Second Sunday Series — Editor’s Note: This is the third of 12 columns on AI and work, which will appear the second Sunday of each month, from September through August.

You’ve been hearing about AI (artificial intelligence) for years now, and not just from me. Are you ready to join the ranks of people who actually work with AI?

I’m not talking about the growing numbers who use AI in some aspect of their work — we’ll keep that conversation for a later segment of this 12-part series.

Rather, I’m talking about the people who are involved at a deeper, more developmental level. They may invent, build, troubleshoot, sell or distribute artificial intelligence systems and products. Or they may ride herd on those teams, as attorneys or compliance officers. Perhaps they’re part of the sales force, or they’re the trainers or publicists who bring the message.

And that’s just in the private sector. Government use of AI experts is also growing, in departments and agencies ranging from the Department of Defense to the Treasury.

So where do you fit in this picture? The answer begins with your interests. If you are a technology-minded person, it’s logical to explore roles that include developing AI technology. Conversely, individuals who prefer working with people or ideas will do best by leveraging those natural aptitudes in the AI world.

If that seems obvious, trust me it’s not. It’s too easy to think that growth in artificial intelligence means a need for coders, just as we think of nurses when we hear there’s a boom in hospital hiring. In both cases, however, the actual need is for workers in multiple disciplines and skill levels.

By starting with your own interest area — or your current career path — you can explore potential crossovers to jobs based on artificial intelligence. A good first step is to review the jobs currently advertised as being AI-related.

The idea isn’t to jump in with an application, although that may come later. Rather, this exercise is meant to provide information about the range of positions and hiring organizations that might be active in this area.

To give you a head start, the following is what computing solutions specialists Getac presented in an October news release about their look at the postings of 68 companies offering AI-related jobs.

First, Microsoft and Meta had the most postings, at 1,335 and 1,232 respectively. That makes sense, given the core business for each of these companies. Other organizations in the top 10 might surprise you, however: Deloitte, Accenture, Mount Sinai Health System, Georgia Institute of Technology, and the U.S. Department of Treasury.

The variety of these organizations is noteworthy. That consulting and accounting, health care, higher education and government would each be posting for hundreds of AI-related jobs indicates how deeply artificial intelligence has penetrated into non-technology organizations.

If you would like to see the release and related information on how their study was conducted, email me and I will forward that to you. Otherwise, you can try the link supplied by Getac: https://www.getac.com/us/industries/utilities/. Although this leads to the company and not the study, it’s worth the trip to see another organization with an AI focus.

When you consider becoming an AI employee, be sure to include training options in your exploration. While you may not need an extensive program — particularly if you’re not planning to write code for the systems — you’ll certainly benefit from at least an introductory session on the principles and primary AI tools. This will help you determine more clearly if this field is a good fit.

Even if you don’t plan to switch career paths to join the ranks of AI professionals, you’ll still likely need to adopt and adapt.

Adopt, that is, whichever AI-driven processes may be introduced to your workplace. And adapt, of course, to the use of artificial intelligence overall. If AI becomes more ubiquitous (as it likely will), gaining early familiarity could help secure your position.

I won’t say it’s a case of eat or be eaten, because that’s both overly dramatic and premature. But when you see a big wave coming, it only makes sense to put on your swim trunks or move to higher ground.

Next up: Meet me here in a month and we’ll take a look at ChatGPT, currently one of the most popular AI tools used in the workplace.

Amy Lindgren owns a career consulting firm in St. Paul. She can be reached at alindgren@prototypecareerservice.com.