Like most people, I spent a lot of time this year playing around and experimenting with AI tools—for learning, writing, coding, music, and art. Part of my brain couldn’t stop thinking about the trajectory of all this and how our lives, both at home and at work, might look in the years to come, and what evergreen human skills might remain useful in the future.
I know there are many others far more informed on the topic who share their views, and perhaps this is just a remix of what was already said, or a slight addition. None of these thoughts are fully cemented (and I reserve the right to update this list!), but some big-picture themes are starting to form:
Art of thinking for yourself (reasoning)
There is a real risk of outsourcing your thinking almost entirely to AI. This is really just an extension of an existing trend: fast entertainment, streaming, social media, where people naturally prefer to be entertained rather than read books or engage deeply with topics. Now, even in the office, much of the day writing emails, creating presentations, researching ideas is increasingly done with AI. I’ve had friends tell me they spend their entire day on ChatGPT, and that they no longer trust themselves to write an email or reply to a boss or client without it. I think this creates two problems. First, and perhaps more philosophically, it strips away the fun part of life: making your own contribution, doing something yourself, puting your own personal mark on an accomplishment. If everything becomes so efficient and AI makes all the choices for you; how to dress, what to write, how to analyse a problem, life risks becoming sterile and boring. Where is the fun in receiving a ‘cheat code’ for every game you play? It also makes your brain lazy and stale, just like your muscles (“why run 10k, when we can just take the car?!”). Second, in a world where you rely on AI for thinking, you can be caught off guard and deceived more easily1, because you’re effectively following an agenda set by others. All your views and biases end up being aggregated by four or five large language models; a very short menu of options of thought to be followed by billions of people.
Encouragingly, I’ve also seen some signs of a counter-trend: people creating their own personal learning curricula, immersing themselves in the classics, reading long form essays and books, or organising debate clubs to sharpen independent reasoning.Art of providing real value (solving the real problems)
The barriers to creating “things” will keep getting lower. We are clearly entering a golden age for entrepreneurs who always wanted to build but were held back by steep learning curves when entering new industries. Today it’s already far easier to code impressive software on your own or design a 3D model for a summer house by the lake. Knowledge is faster to access, and as a result you can now become very competent in not just one or two but a few different industries. But this explosion of supply of ‘things’ also creates a bubble of solutions disconnected from real problems. Just because it is easy to build something fast doesn’t mean it always matters. For entrepreneurs, the critical entry skill is empathy: putting yourself deeply in the shoes of your client and ‘simulating the world’ through their eyes. How exactly is your solution solving their problem? How much does the problem cost them? Who is paying the price now? Why are you or your company the best to solve it?
From my experience so far, LLMs tend to generalise or, at best, skim over those questions and at worst, provide an oversimplified, over enthusiastic spin on things. The DNA of true entrepreneurship is being addicted to noticing pain points and helping people out, a skill that will be very hard to automate in our lifetime at such an individualistic, 8.1 billion people, level. Value doesn’t come from making more, but from solving what actually hurts.Art of storytelling (persuasion, selling)
Having a differentiated product or a competitive price alone might no longer be enough to succeed. I think storytelling and persuasion skills will be much more valuable, a compliment to build a client base, communicate the value of your product, and genuinely position yourself as the best person or company to solve a problem. I think more will be studied and written about brands, whether companies or individuals, that can differentiate themselves through by articulating a compelling story (involving personal credibility, track record, emotion) about who they are and what they stand for.
We will always need good storytellers… It’s how you raise money, how you find a partner, how you land a job, how you convince people to work with you. Good stories tap into emotions and feelings, something so human that no algorithm, however advanced, can authentically be able to replicate.Art of bringing people together
This might sound like an outlier, but there’s a tendency with AI to lock you into your own world. Surrounded by assistants and chatbots all day that provide comfort and guidance in all sorts of situations, it becomes easy to grow self-focused. But this runs against our nature. Humans are deeply social animals; we crave interaction, debate, and personal connection. History shows how powerful this can be in business. I recently read a story of how, in the 17th century, London overtook Amsterdam to become the world’s financial capital. The reason wasn’t just stronger institutions or better trade, it was the culture of London’s coffeehouses and pubs. Importantly, these were spaces where people stood rather than sat, mingled freely, and exchanged ideas with strangers. That constant flow of conversation and debate helped develop institutions that can still be found around the perimeter of the City of London. People who can create environments that bring people together were always valued in the past, and I think this will continue to be the case for many years to come.
Jonathan's Coffee House was an important meeting place in the City of London in the 17th and 18th century evenutally becoming the original site of the London Stock Exchange This is, of course, only a partial list, and it doesn’t capture all the new skills that will emerge as industries evolve. Still, it feels to me like a useful starting point—sketched out in an hour this morning with a blank page and a strong cup of coffee. And interestingly, even in developing these deeply human skills, AI can can help, but it’s still up to us to figure out percisely how.
See Melissa Heikkla, The Finanial Times, “Persuasive AI chatbots that can change your mind prompt fears about misuse”, August 21, 2025