Unreplaceable Skills: AI's Limits
Yesterday we talked about 10 skills that are now almost useless thanks to the rise of AI. Now, it's only natural to talk about what particular skills an AI could never replace. These are the skills that even the most advanced robot cannot replicate, and probably never will. So if you really want to stay ahead of the robots, make sure you have at least a couple of the following skills.
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Number one: emotional intelligence. Now, emotional intelligence or EQ is the ability to understand and manage emotions. It's what helps you to understand when to shut up and when to speak out. It also allows you to read a room and not act like, well, a robot. The problem is a lot of people have really low EQ. They don't understand why they feel how they feel or why others do. Robots may be able to mimic emotions, but they can't truly understand them. For example, one of the skills mentioned in our last video is teaching. There are a lot of good teachers, but a whole lot more bad ones, which an AI could replace with ease. But a good teacher can use their emotional intelligence to understand how their students react to different methods of teaching. A good teacher knows that you can't judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree. Because look, an AI would try to force that fish to evolve into a lizard.
And just a quick note here, my friend: every single one of the skills we're talking about here today is something we cover in some capacity on the Alux app. Between the daily sessions, wisdom stories, and most of all, the exclusive learning packs, we present you with curated knowledge to improve all of these skills and then some. Download the Alux app today if you haven't already and start compounding the knowledge that will literally change your life. But you need to do it 10 minutes a day.
Number two: creativity. Creativity is the ability to generate new and original ideas. It's what allows us to think outside of the box and come up with unique solutions. Robots can generate new ideas, but they can't truly understand the creative process or the ability to think outside of the box. They're just following a pre-programmed algorithm. So if a robot has the task to escape a maze, it'll never figure out how to just look over the fences. Creativity has a lot to do with exactly how we use the AI. We mentioned in the previous video that companies will eventually resort to someone taking care of the AI and a dog to take care of the person. Now, many people believe that creativity and imagination, for that matter, are what makes us superior to other beings or machines. The reason this is the case is because we can imagine something that doesn't yet exist. We draw from our inspiration and creativity to build things without a blueprint or pre-existing knowledge. For example, an AI cannot create a new dish; only a chef can, by experimenting with different flavors and ingredients, along with their own personal experience and special touches.
Number three: leadership. Leadership is the ability to inspire and motivate others to achieve a common goal. More importantly, a leader can create a community or a team. There will always be a need for good leaders because even the most gifted individuals cannot work together without something that binds them on a personal level. Think of how sports teams fall apart when just one person leaves, regardless of if they were players or the coach. Robots can't inspire or motivate others. Imagine you're a robot boss telling you, "You can do it," in a monotone voice. It's really not that motivating, is it?
Number four: critical thinking. Critical thinking is the ability to evaluate and make judgments. It's what allows us to analyze and interpret information, identify patterns and problems, and make sound decisions, which so far sounds like something an AI can do with ease. But there is one problem: the AI doesn't know why it does that, besides the fact that someone asked it to do so. It can't see the bigger picture or how to sacrifice or how to make compromises. It can't take one step back to take two steps forward. This requires human input.
Number five: interpersonal communication. Interpersonal communication is the ability to understand and respond to non-verbal cues. It's what allows us to communicate effectively and build relationships with others. Robots can communicate, but they can't understand and respond to non-verbal cues like tone of voice, facial expressions, and body language. Imagine having a robot therapist; it would just nod and say, "I understand," but not really get it at all.
Number six: flexibility and adaptability. Flexibility and adaptability are the ability to adapt and adjust to new situations. We have a better term for this; we call it "winging it." It's using creativity, creative thinking, and intuition, something we'll talk about later, to figure stuff out when there are a lot of unknowns. Robots can perform specific tasks, but they can't adapt and adjust to new situations. If it doesn't have all the data points, it can make an educated prediction, but that's about it.
Number seven: empathy. Now, empathy allows you to put yourself in someone else's shoes and really understand what they're going through. Without empathy, you cannot build relationships with others. For example, an AI could not raise a baby or effectively solve a conflict, or when to choose not to be right just to give a win to the other person because they really need one. These human nuances are impossible to replicate, and empathy is one of the main reasons AIs will never replace humans.
