Artificial intelligence is the field of studying and developing machines that can replicate human intelligence. There are many Artificial Intelligence applications in different industries, including social media, manufacturing, and healthcare. Due to its numerous applications, the demand for AI professionals is sky-rocketing. One of the most prominent AI roles in different organizations is AI engineer. Companies actively look for AI engineers as they help them develop AI-based solutions and products. If you are looking for a high-paying career in the tech sector, pursuing AI engineering would be the right choice.

The following article will throw light on the role of an AI engineer. You’ll learn the average AI engineer salary in India and become an AI Engineer as we’ll cover the different aspects of this profession.

Introduction

Did you know that the Greeks had myths of intelligent robots and artificial beings similar to modern artificial intelligence? Although artificial intelligence has become quite popular recently, a broader concept has been in existence since the 10th century BC. John McCarthy, who is considered the Father of Artificial Intelligence, coined the term in 1955. Now, the professionals who develop solutions based on artificial intelligence are called AI engineers. They help companies and organizations with researching, developing, testing, and deploying AI solutions.

(Source)

Experts valued the global artificial intelligence market size at $39.9 billion in 2019 and expect this field to grow at a CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) of 42.2% from 2020 to 2027. The expected CAGR of this field is significantly higher than most other industries because more and more companies are adopting AI technologies to enhance their operations. Hence, the demand for the role of AI engineer is sky-rocketing.

Table of Contents

1. How to Become an AI Engineer?
2. Artificial Intelligence (AI) Engineer Responsibilities
3. Skills Required to Become an AI Engineer
4. Artificial Intelligence Engineer Salary, Jobs & Companies Hiring
5. FAQs – Frequently Asked Questions
6. Concluding Thoughts

AnalytixLabs has been an industry leader in the Indian higher education sector since 2011. It has helped over 15,000 students learn and develop in-demand skills to pursue their dream jobs. It offers courses in many sectors, including artificial intelligence, big data, data science, and machine learning.

How to Become an AI Engineer?

The role of an AI engineer is quite an advanced one. AI engineers are experts in artificial intelligence, deep learning, machine learning, programming, and neural networks. Moreover, they must understand the requirements of their organization to create the necessary solutions that match their goals. AI engineers work with a team of professionals, so they must also have strong communication and collaboration skills.

Due to the complex nature of this role, many aspirants believe the answer to ‘how to become an AI engineer’ is very complicated. However, the field of artificial intelligence and machine learning is relatively new. Hence, starting a career in this field is quite simple.

You can start with getting a degree in mathematics, statistics, or computer science. Having a degree in one of these subjects would help you build a strong foundation. It would make you familiar with the fundamental concepts of mathematics and data modeling, which would help you a lot as you’ll learn more advanced concepts about AI.

However, even if you don’t have a degree in these subjects, you can become an AI engineer by taking an AI and ML course. Taking such a course would teach you the advanced concepts of artificial intelligence and its related technologies such as ML algorithms and programming. Moreover, an AI course would help you learn all the required skills for becoming an AI professional in a step-by-step manner, as it would provide you with a well-structured curriculum under the aegis of a seasoned mentor.

Due to the current pandemic, it would be best to take an online artificial intelligence course. That’s because an online course would let you learn safely from the comfort of your home at your own pace. Any lockdown or curfew wouldn’t interrupt your learning when you’re taking an online course. On top of that, AI courses help you test your knowledge of what you’ve learned through different projects and assignments.

Finally, taking a course would certify you as an AI expert, making it easier for you to stand out among your peers. Recruiters look for certified professionals in this field as it helps them pick suitable candidates efficiently.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) Engineer Responsibilities

Artificial intelligence engineers are responsible for developing, training, and testing advanced networks of machine learning algorithms that make up the AI of particular software. They aim to create a solution that replicates the behavior of the human brain. Their created solution must match the requirements of their organization. The role of an AI and ML engineer requires you to be familiar with multiple technologies and skills. As an artificial intelligence engineer, you’d be locating and pulling data from different sources to create and test machine learning models. You’d also be using API (application program interface) calls to implement your AI solutions.

What Does an AI Engineer Do?

