Jobs Of The Future Will Be About The Heart

Technical and data skills that have been highly sought after for decades appear to be among the most exposed to advances in artificial intelligence. But other skills, particularly the people skills that we have long undervalued as soft, will very likely remain the most durable. That is a hopeful sign that A.I. could usher in a world of work that is anchored more, not less, around human ability.

Aneesh Raman and Maria Flynn in The New York Times Opinion section

The Pale King by David Foster Wallace portrays the lives of IRS employees, using their work as a metaphor for the human struggle with monotony and the search for meaning. Wallace's exploration of boredom as a political and existential condition offers a unique perspective on the challenges of contemporary life. The book emphasises the idea that enduring tedium over time is a form of heroism, shedding light on the human capacity to find meaning in the mundane.

But what if the promise of AI is that we no longer have to endure tedium over time? What if AI ushers in a new era of work that leans into the abilities that make us uniquely human? Work that engages the heart and mind. Work that we find meaningful. Dare I say it - work that is actually enjoyable?

There are many reports out there from organisations like the World Economic Forum and Accenture about the future of jobs and how generative AI will transform businesses and society. WEF’s Future of Jobs Report 2023 has entire chapters on jobs outlook, skills outlook, and workforce strategies.

According to the WEF report, analytical thinking and creative thinking are outliers in terms of how much they are valued by employers today and the priority for skills training in upskilling employees in these specific skills over the next five years. This looks like a contradiction of the premise of this essay - that the jobs of the future will be about the heart. I believe what is happening is that employers are using analytical thinking and creative thinking to describe the skills needed for complex problem-solving in the workplace. That is an organisational need that does not go away, with or without AI. I would, therefore, reframe the question to the following.

In the age of AI, what are the human skills needed to solve complex problems?

It’s fair to assume AI can do a lot of the heavy lifting when it comes to solving complex problems. It’s also fair to assume AI systems cannot solve complex problems entirely on their own. AI systems are incredibly versatile and can be applied across various domains to automate tasks, make predictions, and gain insights from data. But the nature of complex problems is that, almost inevitably, human beings are stakeholders, whether as users, buyers, designers, architects, or shareholders. Whenever humans are in the picture, problem-solving needs to take into account relationships and emotions, which requires empathy and communication.

The early signals of what A.I. can do should compel us to think differently about ourselves as a species. Our abilities to effectively communicate, develop empathy and think critically have allowed humans to collaborate, innovate and adapt for millenniums. Those skills are ones we all possess and can improve, yet they have never been properly valued in our economy or prioritized in our education and training. That needs to change.

Aneesh Raman and Maria Flynn in The New York Times Opinion section

A year ago, soon after OpenAI released ChatGPT, New York Times journalist David Brooks wrote an article titled In The Age of AI, Major In Being Human . Brooks asserts that there is something humanistic missing from art or prose generated by AI. Because there is no human imagination behind AI-generated content, we get a sense that there is something lacking. Something that triggers emotion, something that makes us feel a connection to a piece of art. This humanistic element does not apply only to art or prose. It applies to solving complex problems as well. The six skills Brooks believes we should hone in the age of AI - a distinct personal voice, presentation skills, childlike talent for creativity, unusual worldview, empathy, and situational awareness - are what Aneesh Raman and Maria Flynn believe are our core capabilities as humans.

Instead, it’s critical for us all to start from a place that imagines what’s possible for humans in the age of A.I. When you do that, you find yourself focusing quickly on people skills that allow us to collaborate and innovate in ways technology can amplify but never replace. And you find yourself — whatever the role or career stage you’re in — with agency to better manage this moment of historic change.

Aneesh Raman and Maria Flynn

One of the most profound books about learning, thinking and living I’ve read in recent years is Excellent Sheep - The Miseducation Of The American Elite & The Way To A Meaningful Life , written by former Yale professor William Deresiewicz. In the chapter on great books, Deresiewicz launches into a passionate defence of liberal arts education. The pursuit of education for its own sake, the realisation that the world is inherently complex, the appreciation that there are different ways to think.

The world is full of immensely intricate things: the structure of an enzyme, the language of a Shakespeare play, the workings of a modern economy. Despite our urge for clear and simple answers, the truth is hard to come by. Some knowledge is settled enough to be regarded as factual - the Laws of Thermodynamics, the dates of the French Revolution - and mastering a portion of it is a part of education, too, but the leading edge of discovery is always a blur, always a grope. We proceed by doubt, by trial and error, by resisting the impulse to lunge after certainty. To receive a liberal arts education is to begin to appreciate this. You study human behaviour in psychology, and then you study it in literature. You see what philosophy means by reality, and then you see what math or physics does. Your mind becomes more agile and resourceful, as well as more skeptical and rigorous. And most important of all, you learn to educate yourself.

William Deresiewicz

I am not suggesting liberal arts education is the only education worth pursuing going forward. For many of us, that ship has long sailed. What we can do, whether we are 18 or 48, is develop self-efficacy skills and people skills. Self-efficacy skills refer to social-emotional attitudes like curiosity, lifelong learning, resilience, flexibility and agility. People skills refer to skills that are essential for building and maintaining relationships, collaborating with colleagues, resolving conflicts, and navigating complex situations. These attitudes and skills are hard to measure, and even harder to acquire, but they are essential if we want to maximise our potential as human beings.

Ultimately, for our society, this comes down to whether we believe in the potential of humans with as much conviction as we believe in the potential of A.I. If we do, it is entirely possible to build a world of work that not only is more human but also is a place where all people are valued for the unique skills they have, enabling us to deliver new levels of human achievement across so many areas that affect all of our lives, from health care to transportation to education.

Aneesh Raman and Maria Flynn

Or as Minouche Shafik, the president of Columbia University, puts it: “In the past, jobs were about muscles. Now they’re about brains, but in the future, they’ll be about the heart.”

Maximising our potential as human beings requires us to learn how AI can augment human abilities, and understand how AI works.

This March hols, join the 5-day AI Primer camp created by Press Start Academy and Doyobi for 8-14-year-olds to

• uncover how AI tools can be used for creative expression
• evaluate how robots & AI interact with our lives and impact societies
• think critically about technology
• analyse the benefits and vulnerabilities of AI
• understand the agency we have to make decisions about how we want to use AI

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