In this evolving context, which roles should evolve and which ones be given to the machines? It’s important for leaders to keep the huge potential for productivity gains top of mind. Northwestern’s Seegmiller, who expects to see AI increase productivity, believes that this shift is an opportunity to move toward critical thinking and reasoning, versus focusing solely on monotonous, routine tasks.

“Opportunities are opening up even as AI takes some of the mundane tasks out of the picture that a human might do,” says Amy Regan Morehouse, ServiceNow’s senior vice president overseeing global education and the company’s Rise Up initiative. Even though the transformation of some careers may be inevitable, “many of the people in those jobs today have incredible foundational skill sets that will help them be successful in the jobs of the future, as well,” she says.

Another way to think of it is that AI will take on the skills that machines are good at, so people no longer have to work like machines. A future of jobs report by the World Economic Forum echoes Seegmiller, noting that “cognitive skills” will be in the greatest demand, with analytical thinking, creative thinking, and “resilience, flexibility, and agility” topping its list.

These skills will matter in the most business-critical roles of 2023, which according to ServiceNow analysis, will include product owners, data analysts, technical project managers, platform owners, change/adoption specialists, help desk support agents, machine learning engineers, and flow automation engineers.

For leaders, this is an opportunity to address the growing skills gap by supporting their workforces, reskilling employees into purpose-rich careers.