Cybersecurity vs. AI Careers: A Comparative Analysis

The AI market is expected to grow significantly, reaching $1,339 billion by 2030, up from an estimated $214 billion in 2024. And with new tools coming out to make AI easier to use, businesses need AI professionals to help them integrate it into their businesses.

This increased use of AI, however, is exposing businesses to new cyberthreats and cyberattacks. Cybersecurity is a crucial function in today's interconnected world, and the need for experts to stay up to date with their cybersecurity skills is greater than ever. As the number and types of cyberthreats increase, cybersecurity jobs are in high demand.

If you're debating cybersecurity or AI as a career, this guide will help you choose. You'll learn more about cybersecurity and AI careers and what you need to do to pursue them as career paths. You'll also discover how businesses use AI and cybersecurity and how you can develop the skills necessary to start your career.

Cybersecurity: protecting digital assets

Cybersecurity is a growing field that offers numerous opportunities because of the changing security landscape. Cybersecurity professionals help safeguard technology, data, and digital assets from cyberthreats—ensuring companies stay safe from data breaches, avoid losing sensitive information, and protect their reputations, productivity, and financial stability.

Many skill sets are required for cybersecurity:

• Infrastructure development to guard against cyberthreats, including setting up firewalls, malware protection, cloud security, and other tools.
• Penetration testing to find vulnerabilities by staging mock attacks against a system.
• Real-time monitoring to identify attack patterns and adapt to them, often using threat detection systems.
• Planning skills for creating incident response plans for cybersecurity incidents.

Some of the roles you'll see for these different skills include:

• Penetration tester
• Cybersecurity analyst
• Security operations center (SOC) analyst 
• Network security administrator

Artificial intelligence: innovation through data and automation

AI is a constantly evolving field with many new advancements, including natural language processing and human intelligence simulation, making it an exciting career path to explore. It's being applied across many industries, from patient analysis in health care to campaign development in marketing. 

The field offers various roles you can pursue depending on your interests, background, and abilities:

• Data scientists dive deep into data analytics to extract insights from patterns.
• Machine learning developers build algorithms that analyze big data to find patterns.
• Software engineers create applications for end users.
• Business intelligence developers analyze information from AI and make it available to the end user.

AI engineers should know these key concepts:

• Machine learning trains algorithms to provide a desired output by running inputs through iterative processes until a statistically determined outcome is achieved.
• Deep learning uses artificial neural networks to identify complex patterns in text, sound, and images, much like human intelligence, simulating the iterative processes of human learning.
• Algorithms are the sets of instructions given to computers to complete tasks like data science, data processing, and automated reasoning.

AI engineers need proficiency in key programming languages, with Java and Python being two of the most common. Additionally, AI professionals must understand cloud security and cloud computing, as much of AI uses big data processed on the cloud. Tools like Hadoop help developers build infrastructure on cloud platforms.

AI vs. cybersecurity careers

AI and cybersecurity are both crucial components of the technology sector, touching many industries. However, the two roles have some important differences in their career paths.

Demand

As businesses continue to integrate digital technology and data into their workflows, the demand for both cybersecurity and AI professionals are likely to grow.

According to the BLS, the demand for cybersecurity professionals is expected to grow by 33% between 2023 and 2033. This growth is much faster than other industries—which means there will be many opportunities for specialists to enter the field and contribute.

Likewise, AI careers will continue to see upward trends: Job postings requiring AI expertise have steadily risen since 2021 (increasing by 4% quarter-over-quarter), and demand for generative AI skills surged by 38% in the first quarter of 2024 alone.

Salary

Professionals looking for cybersecurity and AI careers can expect good pay for their efforts. These growing fields require experts with deep knowledge to give companies an edge in the market and ensure they stay secure against attackers.

The national average salary for a cybersecurity professional in the United States is $132,962. The low end of salaries starts at $57,000, while more advanced positions can reach $186,000 per year. These numbers may change based on your position and location.

