Talk of a chronic and deepening skills shortage in AI has been endemic for several years, and apparently backed up by numerous reports from supposedly reputable analysts. Yet look beneath the bonnet and most of these reports are founded on hot air with little solid evidence for the numbers given. There are of course shortages of skills in some specific sectors where AI is being applied, but look closely and these are mostly for engineers trained in a particular discipline. The belief in a severe shortage of AI is sustained partly by the hype sweeping the field itself and associated with vested interests on the part of the parties concerned. AI practitioners themselves naturally want to instill a belief…