News

AWS Tops AI Skills Ranking in Stanford Report

• By David Ramel
• 04/16/2025

The Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud fared well in the new AI Index Report from the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI).

In fact, AWS topped one ranking that identified the most defining skills for tech professionals on LinkedIn, and also ranked highly in a separate list of the top 10 specialized skills cited in U.S. AI job postings.

The Artificial Intelligence Index Report 2025 is a comprehensive, data-driven overview of the global AI landscape, helping policymakers, researchers, industry leaders, and the public understand the trajectory, impact, and governance of AI.

Of interest to AWSInsider readers is the top ranking in a LinkedIn-based analysis that identified AWS as the most defining skill among U.S. LinkedIn members in the technology, information, and media industry.

The report also includes a data set from labor analytics firm Lightcast, comparing the top 10 specialized skills required in U.S. AI job postings from two time periods: 2012-2014 (used as a baseline), and 2024. This comparison shows how employer demand for AI-related skills has evolved over the past decade, highlighting both rising technologies and shifting priorities in the AI job market.

This ranking is dominated by data science-related skills, but AWS stands out as the only cloud skill -- and also boasts the highest percentage increase from those two time periods, a whopping 1,778%.

Several key trends likely drove the huge spike in AWS demand, nearly three times the percentage increase of the next-highest increase. Such trends might include the growing adoption of cloud-native AI for training and inference, the expansion of AWS's AI offerings like SageMaker, Bedrock, and Nova Pro into a full-service platform, and the increasing complexity of AI pipelines that require the kind of scalable infrastructure AWS excels at providing.

The Amazon cloud also appears in other data points throughout the comprehensive, data-laden report.

AWS has also stood out in other reports recently, as noted in last month's article, "AWS Is Strongest Public Cloud Platform, Research Report Says", referring to the Forrester Wave report for Q4 2024. The month before that, it was "AWS Leads Cloud Giants in Planned AI Spending."

As far as the new report published last week, here is a summary of the key takeaways:

• AI performance on demanding benchmarks continues to improve. Advanced AI systems are achieving higher scores on challenging benchmarks, indicating rapid progress in capabilities.
• AI is increasingly embedded in everyday life. AI technologies are becoming more prevalent in daily applications, from healthcare to transportation.
• Business is all in on AI, fueling record investment and usage, as research continues to show strong productivity impacts. Companies are investing heavily in AI, with studies confirming its positive effects on productivity.
• The U.S. still leads in producing top AI models -- but China is closing the performance gap. While the U.S. remains a leader in AI model development, China's advancements are rapidly narrowing the gap.
• The responsible AI ecosystem evolves -- unevenly. Efforts to implement responsible AI practices are growing but remain inconsistent across organizations.
• AI is reshaping science and medicine. AI is playing a transformative role in scientific research and medical advancements.
• AI education is expanding globally. Educational programs and courses focused on AI are proliferating worldwide.
• AI regulation is increasing, especially at the state level in the U.S. Legislative activities concerning AI are intensifying, particularly within individual U.S. states.
• Public opinion on AI is cautiously optimistic. People are generally hopeful about AI's benefits but remain wary of potential risks.
• AI incidents are on the rise. Reports of AI-related issues and mishaps are increasing, highlighting the need for robust oversight.
• AI earns top honors for its impact on science. AI's contributions to scientific discoveries are being recognized with prestigious awards.
• Complex reasoning remains a challenge. Despite advancements, AI systems still struggle with tasks requiring intricate reasoning.