The skills people still perform better than AI, according to workplace experts
Cathy Bussewitz
June 11, 2026
NEW YORK (AP) — Many workers fear machines will supplant them as adoption of artificial intelligence accelerates.
But what if people have qualities both unmistakably human and essential to career success that AI could not easily replace them?
Some workplace experts argue that with more businesses adopting AI tools, soft skills such as empathy, critical thinking and ethical decision-making are worth cultivating to help employees become indispensable.
Across industries and occupations, “the skills that are most resistant to displacement by AI are the ones that are the most distinctly human,” Maria Flynn, president and CEO of Jobs for the Future, a nonprofit focused on workforce development, said. “Some of those things are relationship building, conflict resolution, the ability to guide and motivate other people and ethical judgment.”
