AI can’t match these three human qualities we all must improve

Pascal Bornet has spent the past 25 years studying artificial intelligence and automation, working with two prominent consulting firms, McKinsey & Co. and Ernst & Young. He has a blunt message about the future:
“Your job has an expiration date, and this date is about to come. In our world increasingly driven by AI, this is not a prophecy of doom but a stark reality. The role you fulfill today, the tasks you perform with ease and expertise are on borrowed time. Whatever your industry, your role or your expertise, the clock ticks.”
That comes in his book, Irreplaceable. To be irreplaceable, he says you need a pivotal shift in how you view your career, from job security to skill adaptability. “Don’t try to save your job; this fight is already lost,” he writes.
That defence begins with coveting – and enhancing – three qualities of human beings that AI can’t replace: Genuine creativity, which allows us to innovate and create, solving problems in ways that no other species nor AI can; critical thinking, which allows us to analyze, question and make informed and ethical decisions; and social authenticity, which allows us to empathize and collaborate, building communities.
The danger ahead would be to neglect these capabilities, satisfying ourselves with shallow, AI-generated outcomes as it overshadows humans. Instead you must develop those capabilities and associated skills, so you can combine it with AI’s competencies. The formula for the future is: Human + AI. You are looking for symbiosis – a close and long-term interaction – with AI. “In the near future, you might not lose your job to AI but to someone more skilled at teaming up with AI than you are,” he observes.
AI’s strength is technical knowledge based on defined, structured knowledge that is rules-based and repetitive, which includes, he notes, lawyers, accountants, medical doctors and programmers. The answers to a question tends to be either right or wrong, so AI can learn through large amounts of data.
Mr. Bornet lists these technical skills as easily automated: Statistical analysis, visual pattern identification, predictive analytics, language (AI can be invaluable in translation, customer service and content creation), precision work in machines, data mining, fraud detection through systems, automated reasoning, diagnostic analysis as in medicine, legal research and analysis and code optimization and bug detection.
We still need to learn these skills, just as the advent of calculators didn’t eliminate the need to know math. But AI will always be supreme in speed and the magnitude of what it can handle, so don’t try to compete in those areas.
A mistake many people make, he points out, is thinking that using AI at work is cheating. Just as you use electricity and the internet, using AI is fundamental. You must leverage its abilities, adding your human essence.
“Imagine a painter creating a masterpiece. The painting isn’t just a mix of colours and strokes; it’s a reflection of the painter’s emotions, experiences and personal touch. Similarly, human capabilities like empathy, creativity, ethics and emotional intelligence are deeply rooted in our personal histories, emotions and character traits – elements that AI cannot authentically replicate,” he writes.
Here are some practices he recommends to boost human advantages:
AI is here. It’s time to improve the human abilities it can’t match.
Quick hits
Harvey Schachter is a Kingston-based writer specializing in management issues. He, along with Sheelagh Whittaker, former CEO of both EDS Canada and Cancom, are the authors of When Harvey Didn’t Meet Sheelagh: Emails on Leadership.