Israel tops list of countries with highest self-reported AI skills

Israel tops the list of countries with the highest concentration of AI talent in the world, according to a LinkedIn AI Talent Index that tracks workforce trends across countries and industries.

AI startups make up more than 30 percent of Israeli tech companies, accounting for about 47% of total investments, according to a report by Startup Nation Central. Beyond that, over 430 multinational corporations operate innovation centers in Israel. These include tech giants Intel, Nvidia, Google, and Amazon, which are developing core technologies, including AI, from their Israeli R&D centers.

The LinkedIn AI Talent Index, based on member profile data collected from the professional networking site, showed that in the metric measuring the highest concentration of AI talent, Israel has the highest proportions of workers with AI-related skills, making up 1.98% of the workforce, followed by Singapore with 1.64%, and Luxembourg with 1.44%. In fourth and fifth place are Estonia and Switzerland, respectively.

The AI talent concentration data is collated from LinkedIn members who have explicitly added at least two AI skills to their profile or employment records.

In the metric for AI talent according to specific industries, Israel is ranked first in education, financial services, manufacturing, and technology, information & media.

In the gender analysis metric, Israel takes the first spot for women with a score of 2.95, meaning that female representation in AI-related roles is nearly three times the global average among 87 countries. Singapore was in second place with a score of 2.37, and the Netherlands was in third place with a score of 1.8.

Meanwhile, in the overall LinkedIn AI Talent Index, which includes various metrics — AI engineering and AI literacy skills, AI talent concentration, working population, gender, and industry — Israel is ranked sixth, ahead of Switzerland and after Ireland. The professional networking site evaluates both AI engineering skills, such as machine learning or natural language processing, and AI literacy skills, such as ChatGPT and GitHub Copilot.

For illustration: Israeli startup Cyabra’s software platform harnesses machine learning algorithms to detect fake accounts, as well as malicious actors, bot networks and GenAI content on social media. (Courtesy)

Although Israel still ranks among the top 10 ecosystems for AI, it is far from unlocking the full potential of the technology as competition in the global AI race intensifies. The country is home to more than 2,200 AI-driven startups and companies.

Israel has, in recent years, focused on developing practical AI applications and solutions designed for the implementation of advanced technology in areas such as cybersecurity, health tech, and agriculture. Among the prominent deals is last year’s acquisition by US chip giant Nvidia of Run: ai, an Israeli startup that has built software to help developers and businesses manage complex AI workloads and computing resources on a single platform.

However, the growing and fast development and integration of AI technologies across various industries poses a challenge to sustain the momentum of Israel’s AI ecosystem, as the demand for skilled AI experts – developers and researchers — exceeds supply.

This has resulted in a shortage of experts with experience in machine learning, image processing, natural language processing (NLP), and generative AI. Moreover, there is a shortage of experienced experts with advanced degrees in core AI areas critical to Israel’s continued advancement in the field.

While academic research in AI is strong, industry leaders and tech entrepreneurs have pledged that increased funding and resources are necessary to provide the infrastructure and computational power needed to run AI models and sustain the country’s global position.