The rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI) platforms, without a doubt, is changing the way we live and work. By 2030, 70% of the skills used in most jobs will change, with AI emerging as a catalyst.
More college students and rising professionals are factoring this technology's impact on job security into their decisions about majors and career paths.
AI systems and Large Language Models (LLMs) touch every industry in some way. Research increasingly suggests that careers centered on human relationships, human intelligence, care, communications and hands-on work may be less vulnerable to AI-enabled displacement than occupations built around routine, codifiable information work.
At the same time, professionals with in-depth experience and understanding of how to leverage AI to increase productivity and improve how work gets done are also valued by employers.
What skills are most valuable in an AI world?
While it’s impossible to fully predict AI's long-term impact, evidence suggests that both AI skills and distinctly human skills are becoming more valuable.
The demand for AI fluency has increased 11 times since 2022, according to McKinsey & Company. Moreover, the demand for adaptability has increased fivefold, and demand for resilience, curiosity, and willingness to learn has tripled.
In the World Economic Forum (WEF) Future of Jobs Report 2025, researchers surveyed more than 1,000 employers representing more than 14 million workers across 55 economies. It identifies the fastest-growing jobs and the skills employers expect to become more important through 2030.
According to the report, these skills are most likely to remain resilient:
- Specialized knowledge: Deep knowledge in a particular field becomes more valuable because people need to know whether an AI-generated answer is correct.
- Human interaction: Healthcare, counseling, education, leadership, social work, and other relationship-centered professions rely heavily on trust, empathy, and emotional intelligence.
- Complicated decision-making: AI can generate information, but professionals still need to determine how to handle complex problems.
- Innovative thinking and problem-solving: WEF specifically identifies creative thinking and analytical thinking among the skills expected to remain important.
- Adaptability: Because the technology is changing rapidly, the ability to learn new tools and approaches may last longer than any particular technical skill.
- AI literacy: Avoiding AI isn't necessarily the answer. Increasingly, the advantage may go to professionals who understand how to use AI within their discipline while knowing when not to trust it.