In 2020 and 2021, many a breathless think-piece was written about the Future of Work. The Old World was never coming back, and we all had to adapt to the reality forced upon use by COVID, or be left behind.
Visions tended to vary, but most agreed: Work from Home was here to stay. How could we ever go back to cubicles after a once-in-a-century plague forced us to take stock of work-life-balance’s importance?
Oh how we were wrong. Amazon, Goldman Sachs, Disney, Dell… so many companies have asked employees to come back to the office over the past months that it may be easier to name the ones that haven’t done so (Airbnb? Coinbase?).
Employees have fought back, but the fight is not long for this world. They will all come back of their own volition. And the rise of General Artificial Intelligence is at fault.
As we witness AI becoming proficient in the ways of mundane corporate work (making presentations, helping clients, generating financial reports…), we get more anxious about our replace-ability. We ask ourselves “What can I do that can’t be automated?” “How can I make sure I come out on top of this technological revolution?”
Sure, we crack jokes with our colleagues about the mistakes ChatGPT makes. We write sarcastic little Tweets saying “our jobs are safe, fam”. But we’re all asking these same questions. We’re scared.
The smartest among us will have realized that the talents still unique to humanity are interpersonal and best exercised in-person. Collaboration. Leadership. Creativity. Brainstorming. All matters of soft skills. In fact, work that can’t be automated is the personality you bring to the office. No amount of technology seems to be able to replace this… because it can only happen organically.