Apart from the fundamental duties of this role we discussed before, there are several additional responsibilities you would have to carry out as an AI and ML engineer:

• Coordinate and collaborate with other team members
• Plan, create and manage the development process for your AI solution
• Build the necessary infrastructure of your AI-based product
• Automate the necessary processes for the data science team of your organization
• Perform statistical analysis and interpret the results to help your organization make better-informed decisions
• Transform machine learning models into APIs that other solutions can interact with
• Use different programming algorithms to build, test and release AI models on a scale
• Develop infrastructures for data ingestion and transformation
• Explain the benefits of AI models and implementations to various internal and external stakeholders

Skills Required to Become an AI Engineer

To pursue a career in this field, you’ll need to develop several crucial skills. Here are the most important skills required to become an AI and ML engineer:

Programming

To create your AI models, you’d need to use various programming languages such as Java, C++, Python, and R. This is why you must be familiar with these languages. AI engineers must also have robust coding skills to code and develop their models quickly without errors. You must also be familiar with different machine learning libraries in Python as they are vital for data modelings, such as NumPy, SciPy, Scikit-Learn, and OpenCV.

Statistics, Linear Algebra, and Probability

AI models are based on algorithms, which is a concept that uses statistics, calculus, and algebra. Hence, it would help if you were well-acquainted with these subjects to have a strong foundation. Having a good understanding of statistics and algebra would help you understand different algorithms more effectively. Similarly, many algorithms used in AI and ML rely on probability. So, you must also be familiar with the basics and applications of probability.

Machine Learning Algorithms

You must know about different machine learning algorithms such as KNN, Linear regression, Logistic regression, Naive Bayes, Support Vector Machine, etc. You should know the fundamental theory behind the workings of these algorithms and how you can use them. Different ML algorithms have different applications, which is why you must be familiar with all of them.

Soft Skills

AI engineers work in teams. They have to collaborate with other professionals to complete their projects. Hence, it’s vital to have good communication skills as an AI engineer. This role would also require you to have effective problem-solving and analytical skills so you can overcome any challenge you might face while developing and implementing AI solutions.

You may also like to read: Artificial Intelligence Tutorial – Guide For Beginners

Artificial Intelligence Engineer Salary, Jobs & Companies

AI Engineer Salary in India:

According to Glassdoor, the average AI engineer salary is INR 9 lakhs per annum. Pay for this field ranges from INR 4 lakhs p.a. and can move up to INR 20lakhs p.a. depending on multiple factors such as experience, skills, location, and employer. Certainly, the pay for this role is significantly high in comparison to others. (Source)

Source: Glassdoor

Your experience level plays a huge role here in determining your salary in this field. AI and ML engineers with less than a year of experience earn around 4-5 lakhs per annum. Similarly, professionals in this field with 1-4 years of experience make INR 9 lakh p.a on average. Those with years of experience (5-9 years) can earn INR 10-15 lakhs p.a on average, while those with 10+ years of experience earn more than INR 20 lakh per annum on average.

AI Engineering Roles You can Pursue:

Apart from becoming an AI engineer, you can pursue many other roles in this field. Here are some of the prominent ones amongst them:

Business intelligence Developer

A business intelligence developer, also known as a BI developer, is responsible for working with databases in an organization. He/she has to create BI tools and reports such as dimensional analyses and physical data models. The primary responsibility of this role is to develop and enhance the IT implementations within the organization. BI developers are responsible for designing, coding, testing, and aggregating SQL queries to offer the necessary information to their users.

What is the average salary for this role?

The average pay in this field is INR 5.43 lakh per annum. A BI developer’s salary starts from INR 2.92 lakh per annum and goes up to INR 10 lakh per annum. (Source)

AI Architect

AI architects are responsible for creating and managing the architecture of their organization by using AI technology frameworks. They have to understand the requirements of their organization and create solutions that match the same. This means they have to plan the implementation of the solutions, select the correct technologies and evaluate the effectiveness of their organization’s architecture. AI architects must be familiar with various tools and technologies used in the AI industry.

What is the average salary for this role?

The average salary of an AI architect in India is INR 4.24 lakh per annum.