AI is Not Your Enemy
Well before ChatGPT became a household name, I shared the stage with Nicholas Thompson, then Editor in Chief of Wired. During his presentation, Thompson stated that he believes 20% of all occupations will be replaced by AI by 2030.
At the time, this declaration seemed outlandish. How could a robot replace 1 in 5 workers? But today, this outcome is far from fiction. Just look at IBM, who recently announced that it expects 30% of its workforce to be displaced by artificial intelligence over the next 5 years.
The future is here, and for the first time in history, it’s highly skilled labor at risk of losing their jobs to robots. But even with the uncertainty it brings, I do not believe that AI should be treated as our enemy. In fact, just the opposite. AI should be embraced by workers, because it’ll take over the tedious, repetitive parts of our jobs, freeing us up to leverage the skills that make us uniquely human: Creativity, Intuition, Empathy, and Imagination.
Here's how you can leverage these human traits to work together in harmony with AI.
- Creativity • Thanks to Amazon Prime, there is a constant stream of cardboard boxes clogging up my recycling bin. But what is a nuisance today once was an outlet for endless creativity.
To a six-year-old, a box can be anything. A castle, a rocket ship, a fort, a kitchen. At this age, our creativity knows no bounds. But then we go to school and to work and most of us are told “you’re not creative” or “leave those ideas to the Creative Team”. And over time we end up believing we’re not creative.
But creativity is more than the ability to paint or play music. It’s the ability to solve problems in unique ways. To connect seemingly unconnected ideas. A skill that AI will struggle to master with its linear thinking, no matter how advanced it gets.
- Intuition • Have you ever had the feeling that someone was staring at you from across the coffee shop, only to look up and meet their gaze?
How did you know they were looking? Intuition. A survival engine hard-wired into our inner “reptilian” brain that drives our subconscious. Think about the decisions you make every day. The dress you wear, the restaurant you visit, the music you listen to. These are not rational decisions made by your outer, conscious brain; they are decisions you make with your inner, subconscious brain.
While our outer brain allows us to synthesize all the big quantitative data in front of us to find core insights, our inner, intuitive brain allows us to take all that data, match it up with our qualitative findings, and take the leap towards action. And it’s this symbiotic relationship between our inner and outer brains that make humans uniquely capable of uncovering massive innovation.
While AI will certainly be able to help us parse through data, it will struggle to have those “gut feelings” that connect data and insights in unique ways that unlock hidden potential.
- Empathy • One of the most important emotions to create buy-in for your ideas is empathy.
The writers at Pixar are excellent at using empathy to connect with their audience. In WALL-E, audiences around the world empathized with a voiceless robot. Why? Because at the beginning of the film there’s a scene where WALL-E watches a clip from Hello, Dolly! And in his eyes the audience sees that more than anything, WALL-E wants to be loved. And that’s a feeling we all can empathize with, even if it’s coming from an animated robot.
Empathy empowers you to look past the data and immerse yourself in the lives of others, enabling you to speak to what truly matters to them. It’s driven by the shared human experience – an experience which AI will struggle to understand.
- Imagination • When President Kennedy said, “We choose to put a man on the moon before the end of the decade,'' he didn’t have the slightest idea as to how it would be achieved. Had he possessed a robust knowledge of space travel, he might not have given this iconic speech, choosing instead to believe that a moon landing was impossible. But he led with his imagination, and believed that the U.S. had the people, resources, and willpower to achieve this audacious goal. And he was right. In fact, his declaration was so profound that it gave birth to the phrase Moonshot Thinking.
Humans are engineers to dream. AI, on the other hand, educates itself on reality. Things that have already happened in the past. It lacks the human imagination, which is precisely what’s needed to push humanity forward.
Working with AI in Harmony • As A.I. becomes more intelligent, we must become more creative, intuitive, empathetic, and imaginative. Instead of taking your entire job, proactively find ways to let AI take over the mundane, repetitive, and time-consuming tasks, so you can focus your energy on delivering a human touch to your role.
While A.I. may one day replicate these core human traits, I don’t believe it’s coming anytime soon. The coming decade belongs to those of us who can leverage these uniquely human skills to disrupt and innovate the next wave of incredible discoveries.
The good news is that you don’t have to learn anything new. These traits have been with you all along. You just need to find them.
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