Exploring Careers in Artificial Intelligence and AI-adjacent Roles

If you’re imagining a career in artificial intelligence (AI), you might picture an engineer, up to their elbows in code, building toward the next technological breakthrough. That’s certainly a role you can aspire to, but there are also many others to consider — including some where entry feels more accessible.

So, what can you do with AI? Career possibilities exist in all kinds of industries.

What Are Career Opportunities in AI?

If you want to work with AI, you might be surprised by the number of roles you can consider — especially since widespread adoption is still relatively new.

“There are some AI-specific roles that have emerged in the last five years, and they’re a clear sign of how quickly the field is evolving,” said Megan Bickford, an AI operations specialist at Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU).

Before she transitioned to the university’s AI team, Bickford was a member of SNHU Career Services, where she observed the ways in which AI is reshaping the job market. This led her to found an AI committee at SNHU intended to help the Career Services team prepare learners for the future career landscape.

Bickford said some of the new career opportunities related to AI include:

New Roles

You might research some of these new titles:

• AI compliance officer
• AI entrepreneur
• AI market research analyst
• AI sales consultant
• Prompt engineer

Entry-level Roles

If you’re just joining the workforce or pivoting your career, consider jobs such as:

• AI ethics analyst
• AI product analyst
• Data scientist I
• Junior machine learning engineer

Specialized Roles

If you're already immersed in a technical field, such as computer science, some highly specialized careers in AI include:

• AI and data scientist
• AI software developer
• Machine learning engineer

Read more about the intersection of computer science and AI.

AI-adjacent Roles

Many roles increasingly engage with AI, but it may not be apparent from the job title. AI is making its way into nearly every industry, meaning you might consider the following applications:

• AI-assisted healthcare
• AI-driven marketing strategies
• Cybersecurity protections from AI-enabled threats
• Ethical AI in criminal justice

“The key takeaway is that AI isn’t just generating new technical jobs. It’s transforming work itself,” Bickford said. “By learning how to apply AI responsibly and creatively within your field of interest, you can position yourself for both existing AI-focused roles and new opportunities that emerge as industries continue to innovate.”

Is Artificial Intelligence a Good Career Path?

AI is a good career path because it's reshaping every profession, according to Bickford. It's creating opportunities across all industries for humans to amplify their strengths and skills in new ways.

Because AI is redefining roles and work itself across a range of industries, AI literacy is becoming a highly sought-after skill. A 2025 Resume Genius survey among 1,000 hiring managers revealed that 80% of respondents prioritized AI skills.

David Humphreys, a director of AI integration at SNHU, likened this AI revolution to another technological change that shook up the world of work: computers.

“I would say that most careers can use AI tools, similarly to how most require the use of computers,” he said. "I would encourage career seekers to think about the type of work they would like to do and see how they can fit AI into that work rather than the other way around.”

Humphreys has worked within education, technology and media for the past decade and is currently focused on how to embed AI into curriculum, operations and strategy at SNHU.

While the future of AI and long-term impacts can be difficult to predict, he said workforce disruptions are already happening.

Just three years after generative AI made its debut, nearly 90% of organizations are regularly using it, according to a 2025 survey by McKinsey & Company. The report also showed that more than a quarter of respondents representing organizations with more than a billion dollars in annual revenue hired the following AI-related roles within the past year:

• AI data scientists
• AI product owners/managers
• Data architects and engineers
• Machine learning engineers
• Software engineers

“AI and machine learning can be excellent career paths, especially if they align with your interests and strengths,” Bickford said.

Adding AI to Your Career

You don’t have to be a tech wiz or enthralled by algorithms to build a successful career in AI. Bickford and Humphreys encourage you to look closer to home first.

“AI is opening doors to new careers, but more importantly, it’s expanding what’s possible within existing ones,” Bickford said.

For instance, if you currently work in finance or are interested in it, you might explore how AI can be responsibly and effectively used within that field.

And regardless of your desired role, Bickford said AI can be used to:

• Complement your skills
• Enhance decision-making
• Improve outcomes/impact
• Personalize experiences
• Solve problems

“The real advantage comes from combining your passions with AI knowledge, positioning yourself in a niche where technology and your expertise meet to create meaningful, future-ready opportunities,” she said.

Read more: How to Learn Artificial Intelligence (Plus Helpful Courses and Skills)

How to Get Into Artificial Intelligence

If you're wondering how to get into AI, you may need to earn a specific degree. A certification or course may also be suitable. It all depends on the role you choose to pursue.

Degrees Related to AI

Technical roles may require a computer science, data science or statistics background, Bickford noted. (SNHU does not currently offer a data science or statistics degree, although you may take courses related to them in other programs.)

Some programs will offer an AI concentration, allowing you to explore AI through the context of your chosen program. At SNHU, for example, you have the option to earn a bachelor's in cybersecurity with a concentration in generative AI. At the graduate level, you could get a master's in computer science with a concentration in artificial intelligence.

If you're looking to land your first AI career, Bickford recommends pursuing an internship. Internships can help you get hands-on experience in the field while you're still a student.

"From there, you can look for entry-level roles in your area of interest or explore opportunities to apply AI in your current job or contributing to AI projects your organization is already running," she said.

Learn more: What is the Best Degree for an Artificial Intelligence Career?

AI Courses

If you're looking to work with AI more generally in what Bickford calls an "AI-adjacent role," you might consider earning a certification. "Recognized AI certifications are a great way to build foundational or intermediate knowledge and demonstrate your skills to employers," she said.

At SNHU, you can receive a Generative AI Practitioner badge through a 6-week skills-based course. Alternatively, you might choose to add an undergraduate-level AI course to your schedule — such as "Introduction to AI Literacy," "Introduction to Responsible AI" or "AI in Practice."

Keep reading: Are Artificial Intelligence Courses Worth It?

As you launch your career in AI or in an AI-adjacent role, it's also critical to keep honing your human skills, Bickford said, including your:

• Contextual understanding
• Empathy
• Interpersonal communications
• Judgement

"Combining these uniquely human skills with AI knowledge is what will truly set you apart and make you successful in this evolving field," she said.

Rebecca LeBoeuf Blanchette '18 '22G is a writer at Southern New Hampshire University, where she fulfills her love of learning daily through conversations with professionals across a range of fields. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in Communication with a minor in Professional Writing at SNHU’s campus in Manchester, New Hampshire, and followed her love of storytelling into the online Master of Arts in English and Creative Writing at SNHU. Connect with her on LinkedIn.