" Robots are going to take our jobs! " I first heard this phrase nearly 15 years ago at an artificial intelligence conference. At the time, it seemed like science fiction. Today, having just asked my AI assistant to summarize a 50-page report in a few minutes, this prospect seems much less far-fetched.
Yet after two decades of observing the evolving job market and advising companies on their digital transformation, I've come to a conclusion that might surprise you: the more automation and AI advance, the more certain deeply human skills become valuable and irreplaceable.
This often misunderstood paradox is, however, the key to preparing our children and adolescents for the jobs of tomorrow. In a world where machines are becoming increasingly intelligent, what makes us uniquely human becomes our greatest professional asset.
Summary:
- The Age of AI: Threat or Opportunity for Employment?
- Irreplaceable human skills in the world of tomorrow
- How can we prepare our teenagers for this new professional world?
- The jobs of tomorrow: hybridization between technology and humanity
- Conclusion: Preparing our children for an uncertain but promising future
The Age of AI: Threat or Opportunity for Employment?
The great upheaval of the labor market
The numbers may seem alarming. According to a report by McKinsey Global Institute: https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/future-of-work/jobs-lost-jobs-gained-what-the-future-of-work-will-mean-for-jobs-skills-and-wages , up to 800 million jobs could be automated by 2030. In some sectors like manufacturing or data processing, the transformation is already well underway.
I recently visited an automobile factory that, ten years ago, had nearly 3,000 employees. Today, it operates with around 800 employees and an army of robots at their side. The operations manager told me, " We no longer recruit according to the old criteria. Before, we mainly needed hands. Now we need brains capable of understanding, programming, and optimizing robots, but also of doing everything that robots can't yet do."
This anecdote illustrates the silent revolution underway in industry: it's not so much a simple disappearance of jobs, but a profound transformation in their nature. Repetitive and arduous tasks have been largely automated, while the need is shifting towards technical, analytical, and creative skills.
According to the OECD, while around 9% of jobs are truly automatable, most jobs are evolving: simple tasks are disappearing, but new, often more skilled, roles are emerging. The emphasis is therefore on adaptability, continuous training, and learning new skills that emerge with technological advances.
To learn more: https://wecglobal.org/uploads/2019/07/2016_OECD_Risk-Automation-Jobs.pdf
What machines do better than us
To understand what human skills will be valued tomorrow, let's start by honestly recognizing what machines already do better than us:
- Big Data Processing: An algorithm can analyze millions of data points in seconds, where a human would take years.
- Repetitive and precise tasks: Robots never get bored, never tire, and maintain consistent accuracy.
- Complex calculations: Computers have been outperforming humans in all forms of calculation for decades.
- Pure memorization: An AI never forgets information it has recorded.
- Pattern Recognition: Algorithms now detect patterns invisible to the human eye in medical images, consumer behaviors, and more.
This list grows longer every year. By 2025, generative AI models like GPT-5 or Claude-3 will be producing text, images, and computer code of impressive quality. Some of my journalist colleagues are worried—rightly so—about seeing part of their work automated.
But this technological evolution reveals in the background what remains – and will remain for a long time – the reserved domain of humans.
Irreplaceable human skills in the world of tomorrow
Emotional Intelligence: The Professional Superpower of the Future
Emotional intelligence ( the ability to identify, understand and manage one's emotions and those of others) is becoming a major professional asset in an automated world.
A study by the World Economic Forum places emotional intelligence among the 10 most sought-after skills for 2025 and beyond. Why? Because machines, no matter how sophisticated, don't feel emotions and struggle to interpret them with the finesse of a human.
I recently attended a sales negotiation where the opposing team used AI software to analyze the terms of the contract. Impressive on paper. But it was the sales director who closed the deal by sensing a slight hesitation in her counterpart and adapting her proposal accordingly. " AI helps me prepare for my meetings, " she explained, " but it's my ability to read between the lines that makes the difference. "
This skill is all the more crucial as our teenagers, constantly connected to their screens, risk seeing this capacity atrophy, as we explain in our article on skills forgotten in the digital age: https://thephone.fr/blogs/ados-et-numerique/les-consequences-de-l-ultra-connexion
Disruptive creativity: thinking where algorithms don't go
While AIs can now generate impressive images or compose compelling pieces of music, they do so by relying on existing models. True disruptive creativity ( the kind that changes paradigms) remains human.
Dr. Robert Epstein, an American psychologist specializing in creativity, explains in his research that disruptive innovation requires an ability to make unexpected connections between disparate fields, often fueled by personal experiences and intuitions that machines do not possess.
