Oh, the Humanity: AI and the Future of Work

In our report, 69% of employers surveyed expressed a lack of confidence in the ability of their workers' present skills to translate to continued success over the next five years. Meanwhile, 85% of workers reported confidence that their existing skillset will guarantee job security over the same period. Interestingly though, the same group of employees expressed a lack of motivation in learning new skills while simultaneously noting that their workplaces have decreased upskilling opportunities in 2025 versus last year.

The digital revolution has already shown that we must continually renew our skills. The automation revolution has expedited the expiration of technical expertise, and AI demands ever-faster upskilling and reskilling across org charts. Even the most seasoned experts may find keeping up with advancing AI to be a challenging task.

One thing is certain: AI in the workplace is here to stay. There is a consensus that AI will continue to gain ground in crunching data, automating workflows, and other objective tasks. While this likely will translate to a great deal of current positions being eliminated, it will also enable new ones with distinctly human requirements. 

So, what do employers and supervisors see as the skills for the future? Durable, soft skills that are human-centric. A generalized, nimble adaptability is inevitably going to be uniquely crucial for workers, as research from the World Economic Forum and PWC indicates that AI will significantly transform 60% of present positions by 2050.

Communication, collaboration, and analysis are going to be the currency for what decision-makers seek in hiring and promoting personnel. But it’s those who bring both AI and human intelligence skills to the table who will build better job mobility. AI has yet to unleash its burgeoning potency for augmenting businesses' bottom lines, because many companies lack the AI-fluent personnel to best harness its power. Presently, AI outperforms us in niche, narrow tasks, but it cannot eclipse our creative problem solving, intuitive insight, or emotional intelligence. These soft skills, in conjunction with demonstrable AI aptitude, will help open doors for talent and pay dividends for organizations. 

Even as the data reveals a sense of unease and disillusionment surrounding AI and the future of work in 2025, it remains imperative that employers start and continue to provide meaningful training and education. AI and human intelligence are allies, not adversaries. The only way forward is to create a roadmap for upskilling and reskilling for long-term workforce readiness. To achieve that, organizations and educational institutions must outline a workable, clear path forward for current and future workers.

The upshot of the new emphasis on the variety and range of these human-centric skills is that they may prove transferable across industries, verticals, and fields. Individuals who possess jazz-level improvisation, intuitive perspectives, and purposeful communication will flourish.

A practical way to future-proof your career, and your employees’ potential, is to cultivate these durable skill sets. The paradox is that the age of AI places a new premium on our most human abilities. Seize opportunities to add artificial intelligence skills to your toolkit at work and in coursework — AI competencies will soon be as fundamental as digital literacy once was. To help level-up our learners, we’re building AI literacy into every DeVry University course by the end of 2026, ensuring our graduates are fully prepared for the expectations ahead.

Current and prospective workers can prepare themselves for an AI-driven future by focusing on three central priorities:

Ultimately, AI and the future of work depend on us renewing our most human traits and qualities. In other words, this moment demands human intelligence, ingenuity, and wisdom. 

Through open lines of communication and a spirit of collaboration, workforces and workplaces can advance together. By putting to work the collective human genius that gave us AI in the first place, we can shape a future worthy of that creation.