Five critical skills you can learn that AI can’t touch
Today we’re going to talk about the reviving of human based skills that can help make you somewhat AI proof. The past couple of years have built a growing AI presence that we see at our workplaces, at home, and in learning environments. And, lots of people have taken that leap and jumped on the AI train – while many call it an advantage to not get left behind in today’s riveting technology, there’s a steady pushback, too.
The talk of AI overtaking jobs that only humans did is becoming more prevalent. But with drawbacks like environmental concerns, AI slop, etc. there’s a callback for human oversight. The need for individual authenticity remains a crucial part in the development of AI, so why not take the chance to improve yourself as much as possible?
We’ve previously discussed how AI’s successfully slid its way in business operations. Generating codes at twice the speed a human could, fixing any error within a spreadsheet or document and even generating content for a flyer, brochure, or ad. Those results leave many people satisfied. Less work, more efficient, not perfect but hopefully less errors. Or so we are led to believe. AI slop, which was coined after mass amounts of generative media with poor quality kept flooding users’ search engines and web pages, became the forefront reason for AI should stick to repetitive tasks, like coding and report analyses.
Anti-AIers have every right to feel the way they do. Recently, there’s a comeback of why soft skills still matter and where people are encouraged to improve upon them. An article by Benjamin Todd from CNBC describes that while the worry of AI is justified, the following five skills can combat that stress and in turn, make people stronger as individuals.
Communication skills fall under the realm of constructing a valuable message to your audience, creating trust and comfort in knowing your brand is authentic. People will go to AI and ask them to generate something quick, which they do to promote an ad, an event, or even a new product. The outcomes are quick, simple and get the point across, but if there’s anything learned from the AI backlash, people value talking to a real person more than they value talking to a generated one.
Social skills fall under not just knowing how to present yourself properly, but also knowing it’s 100% your own words. For the past few months, employers have share their stories of frustration at potential candidates using AI to help them prepare for interviews to the point where they not only prepare the questions, but their answers, as well. This creates a deceptive facade where interviewers struggle to understand what you really bring to the table.
There's a certain script and style AI writes — too concise, too polished, but also too limiting when it comes to uncovering the root of the problem. Customer service chatbots have turned to AI models who are largely trained to help with a specific set of problems, and for the most part, they’re surface level issues. For customers whose issues need specific attention, the lack of human agency will only increase frustrations.
The last three really fall under human oversight. If it’s absolutely necessary to implement assistive AI tools into everyday work tasks, then go ahead. However, don’t become too carried away where you lose your own direction and visions in those routines. This is where the third skill, leadership and decision-making, come in. Why take on a leading position if you’re allowing AI to rule out everything or rule you? It might generate all these options, but there are definite risks to letting AI make the final call that a leader (a human would make). And, who’s to say their choices are always the correct (or right) ones? It’s important to remind ourselves that AI was coded by humans, it’s given directions by humans, and it’s funded by humans.
When managing operations, implementing AI to automate processes to increase productivity, there is still a critical human oversight element that needs to remain in place. In the likelihood that something goes wrong, you don’t want a robot or chatbot assisting in a final leadership decision. Like we mentioned with social skills, AI’s only given a limited quantity of problems to handle that are surface level. Someone who personally understands the network and system still needs to manage and communicate thoroughly, especially when other humans are still affected by AI’s choices
The last task Todd highlights focuses on assistive AI tools for navigating long, repetitive tasks, like coding or refinement. However, don’t simply just expect it to handle all the dirty work. Todd writes that AI “struggles with coordinating large groups or long projects that last several weeks.” Well, that sounds like it’s not a 100% endorsement of AI. If you can get it to handle the shorter, less time-consuming tasks, you’ll have more time to focus on for your larger, more complex projects. Your own vision and objectives should always come first.
