AI Agent Trends: Skills and Workforce Insights for 2024

AI Agents: The Strategic Shift Reshaping Workforces

Imagine a future where AI agents work alongside us—not as replacements but as powerful allies in achieving strategic goals. Picture intelligent systems that adapt, learn, and tackle complex challenges, freeing us to focus on growth and innovation. This future, powered by agentic AI, is already taking shape and set to revolutionize business operations.

Update: OpenAI’s planned release of "Operator," an advanced AI agent capable of autonomously performing multi-step tasks like coding and travel booking, is now expected in January 2025. This tool represents the industry’s accelerating shift toward AI agents that can manage complex tasks across digital platforms. Operating in a web browser and designed for minimal supervision, "Operator" will be introduced as a research preview and through API access for developers.

This development underscores the tech sector’s commitment to creating AI agents capable of high-level, autonomous interactions, complementing similar tools launched by Anthropic and Microsoft. According to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, the introduction of agents could mark the "next giant breakthrough" in AI, a sentiment echoed by ongoing research efforts from tech giants like Google and Microsoft, who are also racing to create agents that assist users across various tasks and platforms.

Companies need solutions that evolve with changing environments, manage intricate tasks, and make data-driven decisions with minimal human input. Agentic AI is emerging as the pivotal force, redefining how we think about efficiency, strategy, and even organizational roles.

Getting a practical understanding of agentic AI is useful for leaders and management professionals. It’s not just about adopting new tech; it’s about reimagining how we structure our organizations, empower our teams, and pursue goals. By aligning AI advancements with strategic objectives, businesses can confidently navigate the AI-driven landscape, creating dynamic, responsive organizations ready for whatever comes next.

Let's discuss the current talent supply and demand for agentic AI skills, to see what's in store for the future workforce. 

Note: this article is meant to explore these emerging workforce trends generally and should not be used for technical guidance. It explores many new processes, many of which are largely conceptual.

In-Demand Skills for an AI-Powered Workforce

We used Aura workforce analytics, sourced from publicly available data, to study the demand from employers over time for skills sets generally related to agentic AI. Note that this list is neither exhaustive nor includes many proprietary tools and software systems. Instead, we attempted to identify general trends in job demand that may portend changes in the development of agentic systems.

The dataset aggregates skill listings from job postings, offering a snapshot of employers' evolving demands.

By examining these AI job trends, we can better understand where companies are investing and how they are preparing for the future. Companies are prioritizing data infrastructure, automation, and adaptability—vital for integrating agentic AI into daily operations.

Emerging AI Agent Skills: Data-Driven Workforce Insights from Aura

The sharp increase in demand for skills like Process Mining (394% growth) and Data Pipelines (245%) suggests that organizations are prioritizing data infrastructure and process optimization. These skills are essential for building streamlined, data-driven systems, indicating that companies are amassing data and actively seeking ways to analyze and optimize workflows.

This trend may hint at a larger shift: organizations are likely investing heavily in building intelligent systems that can autonomously identify and respond to inefficiencies.

A surge in Transfer Learning and Feature Engineering points to an increasing focus on making AI models adaptable and efficient, capable of transferring knowledge across various applications with minimal retraining.

This demand may reflect a move towards more autonomous, general-purpose AI systems that can quickly adapt to new domains. As businesses invest in adaptable and self-optimizing systems, they might be looking to reduce dependency on highly specialized, narrowly focused AI models in favor of more versatile solutions.

The planned release of "Operator" by OpenAI reflects growing AI capabilities and amplifies demand for skills in automation orchestration, browser-based task execution, and secure API integration. As companies embrace these multi-step AI tools, developers and data engineers will be under increased pressure to streamline workflows that enable agents like Operator to interact seamlessly with complex systems. Skills in secure data handling, adaptable AI programming, and user-interface flexibility will become essential to support and extend these powerful AI agents into everyday business functions.

Automation Skills: Evolving Toward Intelligent Systems

As certain skills mature, companies are shifting their focus toward layering intelligence onto foundational automation. This progression reflects a broader shift towards intelligent systems that support more complex business needs.

Skills such as Robotic Process Automation (RPA) and Data Engineering have shown rapid initial growth, but now appear to be leveling off. This could indicate that many companies have already established baseline automation and data systems, marking a maturation phase in these technologies. RPA, for example, was initially revolutionary in automating repetitive tasks but is now a more common part of business operations.

