Much like the internet did in the 1990s, AI is going to change the very definition of work. While change can be scary, if the last three years taught us anything, it can also be an opportunity to reinvent how we do things. I believe the best way to manage the changes ahead for employees and employers alike is to adopt a skills-first mindset. For employees, this means thinking about your job as a collection of tasks instead of a job title, with the understanding that those tasks will change regularly as AI advances. By breaking down your job into tasks that AI can fully take on, tasks for which AI can improve your efficiency, and tasks that require your unique skills, you can identify the skills you should actually be investing in to stay competitive in the job you have. This story is from the WIRED World in 2024, our annual trends briefing.

A company's most valuable asset is its human capital. In fact, people skills were ranked as the third most important force that will affect enterprises in the next two years by more than 12,800 C-level executives who participated in the most recent IBM Global C-suite Study. In addition, only half of the 2,100 CHRO participants said they currently have the people skills and resources to execute their business strategies. As Gina Dellabarca, General Manager of Human Resources for Westpac New Zealand, says in the C-suite Study report: "Our most important priority in HR is finding talent for the future, not just for now. We're focused on the formidable challenge of attracting, developing, and retaining employees with skills we haven't yet determined."

AI technology is transforming industries. Certain fields, like manufacturing, are feeling a significant impact with the elimination of jobs and the redesign of core business processes. CNBC reports that 6 percent of jobs will disappear within five years in the face of automation. For example, as Newsweek notes, automated gas pumps eliminated numerous jobs at service stations, but created new opportunities for engineering, software developers and technicians. One of the next frontiers AI technology is set to define is customer service jobs.

From the invention of the mechanical weaving loom at the start of the Industrial Age to the debut of personal computers in the Information Age, people have typically been more hesitant than eager when faced with rapid technological change. In retrospect, it seems laughable that society would view such transformational advances with skepticism. Technological revolution typically faces growing pains as the workforce strives to adapt its skills to the new environment. Yet it's apparent that businesses are aiming to use these innovations as tools for human enablement rather than replacement. Developing the latest skills poses an increasingly difficult challenge for both the C-suite and the workforce.

In the 1950s, scientists began working to build machines capable of imitating intelligent human behaviour. Progress accelerated recently when we entered a new phase of machine learning--one that has led to a dramatic decrease in the cost of prediction. Moore's Law (the 18-month doubling of transistor intensity on microprocessors) was the driver of the previous phase--a revolution in technology hardware that advanced mobile innovation and smartphone adoption. Increased connectivity and scalable cloud-based storage catalysed a step change in the amount of data we collected and consumed. Information taken from sensors, images, videos, and other digital sources is being used to generate a more accurate view of real-time context.

Artificial intelligence ("AI") is fast becoming the next great democratizer for services. In the medical field, 56% of consumers surveyed see its potential to lower cost and break down barriers in providing medical access to lower income adults. And the beginnings of that technology can already be seen: an AI system has successfully identified autism in babies with 81% accuracy, while a Stanford-led experiment used AI to identify skin cancer with 91% accuracy. But as much as these technologies develop and become more successful in application, the majority of consumers still want a human touch accompany cutting-edge tech. While consumers trust AI to make vital decisions on the back end in terms of data processing and analysis, they still prefer a human to deliver information to them or to help explain a result.

There are three categories of intelligence in the legal vertical–intellectual, emotional, and artificial. Many lawyers have elevated IQ's, though relatively few seem to possess high EQ's– commonly called'people skills'. Only the best lawyers--trusted advisers– have both. Artificial intelligence (AI), a recent entrant in the legal vertical, scores high on IQ, but the jury is still out on whether machines can develop comparable EQ. What kind of intelligence is required for legal delivery?