AI isn’t just coming to Missouri; it’s already here. St. Louis is shaping up to be a leading regional hub for startups, with Kansas City close behind.
Each year the KC Downtown Council and the Economic Development Corporation of KCMO commit $1 million in investments for tech startup seed funding, doling it out in increments of $50,000. Their initiative is called LaunchKC and thus far has pledged funding to more than 100 companies.
The T-REX initiative in St. Louis is a tech startup incubator supporting around 200 companies that bring 5,000 jobs to the area.
The Missouri General Assembly is looking to invest in the tech companies of tomorrow through its Missouri Technology Corporation initiative, a private-public partnership designed to foster emerging high tech companies statewide.
The AI iron is hot and now is the time to strike. It seems like every week a new AI initiative is rolled out in any number of the state’s largest industries. Mercy Health in the St. Louis area is improving patient outcomes with AI faster than statisticians can keep track of. Bioengineering companies are eyeing lucrative improvements in pharmaceuticals and agriculture. Autonomous vehicles are looking like they’re going to be huge in the civilian and military markets.
These represent just a small sampling of what’s coming down the road. Earning an advanced degree in AI, whether a master’s or post-degree certificate, will prepare you for tomorrow’s most exciting jobs.
Healthcare Providers in Missouri Looks to Adopt AI
AI is poised to reshape every major sector in the county, and healthcare is no exception. The Mercy health system serving the greater Saint Louis area is a case in point.
The sixth-largest Catholic health system in the nation, Mercy employs 45,000 people. As of fiscal year 2023, it had $8 billion in revenue, provided $121 million in charitable care, and had nearly $5 billion in net assets.
Mercy was founded to help suffering women and children back in Old World Dublin over 200 years ago at a time when electricity was just starting to make a spark. Fast forward to the present and in 2023 Mercy announced its latest AI rollout, this time to help enhance patient care through better communication.
Patients and staff will increasingly be interfacing with generative AI to navigate digital records and correct errors. Patients can expect extra details to help them understand their lab results and to make AI-scheduled non-emergency appointments.
Another AI program announced by Mercy is going to use AI to mine databases. This involves a partnership between Mercy and the Mayo Clinic that uses the anonymized data of 25 million patients to construct a reference archive with 900 million data points.
Making a database of this size function properly requires AI professionals to work hand-in-hand with medical professionals to figure out the most helpful ways to query, sort, and display data. Professionals with both AI and medical training would have obvious career advantages.
Early goals with this initiative are to improve the distribution of donor organs, improve the prognosis estimates for patients with chronic diseases, and to better predict adverse outcomes from surgeries.
Mercy has also pioneered a machine learning program that helps identify patients with comorbidities early and prevent them from needing to visit the emergency room.
It does this by analyzing data provided by smart-linked devices measuring stats like blood pressure, heart rate, pulse, and oxygen levels. Once a person’s vitals drop below a certain value it prompts a medical professional to phone the patient, an intervention that’s often enough to prevent an ER visit.
Going forward, the future healthcare applications for AI are only going to grow, and the landscape is changing fast. Not only will a degree in AI open up doors in today’s job market, but it will also open up entirely new doors in the future in specialized roles that aren’t even defined yet.
AI Jobs in Missouri
AI is a unique niche in its own right, but it’s also bringing revolutionary change to virtually every other industry too. In Missouri this includes academic research, the life sciences, administration, marketing, and transportation, to name just a few.
St. Louis is the leader for AI opportunities, but other cities are catching up.
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics projects a net increase of 39% for Computer and Information Research Scientists, the category that includes AI engineers and other roles. Nationally that number is projected to only be 23% between 2022 and 2032.
Artificial Intelligence Jobs in St. Louis
Because AI is an emerging field there’s still a lot of crossover with academia. Geospatial data scientists with the nation’s leading geospatial research collaborative at Saint Louis University need skills related to AI, UAV data collection, open-source programming, machine learning, and multi-sensor processing. These skills can get your foot in the door for GIS and WebGIS positions.
One of AI’s best advantages is that it can crunch numbers on a scale that humans simply can’t compete with. Genome analytics is one of these areas. The ability to unlock genetic secrets will prove valuable to many industries, not least of which include bioresearch and pharmaceuticals.
Well known for its pharmaceutical products, Bayer has an office in metro St. Louis that specializes in crop genomics. It’s here that the company uses AI and data science with the ultimate goal of improving agriculture.
SynergisticIT is a California-based IT placement company, the intermediary between employers looking for AI talent and the latest graduating class in machine learning. Not only does it recruit from the St. Louis area; it also hosts extensive data science course trainings here that covers topics like AI, model deployment, data analysis, and predictive modeling. These are golden skills that AI companies are looking for in applicants.
AI chatbots going rogue always make for good headlines especially when it’s unexpected. Springfield-based Hey There is looking to capitalize on the best of both worlds, creating AI chatbots that are both helpful and entertaining. Thus far programmers have tweaked the algorithms to create 230 distinct chatbot personalities. Maybe you have what it takes to create the 231st.
