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  Beginning in the early days of this decade, there’s been much talk of Artificial Intelligence (AI) taking over jobs traditionally done by humans. We’re starting to see this happen, albeit on a relatively limited scale. American investment bank Goldman Sachs projects that the technology could replace 300 million jobs. If you’re paying attention to all of this, you’ll be eager to know what skills AI will not replace.
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Your first attempt at speculating about this may turn up candidate skills that are easily dismissed. Logical organization, problem-solving, and perhaps even effective communication are things that Artificial Intelligence can already do and will get better at doing. Thankfully, there are valuable uniquely human capabilities that AI won’t be mastering anytime soon. As AI becomes more commonplace in the world of work, businesses will seek out potential employees who possess the following qualities in spades.

Critical Thinking

AI does give the impression that it “thinks”. But what it does is come up with a string of words that constitute the most probable answer to a question, given the facts implied by that query. It’s built to function by seeking patterns. When confronted with completely novel problems which it hasn’t been trained to answer, it falters. Humans can get past this block by actually thinking critically: logically reviewing subject matters, making new connections between preexisting facts, and determining truly unique solutions. This skill will remain in demand, even in the age of AI.

Adaptability

As we’ve already hinted, AI isn’t that great at adapting to novelty. Unless it’s trained to work with the sort of queries it receives, it may do a poor job of it. Paradigms that are significantly different from what an AI platform or agent is primed to function in will reveal the limits of the technology. Not so for humans. Our species has achieved apex status on Earth because of our ability to adapt to very dissimilar environments. That has required that we engage the fact of our surroundings in ingenious ways. This gives us an edge over AI.

Ethical Judgment

AI has no ethics of its own. Even if it’s trained on data concerning ethical conduct, it may still fail to make the right ethical calls on complex issues. “Right” in this context means the ethical framework of the culture which it is supposed to serve. As a mechanistic, efficiency-driven system, AI still lacks some of the nuance it needs to address the more knotty moral quandaries. We will still need humans to define, discern, and apply ethical rules. And we’ll probably demand more of this just as AI presents some ethical challenges.
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Interpersonal Skills

At the end of the day, nothing beats the human touch. There’s speculation that AI will eventually become so lifelike that it will be hard to distinguish from actual people. But by most accounts, this is still a long way off, if it will ever happen. For now, the repertoire of AI communication styles tends to be so limited that it doesn’t inspire as much of a reaction as an averagely skilled human communicator would. The social skills of a person who’s good at engaging others will continue to trump the lack of authentic connection that’s characteristic of AI.

Emotional Intelligence 

It’s conceivable that Artificial Intelligence will, at some point in the future, be able to detect moods from a speaker’s tone or a writer’s text. But, again, this isn’t likely to happen for a while yet. Beyond this, even future versions of AI may “struggle” to fully replicate the empathy that humans have, and falter at expressing it. As we noted before, the hyper-efficiency of AI could make it unable to mimic empathy well enough. Your ability to understand the feelings of others and react appropriately to them is key to collaboration and leadership.

Creativity

AI is impressive at imitating that which already exists. But humans are much better than this technology at creating and innovating. This is seen in the arts, where human artists can craft things that connect with other humans on a deep level, while AI just pushes out material that rarely evokes intense emotion. The survival of many businesses in the age of disruption depends on the ability of their team members to innovate. And their innovations will arise from a creative approach to problem-solving. Workers who can come up with effective solutions by thinking outside of the box will be greatly prized in the coming years.
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Final Words

We have examined 6 skills that Artificial Intelligence will not replace, at least not any time soon. Adding them to your skill set will help you future-proof your career and earning potential. Make sure to share this article with coworkers, friends and family whose careers will mature over the next couple of decades. It may transform their professional journey for the better.
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This article was first published on 17th February 2025
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ikenna-nwachukwu

Ikenna Nwachukwu holds a bachelor's degree in Economics from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He loves to look at the world through multiple lenses- economic, political, religious and philosophical- and to write about what he observes in a witty, yet reflective style.

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