For years, the global conversation around artificial intelligence has focused on a single anxiety: AI will make human skills irrelevant. But that fear may actually be an understatement. A more troubling possibility is emerging—one that policymakers, educators, and leaders are not prepared to confront.
In an AI-driven world, human capital may not just lose value. It could become an impediment.
Not because people are incapable, but because the systems that develop human capability are not evolving fast enough.
The traditional view is simple: when skills become outdated, workers become irrelevant. But irrelevance implies neutrality—something that can be bypassed. In the AI era, irrelevance is not the problem. Friction is.
Organizations that deploy AI can operate at speeds humans cannot match—processing data, making predictions, and optimizing operations continuously. When human workers are trained in outdated methods, they become bottlenecks. They slow down systems that are otherwise capable of running exponentially faster.
This is not a matter of human dignity or value. It is a practical, structural issue. When AI executes tasks in seconds and humans take hours, humans do not become unnecessary—they become obstacles to efficiency.