Nurturing Neurodivergent Talent in AI/ML: auticon's Approach

The Korn Ferry report Future of Work: The Global Talent Crunch predicts a critical shortage of skilled workers by 2030, especially in technology sectors such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). This skills gap offers a significant opportunity to employ more neurodivergent individuals, particularly those on the autism spectrum. Neurodivergent people, who constitute about 15% to 20% of the global population, are vastly underutilized in the workforce, with unemployment rates between 30% and 40%. For college-educated autistic individuals, this rate can soar as high as 85%.

At auticon, our mission is to address the inequalities in employment for neurodivergent adults and showcase the strengths of neurodiversity in society. We approach this challenge by building technology careers for autistic professionals and connecting companies with autistic tech talent and neuroinclusion services. This post highlights the specific strategies employed by auticon US to meet the increasing demand in the fields of AI/ML. For more on this topic, check out our previous blogs on autistic strengths in AI and top AI/ML roles for autistic professionals.

Embracing Continuous Learning and Development

With the ever-changing technology landscape, it’s essential to stay aware of emerging trends and needs. Our delivery team has been keeping ourselves and our team members updated with the latest trends, tools, and techniques in AI/ML. We achieve this by engaging in internal discussions with our teams, holding external conversations with technical and business leaders, conducting meetings, experimenting, and developing relevant training programs. Our company culture fosters learning, values diverse perspectives, and embraces change, encouraging our team to adopt a growth mindset.

Curating AI/ML Training Programs

Since AI/ML is a cross-functional field, we aim to provide individualized learning pathways for our team members who are interested and/or working in this field. Our internal training in this area includes curated courses that range from foundational courses for newcomers to advanced modules for seasoned professionals. These are hosted by well-known educational platforms and institutions, which ensures that our training material is always current and relevant.

Developing Innovative Internal Tools

We also put our learning into practice by developing real-world applications and continually experimenting with new AI models. Our team has uniquely combined Artificial Intelligence with our experience within the autistic community to develop a specialized internal Applicant Tracking System (ATS) at auticon US. This system enhances our hiring processes while upholding our dedication to inclusivity.

Our ATS utilizes a blind comparison method, intentionally excluding personal identifying details to focus evaluations purely on the candidates’ skills and abilities. Although our recruiting team continues to play vital roles in the candidate journey, the ATS streamlines the process by automating mundane tasks and standardizing evaluation criteria, ensuring every applicant is fairly considered at every step of their hiring journey. Furthermore, our holistic view of candidate profiles helps us understand their potential for workplace success, facilitating a perfect match with client needs and creating mutual benefits.

Providing Tailored AI/ML Solutions for Clients

Additionally, we provide AI/ML-based solution proposals tailored to our clients’ specific requirements. Our team has worked on data annotation projects that have helped systems become more efficient and accurate. And our technologists are currently engaged in client projects, applying AI to address diverse industry challenges. We also have several autistic technologist candidates who have completed our recruiting process, each ready to bring their unique skills to open roles in this field. Discover more about our AI consulting here.

Leveraging the neurodivergent talent pool to meet the increasing demand in AI/ML fields is crucial. As the demand for generative technology increases, we are committed to enhancing our internal expertise through ongoing training and developing impactful products that resonate with our mission. More detailed examples and case studies will be featured in future posts.

About the Author

Isha Dash is Chief Customer Officer at auticon US. Isha has over 20 years of business and technology experience across various domains including media, entertainment, finance, utilities, and biomedicine. In her role as Chief Customer Officer, Isha is responsible for career development of autistic technologists and enabling customers to achieve their business outcomes by utilizing auticon’s autistic talents.