Number eight: cultural intelligence. Cultural intelligence is the ability to understand and navigate different cultures and perspectives. But more importantly, cultural intelligence means understanding traditions, habits, and ways that people do certain things just because that's how they decided to think of trends, fashion, subculture, and anything of the sort. An AI cannot start its own culture; it doesn't understand why people act a certain way and how to navigate that, which in turn means an AI will never be able to create a cultural movement.
Number nine: decision making. An AI can be programmed to solve a specific problem, but it cannot decide to solve a specific problem. There needs to be human input for that. If someone doesn't pick a problem to be solved or a solution to be created or something to be made, the AI just sits there collecting virtual dust. It's all in the way that we decide to use AI to shape our future, which is why it is so important to get better at identifying the right decisions to make for the future.
Number ten: strategic thinking. Strategic thinking is the ability to understand and plan for long-term goals. It's what allows us to make informed decisions and create a vision for the future of an organization. So, robots can analyze data, but they can't understand and plan for long-term goals. They're like a robot trying to plan a road trip; it would just give you the directions, but it wouldn't understand the beauty of the journey.
Number eleven: intuition. Can a robot figure out how a magic trick is done? Well, it's going to try to guess based on inputs that are designed to trick it, so most likely not. But having good intuition goes beyond making street performers out of a job. Intuition tells you what career to pick, what road to take, or who to trust. Let's say an AI looks at a particular stock that has a good return for the last 30 years and it suggests you buy it, but you just saw the CEO go on Twitter and rant about how the company is actually a scam and he's tired of pretending. Will you trust the AI or your intuition that the company will probably go to zero by tomorrow?
Number twelve: negotiation. Speaking of trusting the AI, can you trust it to negotiate a promotion for you? It'll just ask for the same thing over and over again without understanding anything. Negotiation may be one of the only skills left that absolutely require two humans involved. Imagine two AIs negotiating with themselves; there would be no end. You see, it's impossible to please everyone, which means compromises need to be made, understandings need to be reached, and if people don't find ways to work with each other, nothing gets done.
Number thirteen: humor. Can an AI make you laugh? Well, technically yes, if it tells you a joke you've never heard before. But would you go to a stand-up show done by a robot? Probably not, right? Because only humans can entertain other humans—maybe like some cat videos or something. It requires a certain skill to be able to bring an audience along on a journey, to make them forget about everything and only pay attention to you. Yes, an AI can probably write some jokes for you, but it cannot build character and charisma for you. It cannot make other people care about what you have to say, which is why we believe entertainers in general will see a huge boost in popularity during this new age of AI.
Number fourteen: resilience. As AI goes more mainstream, we believe there will only be two types of people left: one, those who only do the bare minimum and let AI do the rest of the work, and two, those who will leverage AI to do ten times more things with the same amount of effort. This will create a huge gap between the first two groups. You see, those who will only use AI to get rid of as much work as possible, they're going to stay still. They'll become lazy and unmotivated. But on the other hand, those who will use AI to explode their productivity will be so far ahead that it will make the first group look like they live in another century. They will do that because they have ambition and resilience. You see, the AI can give you the perfect workout plan, but it's you who needs to do the push-ups every single day. It cannot do that for you. Resilience in this scenario is not about how long you can sustain a high workload; it's about how far you want to take this. Do you want to 10x your output or massively decrease your input? The way you approach this will make a huge difference, but only those who are resilient will be able to handle it.
Number fifteen: self-awareness. Self-awareness is your ability to understand this world and where you fit into it. There's a very high chance—and we don't want to sound like doomers by saying this or anything—but there is a chance some people won't take this AI thing too lightly, especially when it's going to start replacing the workforce. We don't know how this is going to play out just yet, but if there was ever a great time to start developing your self-awareness, it is now.
Okay, but don't worry about robots taking over your job yet. At the end of the day, AI is a tool that can assist us in achieving our goals and making our work more efficient, but it can never replace the unique abilities and skills of human beings. It cannot decide to start a company on its own, and it can't solve a major problem for humanity; only we can do that. We hope you learned something valuable here today.
Alex, sir, we'll see you back here again tomorrow. [Music]