AI Companies in Springfield and St. Louis
St. Louis is clearly a hub for AI companies; however, AI’s wide range of applications mean they’re inevitably expanding to places like Springfield, KC, Columbia, and even Independence.
St. Louis-based DataPlant specializes in applying AI to data analysis. Specifically, DataPlant develops data architecture to rapidly create valuable insights into the way companies analyze and collect their business data.
In addition to attracting its own home-grown talent, larger companies recognize St. Louis as a regional AI hub. San Francisco-based Scale covers a lot of bases with customers who include Amazon, the US Air Force, and Toyota. 600 employees and $603 million in investments strong, Scale maintains an office in St. Louis known as its AI Center. Its repertoire covers fields like autonomous vehicles, robotics, AR/VR, and content and language.
Netskope just opened a new office in St. Louis, its fourth US location outside of California and Washington State. Specializing in cybersecurity, Netskope considers its St. Louis location as its primary hub in the central United States. Right now, AI can be used to harvest sensitive data, which is why Netskope uses tools like convolutional neural networks and generative adversarial networks to protect its customers.
Springfield-affiliated Compatio AI uses its namesake technology to create B2B solutions for distributors and manufacturers. It uses predictive, industry-specific AI models to generate product recommendations for customers engaged in ecommerce.
AI Salary in Metro Kansas City and St. Louis
Statewide, the average yearly salary for AI professionals in Missouri, included in the Department of Labor category for Computer and Information Research Scientists is estimated to be $99,130. That’s according to 2022 salary data for computer and information research scientists from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
That average salary for the Kansas City metro area is higher at $109,120. In the St. Louis metro area, the average annual salary for these professionals is $100,620.
When it comes to very experienced AI professionals, represented by salary statistics in the 90th percentile, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics reports the following:
- Missouri statewide – $150,710
- Kansas City metro – $163,630
- St. Louis metro – $155,060
Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Master’s Degree and Certificate Courses in Missouri and Online
Schools in Missouri are positioning the state to be a regional leader in key AI areas. Saint Louis University, the University of Missouri in Columbia, the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg, and the Missouri University of Science and Technology in Rolla are all blazing the way forward.
For example, right now at the University of Missouri, researchers in Mizzou Engineering are using simulated environments to bypass key obstacles in training AI. The McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis just launched its AI for Health Institute which aims to foster developments at the boundary of AI and healthcare.
In addition to on-campus AI programs in Missouri you can find online programs offered by schools throughout the country.
Machine Learning Degree and Certificate Options in St. Louis, Columbus, and Rolla
Machine learning is a rapidly developing field nationally, and it’s no different for Missouri.
Saint Louis University has an MS in AI with a specialization in image processing and natural language processing.
The University of Missouri offers a graduate certificate in AI and machine learning.
You can find a graduate certificate in AI, machine learning and automation in business offered by the Missouri University of Science and Technology.
AI Robotics Degree and Certificate Options in St. Louis
The robotics field can be as fun as it is technical. Saint Louis University has an MS in AI with a concentration in autonomous systems.
The University of Missouri hosts a Vision Guided and Intelligent Robotics (ViGIR) Lab that’s affiliated with its Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
Meanwhile, researchers at the Missouri University of Science and Technology are developing methods to make robots smarter with tools that could end up being applied to the military, autonomous driving, and search and rescue.
AI Computer Science Degree and Certificate Options in St. Louis and Warrensburg
Saint Louis University offers an MS in AI with a concentration in data science. At the undergraduate level it offers bridge programs in computer science or data science that link up with a master’s degree in AI.
The University of Missouri-St. Louis hosts an MS in computer science with a combination AI graduate certificate option.
The University of Central Missouri hosts an MS degree in data science and AI.
AI Engineering Degree and Certificate Options in Rolla
The Missouri University of Science and Technology has an MS and PhD in computer engineering with a specialization in computational intelligence.
Missouri University of Science and Technology (Public)
College of Engineering and Computing
Rolla, MO
Website
MS in Computer Engineering with a specialization in Computational Intelligence (online, on-campus)
Total Estimated Program Cost: $22,500 ($1,200 per-credit out-of-state)
Graduate Certificate in Computational Intelligence (on-campus, online)
Total Estimated Program Cost: $9,000 ($1,200 per-credit out-of-state)
Also offers: PhD in Engineering/Doctor of Engineering in Computer Engineering with a specialization in Computational Intelligence
University of Missouri-St. Louis
College of Arts and Sciences
St. Louis, MO
Website
MS in Computer Science with an AI Graduate Certificate (on-campus)
Total Estimated Program Cost: $18,420 ($1,460 per-credit out-of-state)
Total tuition comes in at $2,040 below the state average for similar programs.
Graduate Certificate in AI (on-campus)
Total Estimated Program Cost: $7,368 ($1,460 per-credit out-of-state)
2022 US Bureau of Labor Statistics salary figures for computer information and research scientists. Job growth projections from the US Department of Labor-sponsored resource, CareerOneStop. Figures are based on state data, not school-specific information. Conditions in your area may vary. Data accessed January 2023.