Can We Match AI On Hard Skills?

Just like in the crypto sphere, amidst the Artifical Intelligence(AI) buzzword, there's practical developments happening in the background. Generative AI, which is basically generating new data(e.g images, videos, text etc.) that previously didn’t exist before based on a particular dataset, has not so recently been deployed across different industries and fastly iterated upon, giving workers a run for their money.

Automation hasn't been fully automated yet to the point that a human is no longer needed but we're drawing closer especially in the hard skills area where AI seems to trump humans by almost a wide margin. While AI has already surpassed humans in some aspects of hard skills such as processing speed, it still lags behind in others.

Keep in mind that we're comparing how AI performs a task versus a human in regards to hard skills and what it may mean for us.

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AI And Hard Skills

Hard skills are specific, usually technical and mostly teachable abilities that can be measured and tested like programming, data analysis, or engineering. In contrast, soft skills are interpersonal skills that are difficult to quantify, like communication and emotional intelligence.

One of the reasons why AI is particularly strong on hard skills is because it can quickly process vast amounts of data, identify patterns, and make (mostly) accurate predictions. The fact that AI can organise and process data more quickly than humans makes it ideal for tasks that are hard skilled in nature.

For instance, in the healthcare field, AI can diagnose diseases with higher accuracy or perform surgery with greater precision. And in the finance field, It can make trading decisions faster and more accurately based on analyzing large amounts of financial data in real time.

I'm not sure what the exact numbers are but AI could probably analyze data at a rate of thousands (if not millions) of calculations per second, while we can only process information at a fraction of that speed. I bet it's one of the reasons why people like Elon Musk are developing Neuralink, to put a chip in our brain so that we can bridge the gap and not be left behind.

Another way AI trumps humans in hard skills is that it can work around the clock without rest, considerably reduce human error, and continually improve with machine learning algorithms. AI can improve itself with little to no human intervention.

On the soft skills front, however, we've all come to know that AI cannot replicate human creativity or empathy. Making it unlikely to replace soft skills such as leadership, communication, and unique problem-solving. For the time being, on a work perspective, that's the edge we have over AI. In a world of randomness, being authentic is always the cheat code.

Wrap-Up

Although there could be a way to possibly match AI on hard skills, we generally can't.

In addition, comparison means competition even if remotely. And I don't see AI as a competitor even from a work perspective. I think that's a lower level of viewing things. At a bit higher level, AI is simply an enhancer of human capabilities and not a replacement.

This means that our hard skills have received an upgrade that we could learn to utilise and integrate into our work. Giving us the ability to do more and become more effective and efficient.

Thanks for reading!! Share your thoughts below on the comments.