Skills Required

To be good at AI, you need to be good at programming.
We develop systems, and that requires programming.
You need to be able to develop solid, bug free systems.
You need to be able to learn and implement new algorithms.
If you can develop new algorithms from scratch, you're going to be in demand.
My AI class (CST 3170) requires you to write algorithms from scratch.
In the modern software world, systems are often integrated. Managing this integration is a complex skill.
Once you've got that, you can specialise. There are a lot of skills that can really help.
Mathematics and statistics help.
Research methodology helps.
I'm really interested and make use of Psychology and Linguistics. I'm a computational-neuro-psycho-linguist.
If you want to work in a particular domain, it helps to understand that field.
For instance, stock trading makes extensive use of machine learning. Since there's no free lunch, it would help to know more about the companies themselves.