I had the chance to interview Virgil Abloh before his death, the designer who revolutionized fashion by creating unprecedented bridges between streetwear and haute couture. His creativity didn't come from data analysis, but from a unique sensibility forged by his personal journey between architecture, DJing, and urban culture. This type of lateral thinking remains the preserve of humans.
To develop this creativity in teenagers, it is sometimes necessary to disconnect them from screens and let them be bored constructively, as suggested in our article on the importance of boredom in stimulating creativity: https://thephone.fr/blogs/ados-et-numerique/digital-detox-programme-de-21-jours-pour-reduire-votre-dependance-au-smartphone
Critical Thinking and Ethical Judgment: Navigating Complexity
In the age of fake news and algorithmic disinformation, critical thinking is becoming an essential professional skill. Machines can process information, but they cannot yet truly evaluate it with discernment in ambiguous contexts.
Research from Stanford University: https://ed.stanford.edu/news/stanford-researchers-find-students-have-trouble-judging-credibility-information-online found that even "digital natives" often struggle to distinguish between reliable and misleading information online. This discernment ability will be crucial in nearly every job in the future.
I observed this phenomenon during an AI development project in the legal sector. The algorithm could analyze thousands of court precedents in a matter of minutes, but it was the senior lawyer who identified an ethical subtlety that the machine had completely missed—a subtlety that changed the outcome of the trial.
Ethical judgment, the ability to navigate moral gray areas, will be particularly valued in a world where algorithmic decisions will be omnipresent but often questionable.
Adaptability and continuous learning: the new employment contract
In a world where technical skills quickly become obsolete, the ability to learn, unlearn and relearn becomes fundamental.
According to a report by Dell Technologies, 85% of the jobs that will exist in 2030 have not yet been invented. How can we prepare for jobs that don't yet exist? By developing exceptional cognitive agility and adaptability.
I recently met a former accountant who became an AI ethics specialist. Her secret? " I realized my value wasn't in what I already knew, but in my ability to acquire new skills. So I decided to learn something new every year, even if it wasn't directly related to my job. "
This growth mindset will be essential for today's teenagers who will likely change careers several times during their working lives.
Social intelligence and collaboration: humans at the heart of networks
As individual tasks become automated, the ability to work effectively in teams will paradoxically become more important. Collaborative skills—clear communication, conflict resolution, shared leadership—will be highly valued.
A longitudinal study by Google on what makes successful teams found that it's not so much individual technical expertise that matters, but how members interact with each other: psychological safety, reliability, structure and clarity, meaning, and impact.
I observed this phenomenon in a technology startup I advised: their competitive advantage did not come from their algorithm (several competitors had similar technologies), but from the exceptional synergy between their multidisciplinary teams.
This social intelligence can be undermined by excessive screen use, as shown in our article on the impact of smartphones on adolescents' social relationships.
How can we prepare our teenagers for this new professional world?
Faced with these developments, how can we help our children and adolescents develop the human skills that will make the difference tomorrow?
Cultivating digital balance
The first step is to establish a balanced relationship with technology. Digital tools are essential, but their excessive use can paradoxically atrophy the most valuable human skills.
Dr. Michel Desmurget, neuroscientist and research director at INSERM, warns in his work about the negative impact of overexposure to screens on the development of cognitive and social abilities in young people.
I applied this philosophy to my own children: we established screen-free time dedicated to family discussions, board games that develop emotional intelligence, and unstructured creative activities. The result? Teens who are more comfortable in real-life social interactions and more creative in their approach to problems.
Encourage diverse experiences
Human skills are developed through varied experiences that broaden perspectives and nourish creativity.
A study from the University of California has shown that experiences that take us out of our comfort zone particularly stimulate creativity and cognitive flexibility.
I observed this phenomenon in my niece, who, after a difficult but enriching language stay, developed a resilience and adaptability that served her well beyond language learning. These qualities are now her main professional assets.
Encourage your teens to step outside their digital world and engage in a variety of real-life experiences: team sports, arts, volunteering, travel, and more. These activities develop the very soft skills that employers will be looking for tomorrow.
Valuing failure as a learning experience
In a constantly changing world, the ability to bounce back from failure becomes crucial. Yet our traditional education systems and social media often promote an image of unattainable perfection.
Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck, author of " Mindset ," has shown in her research that children who are praised for their effort rather than their intelligence develop greater perseverance in the face of challenges.
I applied this principle with my son, who had given up on piano after a disappointing recital. Instead of minimizing his failure, we analyzed together what went wrong and how to improve. Today, he approaches each new challenge with this same analytical methodology—a valuable skill in his future professional life.
