North America extended its dominance for artificial intelligence (AI) hiring among payment industry companies in the three months ending March.

The number of roles in North America made up 51.3% of total AI jobs – up from 47.2% in the same quarter last year.

That was followed by Europe, which saw a -0.8 year-on-year percentage point change in AI roles.

The figures are compiled by GlobalData, who track the number of new job postings from key companies in various sectors over time. Using textual analysis, these job advertisements are then classified thematically.

GlobalData's thematic approach to sector activity seeks to group key company information by topic to see which companies are best placed to weather the disruptions coming to their industries.

These key themes, which include artificial intelligence, are chosen to cover "any issue that keeps a CEO awake at night".

By tracking them across job advertisements it allows us to see which companies are leading the way on specific issues and which are dragging their heels - and importantly where the market is expanding and contracting.

Which countries are seeing the most growth for AI job ads in the payment industry?

The fastest growing country was the United States, which saw 43.9% of all AI job adverts in the three months ending March 2021, increasing to 46.6% in the three months ending March this year.

That was followed by Canada (up 1.4 percentage points), Italy (0.8), and Australia (0.5).

The top country for AI roles in the payment industry is the United States which saw 46.6% of all roles advertised in the three months ending March.

Which cities are the biggest hubs for AI workers in the payment industry?

Some 4.9% of all payment industry AI roles were advertised in New York City (United States) in the three months ending March.

That was followed by Bengaluru (India) with 4.7%, Toronto (Canada) with 3.3%, and Pune (India) with 3.2%.