This article highlights uniquely human skills like creativity, empathy, strategic thinking, and leadership, encouraging you to focus on these to future-proof your role alongside AI.

Future-Proof Your Career: How to Work Alongside AI

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[[p]]Anxieties about artificial intelligence (AI) are widespread in the world of work. People fear losing responsibility or being replaced entirely, but whether or not this is well-founded, what is clear is that AI use is increasingly widespread. The technology isn&rsquo;t going away any time soon, and so it is up to you to maximise your chances of surviving and thriving by learning to work alongside the technology rather than against it.&nbsp;[[/p]]

[[p]]The fact is that AI is not a replacement for human skills or human activity. The main threat it poses to work life is in the automation of processes and the consolidation of certain tasks. To work alongside it, you need to emphasise the human skills you possess while utilising AI for the tasks it can perform. Simply, you need to remind employers that you are not obsolete.&nbsp;[[/p]]

[[p]]AI can&rsquo;t make decisions, demonstrate creativity, show leadership, or use emotional intelligence to navigate tricky situations. Using it as a tool, delegating some of the more mundane aspects of your work, gives you the opportunity to think more strategically about what you do. Think of it as a new junior employee whom you manage.[[/p]]

[[p]]In this article, we will cover:[[/p]]

[[ul]]
	[[li]]How AI is impacting work life[[/li]]
	[[li]]What human skills matter in an AI-forward workplace?[[/li]]
	[[li]]How do you work alongside AI?[[/li]]
	[[li]]How can you future-proof yourself from AI?[[/li]]
	[[li]]Final thoughts[[/li]]
[[/ul]]

[[p]]By now most people probably have personal experience of how AI is impacting their work life, from ChatGPT generated emails, to automated workflows, to liaising with AI-powered chatbots.&nbsp;[[/p]]

[[p]]The biggest impact is where AI is able to manage routine tasks, tasks being the individual activities you undertake in your day-to-day work. This is distinct from work itself, which means the overall function of your role &ndash; the purpose of your job. For example, for a doctor making a diagnosis is a task, whereas the overall function of treating the sick is the work. For many people, especially in junior roles, the difference between their tasks and their work may not be entirely obvious.&nbsp;&nbsp;[[/p]]

[[p]]AI is good at tasks, but not at work. Its strengths are in spotting patterns, summarisation, speed, analysis, and predictive response. These capabilities lend themselves to repetitive tasks. Industries like healthcare, IT, financial services and eCommerce have leaned into AI use due to the need for massive dataset analysis and its ability to spot patterns that a human would struggle to due to sheer volume.[[/p]]

[[p]]But there are a lot of things that AI is also bad at. It lacks judgement, it cannot think strategically, it is not creative, and it has no &lsquo;human touch&rsquo;. It has no common sense, does not understand context, and has no understanding or emotions or irony. It will struggle with any task which falls outside its pattern and can hallucinate and lie.&nbsp;[[/p]]

[[p]]One could argue that some of these things are also human fallibilities, but the difference in a work environment is that humans are accountable, interpersonally, ethically, and morally.&nbsp;[[/p]]

[[p]]Job losses, or elimination of roles due to AI have largely been a result of task redistribution &ndash; less people can do more work with AI&rsquo;s help (or so the theory goes). Tech, finance and customer service have suffered the most, mostly in junior roles. Graduate roles have been especially hard hit.[[/p]]

[[p]]While AI is impacting tasks and lower-level functions, there is an opportunity to showcase the human skills which no machine has.&nbsp;[[/p]]

[[p]]Creativity does not mean artistic ability, or the ability to write a story. It is the ability to think originally and use your imagination. In a work setting, this might be your ability to overcome a problem in a new way or develop a new product or service. While AI can help you to brainstorm or sharpen your creative thinking, it cannot do it on its own.&nbsp;[[/p]]

[[p]]Emotional intelligence is the human ability to perceive and respond to emotions in others, to build relationships and navigate complex social situations. In a work setting, this could be something like delivering a critical performance review while protecting the emotions of the reviewee and ensuring they try to improve rather than give up entirely. AI does not have emotions, even though in some situations it can fake them. Emotional intelligence is a vital workplace skill that both leaders and colleagues value in team members.&nbsp;[[/p]]

