As the Internet did in the 1990s, AI is going to change the definition of work. While change can be scary, if the past three years have taught us anything, it can also be an opportunity to reinvent how we do things. I believe that the best way to manage the changes ahead for employees and employers is to adopt a skills-first mindset.

For employees, this means thinking of your job as a collection of tasks instead of a job title, with the understanding that those tasks will change frequently as AI advances. By breaking down your work into tasks that AI can fully handle, tasks that AI can improve your efficiency for, and tasks that require your unique skills, you can identify the skills you actually need to invest in to stay competitive in the job you have .

After all, the skills needed for many jobs have changed by a staggering 25 percent since 2015, and that number is expected to reach at least 65 percent by 2030 due to the rapid development of new technologies like AI. And it’s not just skills related to AI literacy – people skills are growing in importance. Our data shows the top skills professionals think will become more important as AI tools become more widely used at work are problem solving, strategic thinking and time management.

For employers, the rise of AI only increases the importance of a skills-based approach to hiring and developing talent. People are learning AI skills quickly, with the number of AI-skilled members now nine times greater than it was in 2016. And there’s a hunger to put these newly developed skills into practice: LinkedIn job postings featuring artificial intelligence or generative AI have seen 17 percent greater application growth over the past two years than jobs without mention of the technology. The leaders who focus on these skills when hiring (rather than just the degree someone earned or jobs they held) will unlock more potential and be more agile as the way we work continues to change.

The same goes for developing talent. We will increasingly see employers becoming educators, “training to hire” in ever-changing jobs through onboarding, apprenticeships and academies, as well as “training to promote” in ever-changing roles through upskilling and tours of duty that move employees into new functions. and maybe even new careers. This will be for hard skills related to AI, but perhaps more importantly, for people skills as well: Our data shows that 92 percent of US executives believe that people skills are more important than ever.

2024 will usher in a new world of work where people skills – problem solving, empathy and active listening to name just three – are more central to career success, and people-to-people collaboration more central to company success. Leaders and employees need to think of AI as just one tool in the toolbox. It doesn’t replace people, it enables them to do their jobs more efficiently, leaving them time to focus on the more valuable—and more human—parts of their work. For example, a software engineer can help AI with the more routine or repetitive coding that is often required, giving them more time to innovate on new ideas. Or a recruiter can save time and focus on the more strategic parts of the hiring process — like talking to candidates and building relationships — by letting AI handle the creation of job postings.

In 2024, leaders will lean on this ever-evolving technology while simultaneously empowering their employees, and people will align their skill building and continuing education with AI skills and practical people skills. The result will be a new world of work that is more humane and more fulfilling than ever before.