This constructive approach to failure is all the more important in the age of social media, which can generate anxiety and FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) syndrome in teenagers, as we explain in our article on FOMO syndrome in teenagers.
Developing interdisciplinary thinking
The most disruptive innovations often occur at the intersection of different disciplines. This ability to make connections between seemingly unrelated fields will be extremely valuable.
Steve Jobs emphasized the importance of this approach: " Creativity is simply connecting things ," he said. His success at Apple stemmed precisely from his ability to merge technology and the liberal arts.
I encourage my children to explore a variety of fields rather than specializing too early. My daughter combines computer programming and photography—an intersection that already gives her a unique perspective on both disciplines.
This interdisciplinary approach is particularly important in the era of algorithmic hyperspecialization, where machines excel in very specific areas but struggle to make unexpected connections between different fields of knowledge.
Testimony: How Théo found his way in an automated world
Théo, 24, grew up with screens. Passionate about computers, he was convinced that his professional future lay in pure programming. But at 20, an internship at a tech company made him realize that the coding tasks he was performing would likely be automated in the coming years.
" I had a moment of panic ," he says. " I felt like everything I had learned would soon become obsolete. "
This realization prompted him to reorient his career, not by abandoning technology, but by developing complementary skills that automation could not easily replace.
“ I became interested in the ethics of AI and how technology impacts human relationships. I took courses in philosophy, psychology, even anthropology—fields I would have considered 'useless' a few years earlier. ”
Today, Théo works as a "humanization of technology" consultant for companies developing AI solutions. His role? To ensure that these technologies respect and enrich the human experience rather than degrade it.
" What makes me valuable today is not my ability to code – AIs are getting better at that – but my deep understanding of human needs and my ability to translate those needs into ethical, human-centered technological solutions. "
This story perfectly illustrates how deeply human skills can not only coexist with automation, but become even more valuable in this context.
The jobs of tomorrow: hybridization between technology and humanity
What will the jobs of tomorrow actually look like? While no one can predict with certainty, one trend is clearly emerging: the hybridization of technological expertise and human skills.
Emerging professions
Here are some examples of professions that did not exist ten years ago and which embody this fusion:
- AI Ethicist: These professionals ensure that artificial intelligence systems adhere to ethical principles and do not perpetuate discriminatory biases.
- Collective intelligence facilitator: Their role is to optimize collaboration between humans and automated systems in organizations.
- Immersive Experience Designer: They create virtual or augmented environments that meet the deep psychological and emotional needs of users.
- Digital Wellness Coach: These specialists help individuals and organizations maintain a balanced relationship with technology.
- Human-machine interpreter: They facilitate communication between non-technical experts and complex AI systems.
What is striking about these new professions is that they all require a dual skill: an understanding of advanced technologies AND an exceptional mastery of human dimensions (emotions, ethics, creativity, social relations).
The value of hybrid skills
According to the World Economic Forum's Future of Jobs Report, the most sought-after profiles in the coming years will be those that combine technical skills and human qualities.
I noticed this trend during a recent recruitment process at a technology company: the successful candidate was not the one with the best technical skills, but the one who demonstrated the best ability to translate complex human problems into suitable technological solutions.
This hybridization of skills is particularly important for teenagers preparing to enter the job market. As we explain in our article on the ideal age to give a first phone: https://thephone.fr/blogs/ados-et-numerique/a-quel-age-offrir-un-premier-telephone-a-son-enfant-le-guide-qui-vous-evitera-bien-des-prises-de-tet e, it is crucial to support them towards a balanced use of technology that develops their digital skills without atrophying their fundamental human capacities.
Conclusion: Preparing our children for an uncertain but promising future
The future of work is neither apocalyptic (robots won't replace us all) nor idyllic (automation will create considerable challenges). The reality lies in a more nuanced zone where deeply human skills—emotional intelligence, creativity, ethical judgment, adaptability, and collaboration—will become our most valuable assets.
To prepare our children and adolescents for this changing world, we must:
- Cultivating their digital balance: Using technology as a tool, not as an end in itself
- Encourage Diverse Experiences: Increase Learning Opportunities Outside of Screens
- Valuing failure as learning: Developing resilience in the face of challenges
- Foster interdisciplinary thinking: Encourage them to make connections between different fields
As philosopher Yuval Noah Harari so aptly puts it in his book "21 Lessons for the 21st Century": " In a world flooded with information, clarity is power. " I would add: in an automated world, humanity is power.
Our children don't need to fear robots. They need to fully embrace what makes them human. That's where their professional future lies.
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