As companies mature in using RPA and data engineering, they might shift focus to integrating these capabilities within broader, interconnected AI systems. The next wave could involve layering intelligence onto automation, transforming RPA from a simple task automation tool to a component within more complex decision-making AI. This shift might signal the rise of "intelligent automation" that executes tasks, learns, adapts, and even collaborates with human workers and expands their capabilities.

As organizations mature in RPA and data engineering, the focus appears to shift to integrating these systems into broader AI-powered strategies. Businesses can capitalize on intelligent automation by layering advanced analytics and decision-making capabilities onto established automation systems.

From Big Data to Intelligent Insights: AI's Next Phase

The recent drop in demand for Big Data skills (-2.5%) and the decline in Bayesian Inference (-16%) may suggest that traditional data handling and statistical methods may be waning as companies adopt more advanced techniques. The general tech job market compression may also account for some of this.

Big Data, once a hot buzzword, seems to have now been largely absorbed into the broader data science ecosystem, with specialized roles evolving to focus on higher-level insights rather than sheer data management. Meanwhile, Bayesian methods, though still valuable, seem to be outpaced by models that handle uncertainty more efficiently at scale, such as neural networks and probabilistic programming.

This shift might imply employers are now seeking more sophisticated, contextually aware methods to make real-time decisions in uncertain environments.

As the emphasis on big data management fades, companies may focus on deriving actionable insights from smaller, more targeted datasets. This approach aligns with the trend towards agile, efficient AI models capable of running in real-time settings, such as IoT applications and edge computing.

Looking Ahead: A Possible Future in Workforce Demand

If these trends continue, the demand for skills that support adaptability, real-time processing, and autonomous decision-making may grow even stronger. Employers could increasingly seek professionals with experience building flexible data pipelines and intelligent systems that learn and adapt over time.

With Swarm Intelligence (AI agents working together, inspired by social insects) and Game Theory (used to simulate strategic interactions) showing strong initial demand, this may suggest a future in multi-agent systems where AI entities work together or compete strategically. As companies seek to develop more agentic systems capable of complex interactions, demand for skills related to coordination, cooperation, and strategic AI behavior might increase.

In the coming years, we could see rising demand for roles combining technical AI expertise with strategic thinking to build systems that make decisions and operate in dynamic, multi-agent environments. This might signal the beginning of an era where AI systems are expected not just to process data but to navigate complex, human-like decision spaces, potentially within virtual environments or simulations.

These observations hint at an emerging landscape where adaptability, interactivity, and intelligent automation take precedence. Employers seem to be prioritizing skills that can support a new class of AI—one that is flexible, efficient, and capable of complex, autonomous decision-making. This evolution suggests a potential future where AI systems are designed to perform tasks, think, learn, and interact in ways that closely mirror human capabilities.

Skills Listed in Online Profiles: Bridging the Gap Between Demand and Supply

In addition to job postings, we also examined skills listed on profiles. The analysis of skills listed in online professional profiles offers a snapshot of the current talent pool and the readiness of professionals to meet evolving job demands. Skills like Big Data and TensorFlow appear prominently in profiles, with over 500,000 and 300,000 professionals listing them, respectively.

This aligns well with employer demand for foundational data and machine learning skills and also indicates that these fields are well-established among job seekers. Notably, skills such as Deep Learning and User-centered design are also heavily featured, reflecting a strong talent bench in user experience and AI development.

However, certain high-growth skills identified in job postings, like Process Mining and Transfer Learning, are relatively underrepresented in profiles. This mismatch could suggest a skills gap where emerging, specialized competencies are growing in demand faster than professionals are acquiring them.

For example, only around 6,600 professionals list Process Mining, while job postings for this skill show significant and rapid growth. This gap may indicate a need for upskilling and targeted education to align workforce skills with emerging business priorities.

How Aura Supports Your AI Workforce Transition

At Aura, we understand that the future of work is evolving fast. As AI agents reshape organizational structures and workforce dynamics, staying informed and adaptable is essential. Aura’s workforce analytics platform is designed to provide the clarity and context needed to navigate these changes, helping companies make proactive, data-driven decisions as new AI capabilities emerge.

Our platform enables leaders to monitor shifts in workforce trends, understand evolving skill demands, and assess organizational readiness. By leveraging insights from over a billion data points, Aura empowers organizations to adapt strategically—whether in talent planning, operational efficiency, or identifying emerging skill gaps.

Ready to navigate the rise of agentic AI? Schedule a demo with Aura today and leverage workforce analytics to prepare your organization for the future of work.

The following dives deeper into the specific skill areas shaping this potential "agentic" future. By understanding the importance of these skills—from machine learning to natural language processing—organizations can better prepare their structures and workforce to harness the power of agentic AI.