The question is not whether the AI will change the workforce. The question is: will you be ready? Technology has always transformed work and society. Artificial intelligence accelerates the pace. Imagine being a farm or a factory worker in 1850, watching new emerging machines that threatened to take your work. Fear was intense, just like societal reaction. People moved against automation, desperately to stop progress. But history has walked forward. The machines replaced a large part of the grinding work in factories and farms, but humanity has not collapsed, it has advanced. While society adapted in the following decades, life expectancy has increased, work has become safer, people have worked for less hours and the global standard of living has soared.
We have already seen this cycle. AI is only the next wave. Instead of destroying jobs, it redefines what a precious work looks like. The workforce has previously adapted and it will adapt again. The winners will be those who will kiss this change the fastest.
AI follows a familiar game book
As an economic anthropologist who studied socio -economic transitions, I see disturbing historical schemes re -emerging. In the 1990s, Russia experienced a dramatic transition from communism to capitalism. Because society has resisted the change, millions of people who had relied on government jobs and the security of the socialist system were suddenly lost in a rapidly evolving economy. Life expectancy fell, many turned to drugs, protested or checked the job market. Nostalgia for the past has grown and, at the end of the decade, Russia elected an authoritarian chief who promised to reverse the capitalist policies and systems. Now Russia is faced with the consequence of this resistance to progress, and it will take several generations to cancel the damage to this social reaction to change.
The industrial revolution of the 1800s followed a similar trajectory. Economic upheavals and trips have led to social troubles, and many countries have responded with communist fascist and authoritarian regimes. It took two world wars and a massive economic reset to move forward. But then, after kissing the change, we became much better.
The lesson? If we do not adapt quickly to the current economy focused on AI, we risk repeating the errors of history. This time, however, we have the possibility of avoiding suffering by kissing change proactively.
With AI, adaptation must occur more quickly
To prevent the type of societal upheavals that we have seen in previous economic transitions, individuals must get out of their comfort zones and adapt to AI faster than they think possible. What does this adaptation look like a personal level?
1. Learn AI
If you are not actively using AI tools today, you are already late. Start by paying for access to the main AI platforms as a chatgpt. Immerse yourself in AI content focused on opinion leaders like David Shapiro, Matthew Berman, Julia McCoy, Wes Roth, Mo Gawdat, Dwarkesh Patel and Peter Diamandis. The more you commit yourself, better you will understand how the AI resides work and business.
2. Develop your intuition
AI is phenomenal to analyze data and generate information, but it does not have the capacity to detect cultural changes, anticipate human behavior or see the wider image beyond raw information. This is where human intuition becomes critical. Companies will move away from the valuation of purely “data -oriented” employees to those who can mix data with deep perception and provident.
3. Become an artist
Jobs that thrive on human energy, emotion and interaction in real time – such as sales, live performance, public speaking and advocacy – will continue to be very demanded. AI can write songs, but it cannot reproduce electricity from a live concert. AI can analyze legal arguments, but it cannot correspond to the presence of a qualified advocacy. Future labor will promote those who will bring an irreplaceable human presence to their roles.
How to work with AI
The workforce does not face extinction – it evolves. The key does not resist AI but to integrate it into your workflow. Those who use AI as amplifier will exceed those who fear it.
Consider the AI-Human collaboration in action: the platforms fueled by AI, such as the management systems of AI agents, allow companies to optimize workflows while keeping humans at the head of strategic decision-making. For example, platforms like Take a path Help companies deploy AI agents to rationalize tasks while allowing human workers to focus on high value creativity, strategy and interactions. This is the model for the future – humans and AI working in tandem.
Upon testing your career in an AI world
AI is not a destructive of employment – it is a catalyst to rethink the work. The best way to protect your work from AI is to look at our full humanity, the things we put aside when we started looking at the screens instead of focusing on each other. Double the skills that AI cannot easily reproduce – intuition, sensory intelligence and the ability to create energy in live interactions.
The future belongs to those who embrace AI, not those who resist it. The faster we get out of our comfort zones and we adapt, the earlier we all win.
The opinions expressed in the Fortune.com comments are only the views of their authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs ofFortune.
This story was initially presented on Fortune.com
