Artificial intelligence is everywhere right now — and for good reason.
A recent Forbes article highlighted 10 fast-growing AI skills that can pay $100,000 to $200,000 per year. These skills are in extremely high demand, and many can be learned for free.
For the blind and low vision community, this matters in two important ways:
- AI dramatically improves accessibility in everyday life.
- AI skills can open doors to high-paying careers.
Why This Matters for Our Community
Conventional hiring can be tough when employers focus on perceived limitations instead of strengths. But when a field is in high demand, hiring managers are motivated to find highly qualified candidates — period.
AI is one of those fields.
Even if you don’t want to become an AI engineer, learning how to use AI effectively can:
- Increase your value in the job market
- Help you start a side hustle
- Improve your productivity
- Strengthen your professional communication
You may already be using AI tools like:
- Be My AI
- Seeing AI
- Screen reader-powered assistants
But AI can do much more.
High-Demand AI Roles Paying Six Figures
According to LinkedIn’s 2026 Skills on the Rise report, AI engineering and implementation is the top skill category right now.
Roles in this space include:
- AI Engineer
- Machine Learning Engineer
- Data Scientist
- Prompt Engineer
- AI Software Developer
- Full-Stack Developer
Many of these roles pay between $100,000 and $200,000 per year.
Startups and tech companies are actively competing for professionals with these skills.
The 10 Fastest-Growing AI Skills
The fastest-growing AI skills include:
- Prompt engineering
- OpenAI API
- Google Gemini
- Retrieval-augmented generation (RAG)
- Vector databases
- Model training and fine-tuning
- FastAPI
- Data annotation
- LangChain
- XGBoost
Some of these sound technical, but not all of them require advanced math or coding experience to get started.
You Can Learn These Skills for Free
The Forbes article also highlighted free resources and tutorials to build these skills.
This is important.
You do not need to spend thousands of dollars to enter the AI field. With internet access, a screen reader, and dedication, you can start learning today.
Practical Ways AI Can Boost Your Income
You don’t need to become an AI engineer to benefit.
AI can help you:
- Format professional documents using tools like ChatGPT
- Draft resumes and cover letters
- Create marketing emails for your business
- Generate product labels and descriptions
- Build content for social media
- Create images and videos for marketing
AI tools are becoming more accessible and more powerful every month.
If you already use AI to identify objects or read documents, you are ahead of the curve.
Why High-Demand Fields Matter
When skills are scarce and in demand, employers focus on results.
High-demand industries can reduce bias because organizations need qualified talent. If you can demonstrate your skills clearly and confidently — including how you use adaptive technology — you can compete strongly.
Preparation matters more than perception.
Penny Forward’s Bottom Line
AI is not just a trend. It is transforming both accessibility and income opportunities.
You do not need a computer science degree to begin. Start by learning how AI can improve your daily workflow. Then consider building technical skills if you’re interested in higher-paying roles.
Financial empowerment includes positioning yourself where opportunity is growing — not shrinking.
AI is growing.
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