Putting It All Together

Req 8 — AI Careers

Career Exploration. Do ONE of the following:

8a.

Identify three career opportunities that would use skills and knowledge in artificial intelligence or automation. Pick one and research the training, education, certification requirements, experience, and expenses associated with entering the field. Research the prospects for employment, starting salary, advancement opportunities, and career goals associated with this career. Discuss what you learned with your counselor and whether you might be interested in this career.

8b.

Interview an artificial intelligence or automation professional. Learn about their day-to-day work, the challenges they face, and their vision for the future of artificial intelligence or automation. Inquire about training, education, certification requirements, experience, and expenses associated with entering the field. Share what you learned with your counselor.

The final requirement asks you to explore what a career in AI or automation looks like. Whether you research a career on your own (8A) or interview a professional (8B), you will discover that AI careers are some of the fastest-growing, most in-demand, and highest-paying fields in the world today. And many of them did not even exist ten years ago.

AI Career Landscape

Before you choose your option, take a look at the broad landscape of AI and automation careers. These are not all “computer programmer” jobs — the field is remarkably diverse.

Technical Careers

These roles involve building, training, and maintaining AI systems:

Career	What They Do	Typical Education	Salary Range
Machine Learning Engineer	Design and build AI models that learn from data	Bachelor’s or Master’s in CS, Math, or Engineering	$110,000–$200,000+
Data Scientist	Analyze large datasets to find patterns and insights	Bachelor’s or Master’s in Data Science, Statistics, or CS	$95,000–$165,000
AI Research Scientist	Push the boundaries of what AI can do through original research	Ph.D. in Computer Science, Mathematics, or related field	$120,000–$250,000+
Robotics Engineer	Design and program robots that use AI to interact with the physical world	Bachelor’s or Master’s in Robotics, Mechanical, or Electrical Engineering	$90,000–$160,000
NLP Engineer	Build systems that understand and generate human language	Bachelor’s or Master’s in CS or Computational Linguistics	$100,000–$180,000

Applied and Creative Careers

These roles use AI as a tool within another field:

Career	What They Do	Typical Education	Salary Range
Prompt Engineer	Craft effective prompts to get the best results from AI systems	Varies — strong writing and analytical skills	$80,000–$150,000
AI Product Manager	Guide the development of AI-powered products and features	Bachelor’s in Business, CS, or related field + experience	$100,000–$180,000
AI Ethics Specialist	Ensure AI systems are fair, transparent, and used responsibly	Bachelor’s or Master’s in Ethics, Philosophy, Law, or CS	$90,000–$160,000
AI in Healthcare	Apply AI to medical diagnosis, drug discovery, and patient care	Medical degree or Master’s/Ph.D. in Biomedical Informatics	$100,000–$200,000+
Automation Specialist	Design and implement automated workflows for businesses	Bachelor’s in IT, CS, or Business + certifications	$75,000–$130,000

Emerging Careers

These roles are brand new and growing rapidly:

AI Trainer — Provides feedback to improve AI models by rating and correcting their outputs
AI Auditor — Reviews AI systems for bias, errors, and compliance with regulations
Synthetic Media Specialist — Creates AI-generated content (images, video, audio) for entertainment and marketing
AI Safety Researcher — Studies how to make AI systems safe and aligned with human values
Human-AI Interaction Designer — Designs the interfaces between humans and AI systems

Option A: Career Research

If you choose this option, you will identify three AI or automation careers and then do a deep dive on one of them. Here is a framework to guide your research:

Step 1: Pick Three Careers

Choose three careers from the lists above (or find others that interest you). For each one, write a brief description of what the role involves and why it caught your attention.

Step 2: Select One for Deep Research

Pick the career that interests you most and research the following:

A Scout in uniform sitting across from a professional in a modern office or video call setup, notebook open, taking notes during an interview about AI careers.

Career Research Checklist

Gather information on each of these:

Education required: What degree(s) do you need? What should you major in?
Certifications: Are there professional certifications that help? (e.g., AWS Machine Learning, Google TensorFlow, CompTIA)
Training and experience: Do you need internships, apprenticeships, or prior work experience?
Expenses: What does the education cost? Are scholarships available?
Employment prospects: How many jobs are available? Is demand growing or shrinking?
Starting salary: What can you expect to earn in your first job?
Advancement opportunities: What does the career ladder look like? Where can you go from the entry-level position?
Day-to-day work: What does a typical workday look like?
Skills needed: What technical and soft skills are most important?

Where to Research

A Scout at a library or study space with books and a laptop, researching AI careers. The laptop screen shows a career website. Focused, studious atmosphere.

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — Computer and IT Occupations Official government data on job outlook, salaries, education requirements, and more for technology careers. AI4ALL — Open Learning A nonprofit working to increase diversity and inclusion in AI education, with free learning resources. Coursera — Artificial Intelligence Salary Guide A detailed breakdown of AI career salaries by role, experience level, and location.

Option B: Interview a Professional

If you choose this option, you will find and interview someone who works in AI or automation. This can be incredibly valuable — hearing directly from someone in the field gives you insights that no website can provide.

Finding Someone to Interview

Ask your counselor — They may know AI professionals or can connect you with someone
Ask family and friends — Someone’s parent, neighbor, or coworker may work in tech
Contact local companies — Many tech professionals are happy to talk to students, especially Scouts
Reach out to universities — Computer science professors or graduate students working on AI research
LinkedIn — With a parent’s help, you can search for AI professionals in your area and send a polite message

Interview Questions

Here are questions to guide your conversation. You do not need to ask all of them — pick the ones most relevant to the person’s role:

Interview Question Guide

Choose 8-10 questions from this list:

What is your job title and what does your company do?
What does a typical day or week look like in your role?
How did you get into this field? What was your career path?
What education and training did you complete?
Are there certifications that helped you in your career?
What skills are most important for success in your role?
What is the most challenging part of your job?
What is the most rewarding part?
How has the field changed since you started?
Where do you see AI or automation heading in the next 5-10 years?
What advice would you give to a young person interested in this field?
What should students focus on now to prepare for AI careers?
Are there ethical concerns in your work? How do you handle them?

The Path Forward

No matter which option you choose, the key takeaway from this requirement is that AI careers are not just about coding. They require creativity, ethics, communication, problem-solving, and the ability to work with people. The skills you have been building throughout this entire merit badge — critical thinking, ethical reasoning, clear communication, and hands-on experimentation — are exactly the skills that AI employers are looking for.

And here is the exciting part: the AI field is still young. Many of the most important AI careers of 2035 probably do not exist yet. By learning about AI now, you are preparing yourself for opportunities that have not even been invented.