What Is AI Job Deskilling?

Which Professional Skills Might AI Erode?

How To Use AI Without Deskilling Yourself

The Skills That May Become Even More Valuable In The Age Of AI

How Can Employers Prevent AI From Deskilling Their Workforce?

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

AI is taking work by storm and while some would say that it’s just another tool, it’s especially disruptive. It’s changing the way we work and it’s changing work itself quickly. It’s affecting work globally in most industries, professions and skill levels and professions. Perhaps most significant: AI is changing us. The scope of the changes go beyond previous technological changes. It puts us at risk of job deskilling.

AI job deskilling is real. Using AI can diminish our capabilities, thinking, ownership and motivation. It can also cause us to communicate and connect differently with colleagues, which has effects on trust and our opportunities to build relationships.

But we can manage AI and use it to our advantage without losing our skills in the process.

What Is AI Job Deskilling?

AI job deskilling is when we offload our effort to AI and then experience a loss or reduction in our skills. In true use-it-or-lose-it fashion, when we cede our work to AI, we fail to tap into our own capabilities and they atrophy.

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Of course, AI can be useful to eliminate tedious work, but we need to ensure we’re not eliminating valuable skills in the process. A good rule of thumb is to avoid using AI if you need to learn something or if you’ll need a capability later on in situations when you can’t use AI. For example, if you’ll be doing a presentation or sharing your ideas in a meeting on a certain topic, you’ll need an understanding of the material easily accessible within your own brain.

On the other hand, if you’re using AI to execute something that is routine, repetitive, administrative or formatting-oriented, you can enhance your efficiency in positive ways. AI can also help you upskill and learn new things.

AI is changing the skills that we prioritize. In fact, human skills of interacting, communicating, collaborating, critical thinking and managing conflict are among the most in-demand skills today, because they are uniquely human.

You can consider protecting the three C’s: your creativity and curiosity as well as your skills in connection. Humans crave to create, so ensure you’re still generating ideas and solutions. In addition, asking the best questions is important to advance your thinking, even more than having the best answers. So, retain your curiosity and wonder about topics that interest you. And never use AI to replace human interactions. Maintain and sustain your ability to connect with friends and build relationships.

Overall, you’ll want to be intentional about AI use and determine when you want AI to give you the answer versus when you want AI to help you figure out the answer.

Which Professional Skills Might AI Erode?

With too much use of AI, you risk eroding key skills like judgement, reasoning, relating, communicating and learning. Evidence shows that with too much use of AI, you may reduce your motivation, commitment, ownership and even your recall of the work you’ve done.

Here are the skills to protect and that can be eroded by AI if you’re not intentional about how you use it.

Critical thinking and judgement skills include evaluating evidence, challenging assumptions and drawing conclusions. Critical thinking skills are important as you decide what to pay attention to and what is credible, as well as when you........

© Forbes