How AI Changes What Workers Need to Know

Organisations implementing AI face an unexpected challenge: the skills that made employees valuable are shifting faster than training programmes can adapt.

A 2024 analysis by the World Economic Forum found that 44% of workers’ core skills will be disrupted by 2027 due to AI integration. However, most organisations lack visibility into which capabilities are eroding and which new ones employees need.

The issue goes beyond mere technical proficiency. Research indicates that the adoption of AI gives rise to three distinct skill categories that organisations must address:

• AI-adjacent skills – understanding how to work effectively alongside AI systems, interpreting their outputs critically, and knowing when to override recommendations. These differ fundamentally from traditional digital literacy.
• Augmented judgment skills – enhancement of decision-making processes that integrate human contextual understanding with AI pattern recognition capabilities. Professionals must discern when AI insights add value and when they might introduce bias or overlook critical nuances.
• Meta-cognitive skills – the ability to self-reflect on one’s own thought processes and to recognise when a machine is performing the thinking. Research indicates that professionals cannot frequently recognise when they have become dependent on algorithmic assistance.

Excessive AI support during learning may hinder novices from developing fundamental skills – a phenomenon known as the “never-skilling” effect that has been observed in medical training. The solution requires calibrated scaffolding: as competency levels increase, the system gradually decreases the level of AI assistance. This encourages learners to internalise capabilities rather than relying on algorithmic support indefinitely.

Sources:

1. Kupfer, C., Prassl, R., Fleiß, J., Malin, C., Thalmann, S., & Kubicek, B. (2023). Check the box! How to deal with automation bias in AI-based personnel selection. Frontiers in Psychology, 14, 1118723. ​https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1118723​
2. World Economic Forum. (2024). Future of Jobs Report 2024. Retrieved from ​https://www.weforum.org/reports/future-of-jobs-report-2024​

1. 3. Rizvi, Y. S., & Zaheer, S. (2022). Training healthcare professionals in artificial intelligence augmented services. In Industry 4.0 and Intelligent Business Analytics for Healthcare (pp. 117–134). New York: Nova Science Publishers.

This article is part of the project “People and Algorithms in Organisations: Competences to Work in the Digital Environment” (DIGIT_People and algorithms), funded by the NAWA – Narodowa Agencja Wymiany Akademickiej (Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange).

#DIGIT_NAWA #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #Management#Leadership #HumanAICollaboration #ComplementaryAI #AIStrategy #BusinessStrategy #DigitalTransformation #FutureOfWork #AIResearch #NAWA