Wanted: AI Babysitters
Job postings for roles requiring “responsible AI” skills have shot up 700% in finance this year. Will it be a challenging enough role in most fields?
Customer service representative. Loan officer. Bank teller. AI babysitter?
In the world of banking and finance, there’s a new hot role that is creating opportunities in a tough job market. Indeed, job postings linked to “responsible AI” are up 700% year-over-year, to nearly 7,800 postings over the 12 months, according to hiring-data firm Draup, as finance firms scramble to provide oversight for their substantial AI output. It’s an obvious need, as firms discover that AI work and AI agents need supervision. “Someone needs to look at all the outputs of the AI and guide them,” says Jonathan Kestenbaum, a managing director at Korn Ferry’s AMS business.
Experts say AI-caretaker roles are likely to boom in other fields as well. Firms that originally tried to replace human workers with AI have begun to realize that the technology can’t entirely automate many roles. Indeed, a recent survey found that one-third of managers who replaced humans with AI have now rehired those humans. That said, some experts worry that, for many workers, returning simply to monitor AI—instead of innovating and leading—may not be sustaining enough. “Unless the job is designed correctly, it sounds a little soul sucking,” says Janet Mertens, managing director for research at Korn Ferry’s AMS business.
Overall, AI-related job postings as a main category are up 49% at banks this year, according to Draup. The first order of business, experts say, is to hire overseers in order to avoid AI catastrophe. “AI on its own could essentially just wipe out data, so there’s a huge push in filling these roles,” says Dominic Cottone, senior client partner at Korn Ferry. “That’s pretty much #1 or #2 on firms’ priority lists.”
Banks are filling AI roles in several categories: First, they’re seeking managers to oversee AI output, and ensure that it is properly reviewed and quality assured. (AI errors in the workplace are overwhelmingly common: A 2026 study of legal citations found false-citation rates above 30%.) Second, they’re hiring staffers to handle compliance and safety. Thirdly, they need experts to manage interactions between humans and AI. Together, all three roles are changing the shape of management, even if it’s a process of trial and error for every organization. “It’s the first generation of all three of these types of roles,” says Bryan Ackermann, head of AI strategy and transformation at Korn Ferry.
The need for babysitters expands beyond AI models themselves. The data AI relies on has previously needed consistent guidelines and processes; now it requires 24-hour oversight, as well as ways for AI to access it. What data can be shared, and under what conditions? “A whole swarm of work is being done to build governance around that data—it’s going to become a big topic,” says Kestenbaum. In banking, the topic is bigger than in many other industries, because it comes with extra complications. “They can’t scale AI until someone can explain and defend it to regulators, boards, and clients,” says Chad Astmann, co-head of the global investment management practice at Korn Ferry.
Whether at banks or other industries, experts say they can’t be sure how long AI-babysitter roles will be needed, especially if the technology continues to rapidly improve. As for the rank-and-file roles themselves—the ones that involve largely overseeing, not doing—they’re a work in progress. “People babysitting AI does not feel like an inspiring and bright future,” says Jenna Young, global solution architect at Korn Ferry. “I will hold out hope that our imaginations have not yet caught up with what work will look like.”
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