Demand for Ai professionals grows by 40%

In the first four months of 2026, the demand for professionals with Ai skills is growing by 40 per cent compared to the same period in 2025, while new professionals are being created to regulate their use. Market research is focusing on AI Engineers, Data Engineers and Generative AI Specialists. In parallel, interest in governance and compliance skills is growing, so much so that figures such as AI Governance or Compliance Specialist are emerging to oversee accountability, transparency, risk management and data protection. The entry into force of the first European Union law on AI, scheduled for August 2026, will mark a turning point in terms of transparency, supervision and control of automated systems. Moreover, more than half (52%) of professionals already use generative AI in their work, almost ten points more than the 43% in 2024, despite there being a gap in the training offered by companies. This is what emerges from the latest Salary Guide by Hays Italia, the personnel selection and human resources solutions company, which shows that Italian companies are very active on the subject: the use of generative AI among professionals has more than doubled in Italia in the last three years, rising from 20% in 2023 to 43% in 2024, reaching 52% in 2025.

The growth in demand, however, also highlights an increasingly evident gap on the training front. If today more than half of professionals say they regularly use generative AI tools, 77% would be willing to participate in dedicated workshops or training courses. Fabiano Peveralli, Director of Hays Italia, explains how AI "is increasingly perceived as a lever for increasing productivity and efficiency, innovation and competitiveness. To fully exploit its potential, we need to accompany its diffusion with continuous training and updating. In any case, there is a direct impact on the labour market because there is a growing demand for specialised skills, both on the technological front and on that of governance and compliance. Those who do not accelerate now on this front will soon accumulate a delay that will be difficult to make up'.

The current challenge 'is not just to introduce AI into processes, but to do so in a conscious and responsible manner,' Peveralli interprets. 'This means integrating technology as a work tool to support people, without replacing their role. The challenge is to create the conditions for AI to contribute to concretely improving the quality of work, decision-making capacity, and corporate competitiveness'. According to the Hays Salary Guide 2026, professionals recognise an increasingly concrete impact of Ai in their work: 63% indicate as the main benefit the increase in productivity and efficiency, followed by support in data analysis (55%) and the ability to generate ideas or creative content (38%). A disruptive scenario on employment levels, however, does not yet emerge. Among companies, 68% say they are little or not at all concerned about the potential risks of AI on future job opportunities, while 32% express a higher level of concern. From the perspective of workers, on the other hand, concern tends to be concentrated in the middle and final stages of their careers, while a more confident attitude towards technological change prevails among younger workers: 84% of them (20-29 years old) say they are little or not at all concerned.