This week I was at the AI committee of NLdigital, the Dutch digital sector association. As in virtually every conversation about AI, the same question came up again:

Which jobs will disappear?

I understand that question. In fact, if you look at the developments, it is perhaps the most logical question you can ask.

But while I was listening, a different feeling came over me.

Perhaps we are all so busy predicting what will disappear that we forget to dream about what could come into being.

Perhaps the most important question is not:

Which jobs will disappear?

Perhaps the most important question is:

What can people do more of because AI supports them?

That looks like a small difference.

I think it is a world of difference.

Because the Netherlands is not facing an AI challenge.

The Netherlands is facing a capacity challenge.

We are getting older. The demand for care is growing. Education is looking for teachers. The energy transition needs thousands of skilled workers. Governments are looking for people who simply are not there.

For years we have tried to solve that by working harder, recruiting more people or making processes a little more efficient.

But what if we turn the question around?

What if AI is not the solution to a shortage of people...

...but the solution to a shortage of capacity?

That is something fundamentally different.

Because AI does not have to replace people in order to have an enormous impact.

Opportunities for meaningful work

Imagine a nurse who, thanks to AI, has two hours a day less administration to do. A teacher who spends less time on marking and has more time for his pupils. A recruiter who no longer has to work through hundreds of CVs, but finally has time for real conversations. A manager who is less busy with reports and more with developing his team.

None of these people is being replaced. On the contrary, they get the space to do better what they once chose to do. Perhaps that is the greatest promise of AI.

Not that we need fewer people. But that people can be more human again.

There is a second insight that goes with that.

We talk constantly about staff shortages. But perhaps what we mainly have is a shortage of sight of the talent that is already there.

Every day I come across organisations in which thousands of people work. People with talents, interests and skills that never become visible, because we still think in jobs, departments and organisation charts.

While someone from customer service might turn out to be a great project leader. While a nurse can also be a data analyst. While an administrative assistant might be exactly the coach a team needs.

AI makes visible what is hidden

AI can help to make that hidden potential visible. Not to put people in boxes. But precisely to open doors that today still stay closed.

And perhaps that calls for an even bigger change.

Because AI does not only call for new technology. AI calls for a new way of organising.

Towards redesigning work

We still design work as if people were endlessly available. As if vacancies can always be filled. As if the solution always lies in more people.

Perhaps we should stop optimising the past. And start designing work for the reality of tomorrow.

A reality in which AI takes over routine work.

Not so that people have to work less. But so that people can add more value. More attention. More creativity. More connection. More innovation. More humanity.

Perhaps that is ultimately the biggest change AI brings.

Not technological. But human.

And perhaps that is also the question we should be asking ourselves much more often in the years to come.

Not:

Which jobs will disappear?

But:

If AI gives us more time, more capacity and more possibilities... where do we then choose to be more human?

Because ultimately that is the future I hope for.

Not a society in which AI takes over the work of people.

But a society in which AI helps people to finally do the work that really matters.