AI is cutting jobs. Here are the human skills that still matter
A public sector worker facing his second restructure in two years puts a face on a fear millions share. Workplace psychologists say three skills can keep you ahead.
Key points
- Paul, a public sector technical manager, faced a second round of AI-linked job cuts in 2025 while his partner was pregnant and the couple had just bought their first home.
- Employers increasingly cite AI as a cost-saving reason for reducing headcount, not just restructuring roles.
- Researchers point to curiosity, humility and emotional intelligence as the human skills least likely to be replaced by automated systems.
- Emotional intelligence, the ability to read and respond to other people's feelings, is described by workplace psychologists as growing more valuable as AI handles more routine tasks.
Paul didn't see it coming the first time. In 2024 his technical management role was restructured away. He found new footing, and then earlier this year a wave of media stories landed: his business group was on a cut list again. The official communications named AI as a cost-saving tool this time.
"They say it's not about firing people," he told The Guardian, "but hey, my whole team will go."
The timing was brutal. Paul and his partner are expecting their first child and had just signed a mortgage. AI2Day has followed this pattern since 13 July 2026, when we reported on which careers look hardest for algorithms to automate; Paul's situation is now a sharper version of that same story.
Across public and private sectors, workers are watching AI absorb the tasks their jobs were built on: research, writing, data analysis, customer queries.
Workplace psychologists Gaynor Parkin and Dave Winsborough argue the answer is not to out-code the machine. Lean into what machines still do badly.
They name three areas.
First, curiosity. Keep seeking new ideas outside your normal routine. AI can help you explore a topic faster, but staying genuinely engaged with the world around you matters more than any prompt you type.
Second, humility, which they frame as self-awareness. Understand what energises you and where you get stuck, then ask people you trust for honest feedback: what to start doing, stop doing, keep doing. No automated system can run that reflective loop for you.
Third, emotional intelligence. Your capacity to connect with others, show genuine empathy, communicate with care. Parkin and Winsborough argue this skill becomes more valuable as AI handles routine work, not less.
Will these skills actually protect your job?
Honestly, no skill is a guarantee. Whole teams, like Paul's, can still disappear regardless of how emotionally intelligent or curious their members are. What these skills do is make you harder to replace in the roles that remain, more adaptable when roles change.
For Paul the situation is still unresolved. The workers who fare best in AI-disrupted markets tend to be the ones who invest in relationships and keep asking for feedback before a crisis forces the issue.
Machines are very good at processing information. They're still poor at caring whether you're okay.
