared by Zhou Jian, a data expert at the International Financial Forum (IFF), during the Hong Kong Financial Services Development Council (FSDC)-hosted launch event for the IFF AI Report on July 28.
The IFF AI Report comprises five sections. The first two sections, released in 2024, focused on AI enterprises and scientific innovation. On July 28, IFF unveiled the third section, analyzing global AI industry competition through the lens of talent markets. Experts indicated that the remaining sections will address AI policy regulation and market acceptance.
According to Zhou Jian, “AI talent” refers to professionals working within the AI industry. The report’s findings are based on IFF’s proprietary global AI talent database, which aggregates data from corporate and research institution websites, academic publications worldwide, commercial recruitment firms, government databases, and professional networking platforms.
AI Industry Remains Nascent
The report reveals that nearly 50% of AI professionals work in technical R&D (32.6%) and data analysis (16.2%), with corporate recruitment heavily favoring R&D talent. Zhou Jian interprets this as evidence that the AI sector is still in its early developmental phase.
Notably, a significant proportion of AI practitioners are engaged in vertical application fields such as autonomous driving and robotics (8.3%), creative content generation (5.2%), and education (2.7%).
“The launch of ChatGPT in December 2022 likely accelerated the industry’s growth trajectory,” Zhou told the 21st Century Business Herald. Global AI employment began rising gradually in 2019 before surging dramatically from late 2022 onward.
The study shows that 77.3% of AI professionals worldwide have fewer than three years of industry experience. Among them, 41.80% have ≤1 year of experience, 35.50% have 1–3 years, and only 7.88% possess 5–10 years of experience.
Zhou emphasized that “milestone technological breakthroughs” attract market attention, driving increased investment and acting as catalysts for AI advancement.
Patrick Glauner, IFF AI Committee Coordinator, highlighted regulatory differences across regions: Germany prioritizes data and privacy protection, the US adopts looser regulations, while China employs “content filters”—real-time screening algorithms that block illegal, harmful, or non-compliant AI outputs. Glauner noted that DeepSeek has developed robust filtering capabilities.
AI Talent Projected to Grow Exponentially
Despite talent shortages hindering industry progress, the report forecasts optimistic growth: global AI professionals are expected to increase by 2.85 million to reach 5.85 million within five years.
“While the report predicts linear growth, AI talent expansion may follow an exponential trajectory, potentially exceeding projections,” Glauner added.
Among the world’s top 10 AI employers, four are Chinese firms—Tencent, Alibaba, Huawei, and ByteDance—ranked by workforce size. The remaining six are US companies: Google, Microsoft, Amazon, JPMorgan Chase, and Goldman Sachs.
China also claims four spots in the top 10 AI talent-producing universities: Tsinghua University, Peking University, Fudan University, and Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Five US institutions—Stanford, MIT, UC Berkeley, Harvard, and Carnegie Mellon—and the UK’s Oxford University complete the list.
FSDC Executive Director Au King-lun noted Hong Kong’s talent strategies, including educational reforms and initiatives like the Top Talent Pass Scheme, Quality Migrant Admission Scheme, and Admission Scheme for Mainland Talents. Three Hong Kong universities rank among the world’s top 20 in Data Science and AI in the 2025 QS World University Rankings. Hong Kong government data shows over 380,000 talent scheme applications received by September 2024, with approximately 240,000 approved and 160,000 individuals and their families already settled in Hong Kong.