According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were approximately 8.6 million STEM jobs in May 2015, with the highest jobs in software development, user support, and systems analysts. Despite the high number of jobs, the lack of skilled workers in the labor force allow these positions to go unfilled. To make matters worse, the existing STEM workforce lacks diversity among women and minorities, not representing the emerging workforce of women and underrepresented groups.
Over ten years ago, just a couple of months into starting my first job, I was asked by leadership to develop and deliver a presentation on artificial intelligence (AI). During that time, AI was pretty much unknown in our industry except among a few visionary leaders.