AI Literacy, Human Skills, and the Workforce Transformation You Can't Afford to Ignore | Ben Tasker

Ben Tasker (AI capability and workforce transformation expert and former dean of AI at Southern New Hampshire University) calls the moment we're in "the AI between times": not yet out of the old way of working, not yet into the AI-enabled future, and moving faster than most organizations are prepared for. In this episode, he makes the case that the organizations winning at AI adoption are the ones shifting from job-role thinking to skills-based thinking, building learning plans before the change hits, and communicating to employees why the shift is happening rather than just mandating it. When agents can eventually replace an entire floor of workers, is the organization actually obligated to try to save them first? *********** Ben Tasker   / bentaskerai   *********** The Human Conversation is powered by Insight Jam Join the human conversation around AI at https://insightjam.com/ Sign up for our newsletter, The Human-AI Ledger: https://bit.ly/HumanAINewsletter *********** Chapters 00:00 Cold Open: Seven Times to Order a Pizza 01:56 The AI Between Times 05:47 Using AI vs. Being AI Literate 06:53 Why Expertise Still Matters 09:35 From Panic to Pivot 11:11 How AI Creates More Jobs Than It Eliminates 12:50 Why Most AI Implementations Fail 15:33 Shifting from Job Roles to Skills 20:07 How to Build a Learning Plan 24:55 The Fear Disconnect: Leadership vs. Workers 30:16 Can Soft Skills Be Taught? 35:54 The Ethical Question: Upskill or Automate? 43:10 Augmentation Over Full Automation 44:33 Closing Advice: Develop Your Learning Plan Now