AI Can’t Replace These Soft Skills

A lot of the hysteria around AI taking everyone’s jobs seems to have calmed down a bit, but it’s still safe to say that certain roles will change when more companies start to implement AI tools into their business practices. The silver lining here is that AI tools will never be able to demonstrate the soft skills of their human counterparts, so there will always be a need for human workers. Here are some soft skills that AI can never replace.

Creativity

AI tools can be used to generate text, artwork, music, and videos, but the ability to innovate is uniquely human. Even when an AI tool creates a stunning piece of artwork, it only does so after a human being feeds it a prompt. Most times, users will have to go through many iterations before the AI generates its closest representation of the original idea. On the other hand, a human can create a vision in their mind instantaneously. Indeed, the genesis of all great ideas takes place in the human mind.

Adaptability

The workplace can be unpredictable; people can call out sick, new processes can be introduced without warning, glitches can occur, deadlines can shift, and power outages can stop projects dead in their tracks. Luckily for humans, they’re flexible and able to adapt to changing circumstances on the fly. AI tools cannot shift gears as quickly, as they require human intervention to alter their programming. In addition to this, AI tools are susceptible to glitches, which can bring their reliability into question.

Leadership Qualities

AI tools can be used for many things including scheduling tasks and deadlines, managing projects, and tracking progress. One could argue that AI tools can perform these functions better than their human counterparts; however, human beings possess certain unique qualities that AI will never be able to replicate. A great leader can teach and inspire others, and they can listen and offer advice on a human level. In certain cases, a leader has to make difficult decisions that are not always based entirely on logic, which brings us to our next entry.

Empathy

When working with other people, it’s important to understand that everyone is living their own unique experience. This doesn’t mean that you have to know exactly what every other person is thinking or feeling in any given moment, but having a certain degree of emotional intelligence will go a long way, both inside and out of the workplace. AI tools have no feelings, and are unable to have any awareness of what others are thinking or feeling. In other words, they can’t empathize.

Collaboration

Building off of our last entry, when we are able to empathize with others, it makes collaboration much easier. Most times, people are great at working together towards a common goal. They can offer help and advice to one another, and they can champion for each other when things get tough. AI tools cannot build relationships with people, and while they can be used to provide users with all kinds of information, they aren’t able to help people through a tough day and can’t replicate the powerful human drive towards meeting a common goal.

Problem-Solving

AI tools can be used to solve certain types of problems, as long as they’re provided with the necessary information and are programmed to do so; however, the solutions provided by AI tools are static, and may include errors if the initial prompt was full of mistakes or unnecessary details. Going back to our entry about adaptability, humans are able to pivot when solving problems, and can come up with creative solutions despite any new variables or changes to the scenario.

Along with this, human beings are able to solve interpersonal problems in the workplace. They can defuse arguments constructively, and are able to offer alternative perspectives or solutions to complex problems using both logic and emotional intelligence. AI will never truly understand the human condition, it cannot relate to our experiences, and it is only able to approach certain types of problems after a human being has provided it with the necessary information.

It’s worth noting that soft skills work very well as transferable skills. For more information on transferable skills, check out our previous blog. AI tools will undoubtedly change the way we work, but that doesn’t mean AI is going to steal all our jobs. It’s more likely that humans will learn to work alongside AI tools to complete various tasks, but there will always be a need for the human touch.