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AI Skills-to-Job Map

Your AI Skills, Against Real ID/LXD Job Listings

See where you stand against what employers actually require — in their own hiring language, from real 2026 job listings. About 5 minutes. Nothing to unlock.

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What we found reading the listings, and what the research says
  • Design expertise and AI, together. Employers aren't asking designers to become AI engineers. The learning-science and design requirements sit right beside the AI ones, in the same postings.
  • AI use plus judgment. AI rarely shows up as “just use the tool.” It's use it and evaluate what it gives you, use it responsibly, keep a person in the loop.
  • Helping others learn AI. A good number of roles are about helping other people learn to work with AI.

This shift isn't everywhere. Some large employers' postings still say nothing about AI. The map below shows the actual listings and when each was collected.

What the research says

  • Start with the learning problem, then choose the AI. UNESCO (2026) describes defining the problem before choosing the technology as a core principle of designing AI for education, because it shows where AI helps and where it may not be the answer. The October 2026 listings fit this: employers asked for design expertise and AI together.
  • Critical thinking matters more as AI use spreads. An OECD paper (Köksal-Oudot, 2026) reports that critical thinking, creativity, and collaboration become more important as people work with AI systems. In the listings, this appeared as AI use plus judgment about what it produces.
  • Most people need AI literacy, not advanced AI skills. The same OECD paper (Köksal-Oudot, 2026) reported that workers with advanced AI skills were around 1% of the workforce, and that most workers need only enough literacy to use and question AI well. Several listings were for roles that help other people learn to use AI.
  • Training roles were projected to keep growing. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2026) projected 11 percent growth for training and development specialists from 2025 to 2035. That is the closest federal category to corporate instructional design, which BLS does not count separately.

As of October 2026. The listing patterns come from the October 2026 refresh of the map.

References

Köksal-Oudot, E. (2026). Skills in the AI age (OECD Artificial Intelligence Papers, No. 60). OECD Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1787/972bd15e-en

UNESCO. (2026, October 2). Start with defining the problem, not the algorithm: Designing AI for education. https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/start-defining-problem-not-algorithm-designing-ai-education

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2026). Training and development specialists. In Occupational outlook handbook. https://www.bls.gov/ooh/business-and-financial/training-and-development-specialists.htm

1 · Choose your closest job situation and map your current AI skills and knowledge against current actual ID/LXD job listings to determine your next steps.

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