Artificial intelligence and the future of work: how to adapt and stay relevant

All my reasoning always starts from the conviction that everything we are and produce is the result of our relational capacity.

The human being is social.

We are relationships.

And if by now AI has broken the pattern, changing the 'what we do' and risking pushing us more and more to 'delegate' someone who 'generates' with AI, what levers can (and should) we hold on to, avoiding impoverishing ourselves with excessive delegation, especially if we want to remain 'employable' every five years as the World Economic Forum says?

It is no longer an issue of being for or against AI. It is a fact.

It is a power that can offer great opportunities and is already creating havoc.

In many of my training courses I still find it (seriously) common for managers of any age (but dangerously high among seniors) to be unaware of the real impact AI could have on their current jobs, a tool with boundless knowledge and an every day better ability to process answers in all the world's languages.

That AI technology exists and is running at exponential speed is a fact. It is not part of the suggestions.

The future will be distinguished between those who will be able to interact/programme (and thus drive) with AI and those who will be subjected to it.

And is this good or bad for working people?

It is a resource and should be treated as such. Is a weapon good or bad? It depends on who uses it and for what purpose.

We can consider it a resource to the extent that we know its characteristics, the techniques to get the most out of it and illuminate the shady areas.

It is certainly a real threat to our professionalism if we decide to do without it blindly, if we ignore its benefits and downplay its impacts.

The theme is: how does each of us want to remain relevant over time?

We have to consider novelty, change, as an integral part of our work.

Let's deal with it if we don't want to worry about it.

Organisational psychologists, behavioural psychologists, sociologists and anthropologists, experts in change management, converge on what, to date, is considered the slippery slope of AI: empathic understanding.

Human intuition and creativity are aspects that are still difficult to replicate, being in practice, I summarise, the fruits of relational quality.

AI can suggest solutions based on historical data (for now), but it cannot (for now) capture the emotional nuances of a complex situation.

And when it comes to ethical decisions, AI follows instructions, it is unable to discern between right and wrong.

For now.

As in the subtitle of the cover of my book, the most important word is the inverted comma 'for now'.

But let us move away from prejudices, for better or worse. AI can become a valuable companion, freeing time from repetitive tasks and opening up space for creative thinking and meaningful interactions.

So we are wrong if we approach change by thinking 'AI yes, AI no', because the future will be divided between those who will know how to interact with AI and those who will suffer it.

The first will be those who keep themselves curious. To paraphrase Einstein, those who will survive will be those who train to keep their minds active, which, like a parachute, only works in open mode.

And at this point the difference between 'what you do' and 'how you do it' ... will no longer make sense to the person being replaced.

And as Prof. Giuseppe (Beppe) Soda in his preface to Marissa King's beautiful book ("Social Chemistry"): "If we do not consciously govern our relationships we will end up, almost without realising it, forming more relationships with people ... similar ... we will strengthen existing ties ... immersed in cohesive but closed social networks ... but most likely we will pay a price for these benefits: we will be less likely to be innovative and creative, we will risk recycling the same information and knowledge over and over again, we will crystallise and polarise our ideas and opinions, we will see the world from only one perspective. ... Whereas if we strategically build our relationships so that they become more open and able to connect different and separate worlds ... we will reap the benefits of greater innovativeness and ... greater opportunities for growth.

I am enthusiastic about the arrival of AI but I am aware on a daily basis that many of the things I have learnt over the years and that I learn every day come from daily comparisons with my network of relationships which is increasingly open, separate, diverse, selected (I am not looking for followers but for the quality of the relationships) and to which I dedicate at least 45' a day, every day, to meet new people and compare notes.

There is always something to learn from others, but it is not enough to say it, you have to do it.

*Networking Trainer & Community Builder