Data report

German AI Skills Report 2026

Which AI skills is the German job market actually hiring for? We searched the Federal Employment Agency's open positions for 16 AI terms. The result: AI has arrived in everyday work — not just in research.

First edition · Source: open positions of the German Federal Employment Agency
The key figures
1,540positions name “artificial intelligence” explicitly
796ads name ChatGPT or Copilot by name
1,847open positions for the most-wanted skill · Data Science
125positions ask for Prompt Engineering

The most-wanted AI skills

Number of currently open positions that mention each term. Fields, tools and methods side by side.

  1. Data Science1,847
  2. Künstliche Intelligenz1,540
  3. Datenanalyse1,252
  4. Machine Learning674
  5. Prozessautomatisierung469
  6. ChatGPT421
  7. Copilot375
  8. Deep Learning257
  9. Computer Vision204
  10. Generative KI129
  11. Prompt Engineering125
  12. PyTorch113
  13. MLOps94
  14. TensorFlow85
  15. Large Language Model50
  16. Natural Language Processing30

positions

Three findings

Tools beat frameworks
796 vs. 198
ChatGPT + Copilot vs. PyTorch + TensorFlow

Concrete AI tools appear in 796 ads — roughly 4× the classic ML frameworks (198). The market increasingly wants AI use, not just AI development. Whoever wields ChatGPT and Copilot confidently is more sought-after than whoever builds models from scratch.

Applying beats researching
1,721 vs. 491
Applied skills vs. deep research fields

Operational skills like data analysis and process automation (1,721 positions) are wanted far more often than deep research fields like deep learning, computer vision and NLP (491). Demand is practical: companies want to use AI, not research it.

New skills overtake established ones
125 vs. 30
Prompt Engineering vs. Natural Language Processing

Prompt Engineering (125 positions) — unknown just a few years ago — is now requested more often than classic disciplines like Natural Language Processing (30). Requirements shift faster than training and degrees can follow.

Method & source

We search the publicly accessible job database of the German Federal Employment Agency for 16 AI terms and count how many currently open positions mention each term in their text. Overlaps are possible; we count demand, not an exact full census. Values update continuously from the live job data — future editions will therefore also show change over time.

Cite & press

When using, please cite as: “i6eal German AI Skills Report 2026 (data: German Federal Employment Agency)” with a link to this page.

Press contact & raw dataai@i6eal.de
German Federal Employment Agency – job search

FAQ

Where do the numbers come from?

From the official, publicly available job data of Germany's Federal Employment Agency. We count how many currently-open positions mention each term — a direct demand indicator.

Does a high number mean I need that skill?

It shows market demand, not your specific need. But it's a good reality check: if a tool appears in hundreds of ads, it's established in the job market — not just hype.

How current is the report?

The data status is shown at the top. The values are refreshed regularly from the live job data, so the report stays current and you can see which skills are growing fastest.

Can I cite these figures?

Yes — please credit “i6eal German AI Skills Report” with a link to this page. Details and a press contact are in the “Cite & press” section.

Source & data status

Data as of: 14 July 2026

We count open positions that mention the term in their text (overlaps possible). The figures are a demand indicator, not an exact full census. Data: German Federal Employment Agency.

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