Artificial Intelligence and Retraining Our People
Are We Asking the Right Questions?
There is no shortage of commentary and opinions about artificial intelligence.
Every day seems to bring another prediction. Jobs will disappear. Productivity will surge. New industries will emerge. Organisations will become more efficient. People will become obsolete. Most agree it will transform how we work. What is less clear is how organisations will help people adapt.
The more I hear and research, the more I think it is critical to explore in AI as both a technology challenge and a workforce challenge. Perhaps the biggest question is not how organisations will invest in AI, but how they will invest in people.
The research suggests we need to be careful about viewing AI only through the lens of automation. Automation is defined as when technology performs tasks previously undertaken by people. Not all AI replaces work. Much of it augments work, that is, supporting people to do tasks faster, make better decisions or focus on higher-value activities. In fact, some research estimates AI could augment around 13% of jobs globally while fully automating only 2.3%[i]. Industry Skills Australia predicts technology will augment 4.5 million Australian workers and create a 15% capacity uplift for Australian businesses by 2034[ii].
This distinction matters. Because if AI is primarily changing work rather than eliminating it, the conversation shifts from technology adoption to capability development. This is where the challenge becomes more complex. As AI capabilities evolve at an unprecedented rate, organisations are being challenged to keep pace while simultaneously preparing their workforce for roles, skills and ways of working that are still emerging, often making decisions around future workforce capability before many of the answers are known.
By 2026, an estimated 53%[iii] of workers will need to be either digital experts or digitally enabled, while a further 95%[iv] of Australian workers are expected to need some level of reskilling as emerging technologies change at least 20%[v] of their work. At the same time, an IBM Global survey found only 34%[vi] of organisations report training employees to work with AI and automation.
That creates a dilemma. If roles are changing faster than skills are being developed, who is responsible for closing the gap?
Another challenge sits at the entry level of organisations. Historically, many professions have relied on routine and administrative tasks to develop judgement, experience and technical capability. These tasks were often not glamorous, but they formed an important part of developing and building experience. Those tasks are increasingly becoming candidates for automation. The more complex work that then remains often requires contextual judgement, critical thinking, coordination and oversight. The very capabilities that are built through experience. Research from Boston Consulting Group highlights the risk that entry-level roles may shrink while more senior, complex work expands, creating questions about how organisations build future talent pipelines.[vii]
This raises an important question for leaders: If AI takes away the work people learned from, how do we intentionally create the experiences that help them develop?
The evidence suggests organisations may need to become far more deliberate about coaching, mentoring, structured learning and supported development. This matters because the skills becoming more valuable are, perhaps ironically, the most human. Across multiple studies, critical thinking, problem solving, communication, emotional intelligence, adaptability, creativity and ethical decision-making consistently emerge as essential future capabilities. Researchers specifically identify critical thinking and self-management as growing skill gaps in organisations adopting advanced technologies[viii]. As technology becomes smarter, human skills may become more important, not less.
There is another question leaders may need to confront: What happens when employees adopt AI before their organisations do?
Deloitte’s Generative AI Australia report found that 27%[ix] of employees using generative AI at work were doing so without management's knowledge. That has implications well beyond productivity, raising questions about confidentiality, intellectual property, cyber security, governance and ethical use. It also suggests that banning AI may be less effective than creating environments where people can openly discuss how they are using it and learn to do so safely and responsibly.
The challenge is becoming even more complex as the conversation shifts from Generative AI to Agentic AI. The question is no longer simply how effectively people can instruct AI, but how effectively organisations can govern, oversee and enable systems capable of taking action on their behalf. This makes the question of employees adopting AI ahead of organisational readiness even more significant, as the risks extend beyond content creation to decision-making, workflow execution, accountability and organisational control..
Beneath all of this sits a very human reality. The research identifies concerns about job security, role clarity, training, workload and wellbeing as organisations navigate AI adoption. From a human perspective, that is unsurprising. From a neuroscience lens, uncertainty has a way of triggering threat responses in our brain. People are not simply reacting to AI. They are responding to uncertainty about their future, their relevance, their career pathways and their ability to keep pace with change.
Perhaps this is why these conversations matter so much. The answers are still emerging. We do not yet know exactly which jobs will change, what new roles will emerge, or what the right balance between automation and human judgement will be. What we do know is that AI is not going away. It capabilities are advancing at an extraordinary pace, challenging organisations to adapt while many of the implications are still unfolding..
So maybe the real question isn't about how organisations should embrace AI, but whether they are equally prepared to invest in retraining, coaching, mentoring and developing the people who will be working alongside it. Because the organisations that thrive might not be those with the best technology. They might be the ones that combine technology with learning, human connection and the courage to keep asking better questions.
So, as AI continues to reshape the way we work, what is your organisation asking about today to ensure your people are ready for tomorrow?
Sources:
[i] House of Representatives Standing Committee on Employment, Education and Training, (2025), Future of Work Report - Inquiry into the Digital Transformation of Workplaces, Commonwealth of Australia,
[ii] House of Representatives Standing Committee on Employment, Education and Training, (2025), Future of Work Report - Inquiry into the Digital Transformation of Workplaces, Commonwealth of Australia
[iii] House of Representatives Standing Committee on Employment, Education and Training, (2025), Future of Work Report - Inquiry into the Digital Transformation of Workplaces, Commonwealth of Australia
[iv] Local Government Management Solutions (2023), Workforce Insights: A LGNSW Report
[v] Local Government Management Solutions (2023), Workforce Insights: A LGNSW Report
[vi] House of Representatives Standing Committee on Employment, Education and Training, (2025), Future of Work Report - Inquiry into the Digital Transformation of Workplaces, Commonwealth of Australia
[vii] Emerson, G et al (2026), AI Will Reshape More Jobs Than It Replaces, Boston Consulting Group
[viii] Babashahi, L., et, al. (2024). AI in the Workplace: A Systematic Review of Skill Transformation in the Industry. Administrative Sciences
[ix] Deloitte AI Institute (2024), Generative AI: Australia update