It is Davos week as I write this article. The moment each year when The World Economic Forum gathers global leaders, innovators, and policymakers in a village Switzerland to debate the forces shaping our future. This year, one theme sits beneath almost every conversation and it’s yes, you guessed it: artificial intelligence and specifically, the speed at which it is transforming work, skills, and opportunity. For schools, students, and families, this raises a practical question that matters far more than the snow angels and headlines: how do we upskill and reskill in a world where the tools are changing faster than the textbooks and where success will depend not just on what we know, but on how we adapt, learn, and lead?
The phrase “Fourth Industrial Revolution” was actually coined by Klaus Schwab himself, ex CEO of The World Economic Forum to describe the extraordinary wave of technological change now reshaping our world. Over the past two years, artificial intelligence, particularly tools like ChatGPT have accelerated that change at a pace few of us imagined. AI, as most can testify to, can now write grade A essays, design artwork that could easily hang in a gallery, generate marketing campaigns, and even simulate conversation with startling realism – my dad takes “Alexa” with him on every cruise much to my mum’s annoyance (“there were three people in this marriage”)!
For today’s students, parents and educators, this raises an urgent question: how do we upskill and reskill in a world where machines are becoming increasingly capable? The answer is not to fear AI, at the end of the day – it’s essentially just a series of datasets - but to rethink what it means to be truly human.
FROM AUTOMATION TO ADAPTATION
A few years ago, I would happily teach students the, at-the-time, stark differences between AI and humans - they were told that skills such as creativity and empathy would be safe from automation. Today, however, AI can compose music, produce professional-level design, and write articles that easily pass for human work. Yet rather than making human skills irrelevant, I think this shift makes them more important than ever. What matters now is not whether AI is “smarter” than us, because enough of these tools already exist to transform workplaces. The real question is how we use them to become better versions of ourselves.
AI AS ASSISTANT, YOU AS AUTHOR
AI is an extraordinary tool for learning faster and working smarter. Used well, it becomes the ultimate assistant - helping you gather raw material, organise your thoughts, and open up creative possibilities you might never have seen on your own. Upskilling in the age of AI is not about outsourcing your thinking, but rather about learning to use AI as a starting point. Asking AI to stimulate ideas, being a critical friend as you brainstorm. Using it to draft, refine and explore. Then BOOM, it’s at that moment that you kickstart the part that no algorithm can replicate, which of course, is your personal perspective, your judgement, your quirky humour, your lived experience, and your own values.
People don’t want to hear what a machine can generate; they want to hear you with all your foibles, the stories, the failures, the instincts, the personality that made someone hire you in the first place or indeed who will eventually hire you in the future. It’s why I worry a lot about traditional recruitment methods. Too many interviews test for polished answers rather than original thinking, instead of those who think creatively, empathise deeply, and communicate authentically. The skills that matter most in an AI-powered world are exactly the ones conventional interviews are least equipped to measure. Any HR-tech startups in the house?!
This crucial upskilling, therefore, is twofold: learning to use AI confidently as a foundation and deliberately strengthening the uniquely human abilities it cannot replace; empathy, originality, ethical judgement, relationship-building, and authentic communication. All educators, regardless of the subject or the year group they teach, would do well to empower their students to work alongside intelligent machines yet still sound unmistakably like themselves.
SKILLS AI CANNOT FAKE
Despite its sophistication, AI has its limits. It predicts patterns, but it does not feel them. It can imitate empathy but cannot experience it. It has no personal history, no intuition, or moral compass. My daughter uses her AI as her “therapist” (apparently 1⁄4 of GenZ do, too!) sometimes but always prefers a real-life chat with a human who actually cares
For young people, this means investing in self-awareness. Knowing your values, your strengths and your quirks will matter more than memorising facts.
These are not “soft” skills (I personally hate this phrase). They are, in fact, the hardest skills of all and are unfortunately not taught anywhere enough/at all within curricula. It’s the reason we at LSE have launched the Find Your Cause programme, a 5-year-old initiative that looks to embed these skills into the fabric of everyday teaching. One of the most common comments that comes from teachers and parents whose kids participate in the programme is: “I wish I’d had this when I was at school.” Don’t we all.
INDUSTRIES BUILT ON HUMANITY
Some sectors will change dramatically, but others are inherently resistant to automation because their value comes from human presence rather than pure output.
Healthcare, education, counselling, social work and community leadership still depend heavily on trust and relationships. Craft-based professions, from chefs to designers to artists, thrive on personal style. Roles involving ethics, law, policy and high-stakes decision-making require accountability that machines cannot provide.
Even in creative industries, audiences still crave the authenticity of real human creators. We might attend an AI-generated concert out of curiosity, but when it matters most, we choose Taylor Swift over a chatbot and Mozart over an algorithm. If ABBA were still around, we wouldn’t be paying tickets to see their avatars at ABBA Voyage!
The key question is not, “Which jobs are AI-proof?” but rather: Where does the value come from – the task or the human behind it?
BECOMING A “CAREERPRENEUR”
One of the most powerful ways to navigate this uncertainty is to think like an entrepreneur about your own career. Instead of defining yourself by a single job title, focus on building a portfolio of skills and experiences, keeping a close eye on the industries and brands that are AI-resistant or indeed shifting as a consequence. This “careerpreneurship” mindset recognises that the future of work will be flexible, creative and multi-directional but also that we must adapt to the changing times and quickly; it’s what entrepreneurs do best!
That is why upskilling is not only about learning new technologies. It is about becoming the kind of person technology cannot replace – thoughtful, ethical, curious and authentically human.
LOOKING AHEAD
Oscar Wilde once said: “If you know what you want to be, you inevitably become it – that is your punishment. But if you never know, you can be anything.”
For students stepping into a rapidly changing world, that uncertainty should not appear as a threat. It is an invitation to build habits, develop empathy, nurture creativity and curiosity – these will shape who you become and in five or ten years time, it will be these small daily choices, not the latest gadget, that define your success.
Upskilling and reskilling are not simply about keeping up with machines. They are about rediscovering what makes us irreplaceable. And in the age of AI, that may be our greatest advantage of all.
