A young man asked me a question recently that really made me think. He is in high school, which means he is standing at the very beginning of a career that could last 40 or 50 years.
His question was simple.
“With the business world changing so much because of AI, and with AI only going to get better, what career path would you recommend to your children that you would consider AI-proof?”
Wow. That is a really good question. And I have to admit, my first thought was that I didn’t have a great answer. Not because there aren’t careers that will be less affected by artificial intelligence than others. There certainly are. But because I don’t think there is such a thing as an entirely AI-proof career anymore.
AI is moving too quickly.
The World Economic Forum estimates that AI and information-processing technologies will be among the biggest forces reshaping businesses through 2030. The International Labor Organization estimates that roughly one in four workers worldwide are in occupations with some degree of exposure to generative AI. But, and this is important, the ILO believes transformation of jobs is much more likely than complete replacement of people.
In other words, the question may not be “What job can’t AI do?” Maybe the better question is: “What kind of person will still be incredibly valuable when AI can do almost everything it is capable of doing?” And that changes the answer completely.
First, know that I wouldn’t tell my kids to run from AI, and I wouldn’t tell them to find a career that has nothing to do with technology. Quite the opposite. I’d tell him to learn AI. Learn how it works, what it can and can’t do, and learn how to use it to make themselves better, faster and more productive. Because AI isn’t going away.
The businesses that succeed aren’t going to be the ones that refuse to use it. They’re going to be the ones that figure out how to use it well. Research makes that point pretty clearly. Employers increasingly want a combination of technological skills and distinctly human capabilities. AI literacy is becoming valuable, while skills such as creative thinking, resilience, leadership, collaboration and analytical thinking remain critical. So, I wouldn’t tell a kid to prepare for a world without AI. I’d tell him to prepare for a world with AI.
But I would also tell my kids something else. I’d tell them to become really good at things machines have a difficult time replacing. Things like judgment, relationships, trust, leadership, empathy, courage, communication, creativity, problem solving when there isn’t a neat answer, and perhaps most importantly: Knowing what questions to ask.
Think about what AI actually does. It can process enormous amounts of information. It can write, analyze, calculate, summarize, generate images, video, presentations and computer code, diagnose problems and identify patterns that humans might miss, and it is going to get much better. But there is still something fundamentally different about a human being sitting across the table from another human being.
A customer that is deciding whether to trust you.
A patient who is frightened about a diagnosis.
A child who needs a teacher to believe in him.
A team that needs someone to lead it through a crisis.
A homeowner whose air conditioner stopped working in August.
A company trying to decide whether a million-dollar investment is wise.
A husband and wife sitting across from each other trying to figure out what to do next.
These aren’t simply information problems. They’re human problems. And human problems require human beings.
So, what careers would I consider? If you forced me to give my kids a list, I’d probably start with careers where physical presence, human trust, judgment or personal responsibility matter enormously. Skilled trades would be high on my list. Electricians. Plumbers. HVAC technicians. Construction professionals. Specialized mechanics. People who work with their hands in environments that aren’t perfectly predictable. AI can tell you how an HVAC system is supposed to work, but it can’t necessarily crawl into the attic of a 40-year-old house, discover that the previous homeowner did something completely insane, figure out what actually happened, and then fix it. At least not yet.
Healthcare would also be high on my list. Not because AI won’t transform medicine – It absolutely will and already is – but because medicine isn’t simply about information. It is also about human interaction, judgment, responsibility and trust. A computer can analyze a scan. A doctor still has to look a frightened patient in the eye.
Teachers are another example. AI can explain algebra, write lesson plans. answer questions and can even tutor a student. But teaching has never been merely the transfer of information. The best teachers recognize that the kid sitting in front of them isn’t a spreadsheet. They notice when something is wrong. They encourage. They challenge. They inspire. They know when a student needs another explanation, and when he simply needs somebody to tell him, “I know you can do this.”
And then there is leadership. I’m especially bullish about that because businesses will always need people who can make decisions when the answer isn’t obvious. People who can build teams, earn trust, accept responsibility, and walk into a room when everyone else is panicking and say, “Okay. Here’s what we’re going to do.” AI can provide options. Leadership means choosing one and being willing to own the consequences.
But here’s the part I would really want my kids to hear. I wouldn’t tell them, “Become a plumber because AI can’t be a plumber.” Because someday, perhaps, robotics will change even that. I wouldn’t tell them, “Become a doctor because AI can’t replace doctors.” Because AI will absolutely change what doctors do. I wouldn’t tell them, “Become a teacher because teachers are safe.” Because education will change dramatically, too.
I’d tell him something much bigger. I would tell them, don’t build your career around a particular task. Build it around your ability to create value. Learn something deeply. Become excellent at it. Learn how people and businesses work, how to communicate, solve problems, lead, work with your hands, technology, and how to work with people. And then learn how to use AI as a tool rather than viewing it as your enemy. Why? Because I suspect the future belongs neither to the people who ignore AI nor to the people who blindly surrender everything to it. It belongs to the people who can work alongside it.
For most of my career, being technologically proficient was a competitive advantage. Today however, I think we’re moving toward something very different – being human in the ways that matter will become a competitive advantage. The irony is that the better AI becomes at doing mechanical, repetitive and information-based work, the more valuable uniquely human abilities may become.
The World Economic Forum’s research found that current generative AI still has significant limitations when work requires physical execution, nuanced judgment, human interaction and hands-on application. In fact, none of the more than 2,800 skills it examined was judged to have a “very high” capacity for substitution by current generative AI. That’s fascinating because it suggests something we might be getting backward. Perhaps the answer isn’t to become more like a machine. Perhaps it’s to become more human. Learn to think, listen, care, create, make decisions, take responsibility. look someone in the eye, shake someone’s hand and mean what you say, learn to trust, AND YES, learn AI.
Truth be told, young people entering the workforce today aren’t competing against artificial intelligence. They’re competing against other people who know how to use artificial intelligence. That’s a very different proposition.
So, what would I tell my own children? I’d tell them not to obsess over finding the one magical “AI-proof” career. There probably isn’t one. Instead, I’d tell them to become the kind of person who remains valuable regardless of which technology shows up next. Because we’ve been here before.
The internet changed business.
The personal computer changed business.
The smartphone changed business.
Automation changed business.
And now AI is changing business again, perhaps more profoundly than anything we’ve seen before. But through every technological revolution, one thing has remained remarkably consistent. Companies still need people who can think, solve problems, build relationships, who can lead, be trusted, who can adapt, and people who can look at a problem that nobody has solved before and say: “I’ll figure it out.”
That’s the career path I’d recommend. Not an AI-proof career. An AI-resistant person. And maybe that’s the better answer to a very good question from a young man who is about to enter a very different world of work.
The future doesn’t belong to the person who can outrun AI.
It belongs to the person who knows how to use it and still remembers how to be human.
Joe Bouch CEO, 78Madison
78Madison is a full-service marketing communications firm and advertising agency located in Winter Springs, Florida, near Orlando. We help businesses develop smart, strategic brands and bring them to life through advertising, digital marketing, web development, social media, and other communications channels.