Top Skills You Need To Avoid Being Replaced By AI And Robots

Corey Koehler
4 min readMar 21, 2023

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The idea of AI and robots replacing us is no longer science fiction.

They are getting smarter and faster right now.

There is ZERO time to waste if you want to stay ahead of the game because people are getting replaced.

Like these occupations that most people thoughts were safe (but aren’t anymore):

  • Teachers
  • Lawyers
  • Musicians
  • Marketers
  • Copywriters
  • Graphic designers

And that’s a very small list, honestly.

The truth is, any of us might be getting replaced at any moment.

And then there’s this…

Google and Microsoft made some big announcements that will immediately impact businesses (and any employees working at those businesses).

Watch this video to see what I’m talking about.

Crazy huh?

Who thought everyday tools like Google Docs and Microsoft Office would have such a huge impact?

I sure didn’t.

And those are just two examples.

But I have some insight into what we can do to stay in the game.

Plus, by the end of this post, you’ll see that all this change is a huge opportunity.

“Every new solution creates new problems.” — Chris Lochhead, Author, Host of “Follow Your Different” Podcast

AI offers an almost unlimited amount of solutions which means there are going to be just as many problems. All those problems are opportunities.

Keep reading…

The Skills You Need

I’ve been woodshedding on the topic for a few months to figure out what we can do.

There are many opinions, and they vary by occupation. But I wanted to find more universal, first-principles-type skills. That way, I know how to help almost anyone in any walk of life.

The two sources I found did this the best were AI itself (via ChatGPT) and Dr. Li Jiang, the director of the Stanford AIRE Program.

Let’s start with the AI…

ChatGPT:

First, to show you how it works if you haven’t played with it yet, here is how I asked it:

First, I warmed it up to make sure it was answering the question from a position of authority. I am a newbie at “prompting” but this is what you do to get better answers.

“You are a futurist instructing people to avoid being replaced by artificial intelligence and AI. Do you understand? If so, prove to me in 500 words or less that you are qualified to give this advice.”

Next, I asked it this.

“List the three most important skills humans should learn and develop to avoid being replaced by ai and robots.”

Here is an abbreviated version of the reply:

  1. Critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
  2. Emotional intelligence and interpersonal skills.
  3. Continuous learning and adaptability.

The answers were longer for each bullet point, but this article will be long enough (If you want, the long version, take the chance to try ChatGPT yourself).

The answers were fairly self-explanatory and to the point, but still felt kind of generic.

Now, let’s see what a really smart human has to say.

Dr. Li Jiang of Stanford:

  1. Understand how to Work with AI
  2. Differentiate human ability from AI
  3. Use AI to accomplish/invent new things

1 and 3 are self-explanatory, but I needed to dig deeper into number 2.

Dr. Jiang mentions in the video that the way to differentiate between human and AI abilities is to work on zero-to-one problems.

So, to wrap my head around what a zero-to-one problem is, I turned to the AI…

Makes sense!

What You Can Do Right Now:

So, what now?

Well, a good place to start would be by learning how to work with the bots and working on your creative skills.

“What matters most is the ability to give quality instructions and the creativity surrounding those instructions. Not the execution.” — Max Maher, YouTuber

Futurist Mike Walsh backs this up by saying he sees “humans as designers and architects.”

So, if I were you, I would start by watching Dr. Li Jiang’s video to gain a deeper understanding.

Then, it would be a good idea for you to start playing around with ChatGPT or Bing to see how you might be able to use it for your work.

And stay tuned because while you dip your toe in the AI water, I’m taking the next step in my AI education by learning how to use it as my assistant.

One of the first steps is understanding how to direct it via what’s called “prompt engineering” (If you are curious, here’s the course I’m going to start taking).

See you next time!

Before you go…

Before you go…

Wanna see something cool? I just learned this. Tap and hold the clap button and see what happens. (Cool huh?)

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Corey Koehler

Google Ads Guy | Entrepreneur | Music and NFL Geek | 80s Kid Sharing adventures in music, marketing & early unretirement. https://start.redefiningretirement.io/