LinkedIn experts say AI is a turning point that forces us to rethink what work is and what it means to be human in work.
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AI It is destroying global industries and labor, but it may also make a whole new economy.
Although the idea of AI dates back to the mid-1900s, the technology jumped into a common discourse after it launched in November 2022 at the Generai Generative AI Chatbot in Openai.
“But[the generated AI]is not only another invention,” said Aneesh Raman, chief economic opportunity officer at LinkedIn. “It’s a turning point that forces us to not only rethink what work is, but also what humans mean in work. ”
“The knowledge economy is coming”
Similar to the Industrial Revolution AI Raman said it is pushing us into a new era.
“For centuries, work has been about our physical abilities on the farm, and then the factory,” Raman said. “For the past few decades alone, work has been about our intellectual abilities.”
The knowledge economy is at a time of its outlook and the new economy is in progress.
Aneesh Raman
LinkedIn Chief Economic Opportunity Officer
Now, the rise of artificial intelligence is sparking a new discussion: If automation takes over more physical tasks and AI takes over more intellectuals, then humans will be defined by their social capabilities, Raman said.
“The knowledge economy is a way out, and the new economy is working for our humanity,” he said. “I call it the innovation economy.”
He added that in this new era, “human innovation and our unique human skills, such as social and emotional intelligence” will be key.
Skills such as creativity, curiosity, courage, compassion and communication (or “5 C”) are the foundation of innovation that enables us to come up with new ideas to challenge the status quo, collaborate and ultimately build together, he said.
AI unlocks innovation
Raman said AI also represents innovation that democratizes in ways we have never seen before.
“Working systems have traditionally privileged bloodlines, rather than few in history with the right certificates and the right connections to access the capital they need to transform their ideas into inventions,” he said.
Research papers by economist Raj Chetty and other researchers coined the term “Lost Einstein” Describe potential innovators limited by their socioeconomic status.
The paper compares taxes and school district records for more than one million patent holders in the U.S. and finds that the top 1% of parents’ income distribution have 10 times higher children than their parents’ children.
“What (AI) will have the biggest impact is helping people sit in good ideas and great inventions that ultimately bring those ideas to life,” Raman said.
He said the technology can not only help automate routine tasks, but it can also be “your voice board, your co-founder, coder, etc.
He added: “Think about what happens when entrepreneurs in Brazil can create climate technology solutions without the need for a complete engineering team.
“Destroy yourself or be destroyed”
Apart from innovation, AI is changing the job market we know.
“The jobs change so quickly that the signals of lineage we have long relied on, such as where you go to school or what well-known companies you worked in in the past, are no longer useful predictors of future success.”
Instead, in this new age of work, skills are more important than ever.
Technical abilities and knowledge have long been classified as “hard skills”, while social and emotional abilities have been designated as “soft skills.” Now, with AI being able to replicate many intellectual aspects of work, our human skills are becoming new “hard skills.”
So the winners of this new era will be those who lean and learn to adapt, or otherwise “destroy themselves or be disturbed”.
Nearly 90% of C-Suite executives said AI adoption was a top priority in 2025, and the study collected data from 1,991 executives from nine countries. In the Asia-Pacific region, this number jumped to 94%.
Raman said learning how to use AI tools is not only important, but improving our human skills is key, because it is a skill that AI can never replace.
