THE BROAD VIEW

Understand what AI replaces, not whom

Manual labour and handshakes may survive artificial intelligence, but the underlying tasks are already changing

    • To steer workforce transformation, leaders must deconstruct roles into tasks: classifying what can be automated or AI-augmented, and what must remain irreducibly human.
    • To steer workforce transformation, leaders must deconstruct roles into tasks: classifying what can be automated or AI-augmented, and what must remain irreducibly human. PHOTO: PIXABAY
    Shai Ganu
    Published Fri, Jul 10, 2026 · 12:00 PM

    HERE is a quiet test for jobs that might survive the artificial intelligence era: Do you wash your hands at the end of the working day?

    If you do, it is probably for one of two reasons: You work with your hands – as an electrician, plumber, chef or landscaper – and the grime of craft accumulates in the day.

    Or, you work through people, as a leader, adviser or relationship manager, with trust as the medium of exchange.