According to a recent report, the D.C. area has surpassed the Bay Area in the number of AI-related jobs.
These new jobs are a clear indication of how emerging technology is already impacting Arlington and its surrounding areas, according to a Tuesday report from real estate firm JLL.
The report predicts that numerous data centers in the region will need to undergo AI-centric upgrades to meet industry requirements, and AI lobbying efforts to address potential regulations are expected to increase. He points out that the number is already increasing rapidly.
“The Bay Area has long been known as a hotbed for AI product development, and tech companies are weathering economic uncertainty by cutting staff,” the report said. According to the report, there were 1,110 AI-related posts in the Washington, DC, metropolitan area as of December, far exceeding the 1,076 posts in the Bay Area.
“Metro DC's technology ecosystem, on the other hand, is less susceptible to market fluctuations and stabilized by federal spending and government contracts,” JLL wrote.
Only 155 of these jobs list Arlington as a location, but JLL researcher Kate Payne notes that this is due to its proximity to Washington, DC. He tells ARLnow that many Arlington employers hire from out of state and often list their location as “Washington, DC.”
“There are nuances in the data and how jobs are posted and may not accurately reflect reality,” Payne said.
Further afield, Fairfax County and the City of Fairfax have even more AI-related jobs, 437.
According to the report, there are multiple industries in the D.C. region that are driving demand for AI specialists, including defense, healthcare and finance, which are well-represented in Arlington's startup scene.
While the Washington, D.C., and Gulf Coast regions are neck and neck, New York City, the region with the next highest demand for AI workers, is a distant third with 574 jobs.
Beyond job creation, AI is expected to impact data centers in the region. Northern Virginia has more data centers than anywhere else in the world, and data center leasing has skyrocketed in the last year, but JLL says these centers are meeting AI-specific requirements, such as increased power consumption. You still have to adapt to meet your needs.
“As the world's largest data center market by a factor of three, Northern Virginia will become the international epicenter of the AI-powered demand curve in the short and long term,” JLL's report states.
Lobbying around AI is also on the rise as lawmakers, including Rep. Don Beyer of Arlington, seek to pass a number of laws regulating the industry. According to JLL, the number of organizations seeking to influence AI policy skyrocketed in 2023, rising from 129 companies in the first quarter of the year to 335 companies in the second quarter.
“The future of AI will undoubtedly depend on the regulatory environment, which is currently uncharted territory,” the report said. “The legal situation becomes even more complex.” [are] Numerous copyright disputes make their way through the judicial system. As a result, lobbying firms are competing to represent the industry. ”
The report estimates that businesses, nonprofits, universities, trade associations, and other organizations spent $569 million on federal AI lobbying efforts in the first three quarters of last year.
It took several years for the region to become a major destination for people with an AI background. Over the past five years, the number of AI-related jobs in the Washington, DC area has more than tripled, according to JLL's Fall 2023 report.
Companies like Amazon have established a large presence in Arlington in recent years, and a fall report noted that the Department of Defense is also investing large sums of money in AI.
The Department of Defense requested $1.8 billion in the 2024 budget for capacity, workforce development, and data management efforts related to rapidly evolving technologies. Not to mention requests from intelligence agencies.
JLL found that as of last fall, nearly half of AI jobs in the D.C. area required clearance for top secret or classified classified information.
Only 15% of AI jobs in the region were remote. That could be good news for places like Arlington, which is adjusting to an economic climate that has seen many remote workers leave for places with lower costs of living.