[[p]]AI can carry out a decision, but only humans can make decisions with context, emotional intelligence, and judgement. While you can assign tasks to AI, your strategic ability is what determines these tasks and their purpose. For example, you might ask AI to write an email template for you to use in certain tasks, but it falls to your judgement to decide the appropriate time and manner to send it, and to whom. You also have the ability to weigh moral and ethical concerns.&nbsp;[[/p]]

[[p]]AI cannot lead a team or inspire a colleague, for all of the reasons above. It requires inputs and cannot act of its own accord. You have the ability to take the initiative, to propose plans, and to motivate others to carry them through. There is a reason why there are no AI CEOs.&nbsp;[[/p]]

[[p]]It is up to you to decide where you can integrate AI into your work without compromising your performance or the quality of your output. If used effectively, AI can massively increase your productivity while highlighting the skills that make you essential to your organisation.&nbsp;[[/p]]

[[p]]Think about the tasks that you can reasonably use AI to complete. Are there automations you could set up to save you administrative time? Or could AI help you to create templates for your communications? Could you use an AI notetaker to get more out of meetings? If you can delegate (while keeping oversight) of some of your more repetitive and time-consuming tasks to AI, it frees you up to take a more strategic, goal-oriented approach to your work.&nbsp;[[/p]]

[[p]]In any organisation, you should be transparent about your AI use, and work with your colleagues to ensure that you are using it within your organisation&rsquo;s guidelines.&nbsp;&nbsp;[[/p]]

[[p]]The best way to think of AI is not as an existential threat, but as a junior team member. See what tasks you would assign to an intern or new-starter and do a test case with AI. This will help you to set the parameters for your use &ndash; nothing that is too sensitive or risky, and reviewing and refining the results based on your judgement.&nbsp;[[/p]]

[[p]]Focus on quality control and see what the limitations of AI are. You can then determine which tasks are suitable and which are not, while repositioning yourself as the designer of your work. For example, if you are responsible for analysing large data sets, you can reformulate your role to formulating and sharing insights. You will still need to check the AI&rsquo;s work and provide oversight.&nbsp;&nbsp;[[/p]]

[[p]]You do not need to become an expert, but the more you know, the more effective you will be. Study the AI landscape, learn the pros and cons of any tools you choose to use. Think about any upskilling or research you can do, and train yourself to write better prompts for AI. If you understand its strengths and limitations, you&rsquo;ll be more capable of exercising judgement on when and when not to use AI.&nbsp;[[/p]]

[[p]]While AI is not and cannot be a replacement for human thinking and human activity, you need to be aware of the temptation for employers to rush towards AI solutions, often as a cost-saving exercise. It is up to you to decide how best to future-proof your career against AI.&nbsp;[[/p]]

[[p]]It isn&rsquo;t going away, so you should determine how best to work with it rather than against it. Use AI tools to demonstrate how you can increase your productivity. Upskill, and become an effective user of AI, while ensuring that you are &lsquo;the human in the loop.&rsquo; Increasingly, recruiters and HR departments are looking for candidates to demonstrate their understanding of AI.&nbsp;[[/p]]

[[p]]Highlight the human skills you have in the workplace that set you apart from task performing. Generate new ideas where possible, put yourself forward for other responsibilities, and champion responsible AI use. If you can demonstrate a knowledge of AI both as a concept, and of specific AI tools, you are well positioned to grow with the technology rather than be replaced by it.&nbsp;[[/p]]

[[p]]You should dedicate time to continuous learning and development. These do not need to be AI specific, but anything that shows a willingness to adapt and improve. Take courses and additional training and celebrate your own achievements. Not only is this worthwhile in and of itself, but it also demonstrates to your managers, employers and colleagues that you will continue to add value to your organisation.&nbsp;[[/p]]

[[p]]No matter how widespread AI adoption becomes, work will always need to be AI plus humans, not AI versus humans.[[/p]]

[[p]]In order to work alongside it, you need to not only understand it and its limitations. Adapt to it as part of your working life, but do not be led by it. Rather use AI as an opportunity for you to demonstrate your own ability to lead.&nbsp;[[/p]]

Future-Proof Your Career: How to Work Alongside AI

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