The national average for AI engineers in the United States is $106,386. New AI engineers can see a salary of $44,000, while experienced engineers have salaries as high as $173,500.

Career paths

Cybersecurity professionals typically start in entry-level IT roles such as help-desk technicians, network administrators, or IT technicians. As they gain hands-on experience, they can move into specialized positions like penetration testers, cybersecurity technicians, and security auditors. Advanced career paths include roles such as cybersecurity engineers, vulnerability assessors, and cybersecurity architects. Opportunities as cybersecurity researchers also exist for those interested in research.

AI developers begin with entry-level roles such as data analysts, machine learning interns, or software developers. As they advance, they can take on positions like machine learning engineers, deep learning specialists, and DevOps engineers. More specialized paths in AI may lead to careers as robotics engineers, AI researchers, and solutions architects, depending on their expertise and focus.

Job security

For many job seekers deciding between cybersecurity and AI, job security is a key consideration. The good news is that both fields are seeing high demand—which means that there is job security in both professions.

Cybersecurity offers strong job security due to the constant need for businesses to protect their data and systems from threats. Professionals can join in-house security teams at businesses or work for managed service companies that assist organizations without dedicated IT departments. As cybersecurity threats continue to grow, so does the demand for skilled cybersecurity experts.

While AI applications are newer in the business landscape, the field is rapidly expanding. Companies are increasingly collecting data and need AI specialists to analyze trends and improve decision-making. As AI becomes more integrated into various industries, demand for AI professionals is expected to rise, providing ample job security.

Education

Cybersecurity professionals typically start with a bachelor's degree in information technology or a related field. Practical experience setting up IT infrastructure is crucial, and specializations like cryptography, digital forensics, and ethical hacking are available at more advanced levels. 

Certifications play an important role, with options like CompTIA Security+ for foundational skills and Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) for hands-on hacking techniques. Other certifications, such as Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA) and Certified Information Security Manager (CISM), help professionals focus on areas like security audits and management roles.

AI professionals usually begin their journey with a bachelor's degree in computer science or a similar discipline. Many choose to deepen their knowledge with a master's degree, specializing in areas such as deep learning, neural networks, or computer vision. 

Certifications also offer valuable expertise, with non-engineers benefiting from courses like Coursera's AI for Everyone, while AI developers can pursue more advanced certifications like the IBM AI Developer Professional Certificate or Microsoft Certified: Azure AI Fundamentals for DevOps engineers.

Future trends in AI and cybersecurity roles

AI and cybersecurity careers will likely change significantly over the next several years. Given the recent advancements in AI, the technology sector, including cybersecurity, should also change quickly.

For example, hackers are now using AI to create more advanced cybersecurity threats. They can use AI to create new malware, personalized phishing campaigns, voice cloning, and other creative tactics for cybercrimes.

Likewise, cybersecurity specialists will lean on AI to counter these attacks. AI's ability to handle large datasets and look for patterns and anomalies gives it predictive abilities that can help combat even unknown threats.

The generative AI space is also changing rapidly, with more effective language models for producing text, small language models for local processing, and advanced use cases in fields like health care, manufacturing, retail, and logistics.

Businesses will continue to find more uses for AI and big data, which should open the door for more career opportunities.

AI vs. cybersecurity

Both AI and cybersecurity can be rewarding careers that allow professionals to tackle interesting and important problems.

Security professionals will protect businesses from attacks—building the infrastructure to detect and stop threats and test networks for potential vulnerabilities. AI professionals are at the forefront of data analysis. They build tools and models to analyze large datasets to provide insights and perform tasks.

Both fields offer good pay, opportunities for growth, job security, an evolving job market, and interesting work.

If you own or operate a business that wants to hire a professional for one of these roles, browse Upwork's Talent Marketplace to search for AI professionals and cybersecurity freelancers.

If you're an independent professional looking for your next client, browse the available job listings for internet security and artificial intelligence.