Human-first will win in 2025, the year of AI

If you’ve invested a significant part of your life into learning, and you are paid for your knowledge and intelligence, the recent developments in AI should make you worried on a deep psychological level. When intelligence becomes a commodity, where does our value come from as humans?

For as long as we remember, our intelligence is what set us apart from ants and apes alike. We might not run as fast as a cheetah, but who needs fast legs when you have the mental capacity to build wheels, engineer drive trains and control explosions to propel yourself forward at mind-boggling speeds. Much of our evolutionary advantage as humans so far has been our intelligence and 2025 might be the year where this advantage comes under pressure.

“Okay, so how will this be a net-positive for humans?” you might ask. Five years ago I would have told you that the only outcome would be an economic collapse until we rethink the entire capitalist system. But now we’re actually living in the age of AGI, artificial intelligence nearing or exceeding human intelligence in many areas, I changed my mind on this.

A total economic collapse and the disappearance of the economic middle class caused by replacement of all desk-workers by artificial intelligence, is probably not in the books for 2025, but that doesn’t mean that 2025 won’t bring a new set of challenges and changes that we will have to adapt to:

1. “𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐈 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐬?” will be the central question we have to ask ourselves continuously. With all the knowledge in the world in your pocket, knowing how to solve (technical) problems will be easier, while knowing what to solve is the key question.
2. To be of value in a company, as an executive, manager or contributor, you will have to 𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐀𝐈 𝐢𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐝𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐟𝐥𝐨𝐰. Use it or be left behind.
3. 𝐄𝐱𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡. Since bullshit jobs will be automated first, it will be difficult to just coast for a while in your job. The level of engagement and positivity required to keep up and push forward will require great mental health. Successful teams will focus on work-life balance and mental health to increase their impact.
4. 𝐍𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐝𝐨 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐧 2025. Your value will come from how you adopt AI to help and impact other humans. You need to know people to have an impact on their lives, it’s as simple as that.

I wrote more about the development and impact of AI in 2025 in a short article, which you can read for free here: https://thepurposemachine.substack.com/p/human-first-will-win-in-2025-the.