New jobs like AI engineers popular in China: Survey

BEIJING - Chinese taking part in a recent survey showed a keen interest in new jobs in emerging sectors such as artificial intelligence (AI) engineers.

The survey, conducted by the China Youth Daily, found that 78 percent of the over 2,000 respondents said they would like to take jobs in AI, big data and the internet of things (IoT).

Nearly 74 percent of respondents said they were optimistic about the prospect of such jobs.

The survey comes after authorities added 13 new job categories to the government's job catalog, mainly in emerging sectors like AI, big data and IoT.

Lin Xinqi, a professor at Renmin University of China, said the move was in line with economic and social development needs and would be very conducive to establishing employment norms in the new sectors.

More than 65 percent of respondents said many people around them had either started working in the new sectors or were prepared to join.

"IoT is a sector foreseen to experience rapid growth," said Fan Zhe, a college student majoring in IoT. "I feel there will be lots of job opportunities, and I will have additional advantage because of my major."