Paul Welty, PhD AI, WORK, AND STAYING HUMAN

Bookmark: Artificial Intelligence and the New Human Experience

Bookmark: Artificial Intelligence and the New Human Experience
Explore how AI is reshaping the workplace, enhancing human roles, and emphasizing creativity, adaptability, and emotional intelligence for future success.

A relevant quote from the article is: “AI isn’t here to replace us—it’s here to elevate the roles we play. In an AI-driven workplace, employees are valued for their uniquely human abilities, from leading teams to designing novel solutions.”
Artificial Intelligence and the New Human Experience  

The rapid rise of artificial intelligence (AI) within the workplace is redefining employment paradigms. Unlike past technological revolutions that altered methodologies, AI transforms the fundamental reasons for work. This transition emphasizes adaptability, creativity, and emotional intelligence, allowing employees to shift from repetitive tasks to strategic roles. While AI efficiently handles data entry and scheduling, human skills like problem-solving and emotional intelligence gain prominence. For instance, in healthcare, AI aids in diagnosis, but human empathy remains vital for patient care, reflecting a symbiotic AI-human future. This dynamic demands new skill sets and roles, including AI specialists and ethicists, allowing humans to focus on creativity and strategic planning. Concerns about job displacement remain, yet AI also creates novel opportunities while enhancing traditional roles, reinforcing the importance of uniquely human qualities in the tech-augmented workplace. Businesses must cultivate these human-centric skills to succeed in an AI-driven era, reinforcing that AI complements rather than replaces human potential.


Featured writing

Why customer tools are organized wrong

This article reveals a fundamental flaw in how customer support tools are designed—organizing by interaction type instead of by customer—and explains why this fragmentation wastes time and obscures the full picture you need to help users effectively.

Busy is not a state

We've built work cultures that reward activity, even when nothing actually changes. In technical systems, activity doesn't count—only state change does. This essay explores why "busy" has become the most misleading signal we have, and how focusing on state instead of motion makes work more honest, less draining, and actually productive.

Infrastructure shapes thought

The tools you build determine what kinds of thinking become possible. On infrastructure, friction, and building deliberately for thought rather than just throughput.

Books

The Work of Being (in progress)

A book on AI, judgment, and staying human at work.

The Practice of Work (in progress)

Practical essays on how work actually gets done.

Recent writing

Dev reflection - January 31, 2026

I've been thinking about what happens when your tools start asking better questions than you do.

Dev reflection - January 30, 2026

So here's something that happened yesterday that I'm still thinking about. Seven different projects—completely unrelated work, different domains, different goals—all hit the same wall on the same d...

Dev reflection - January 29, 2026

So here's something I've been sitting with. You finish a piece of work. You ship it. Everything looks good. And then production starts teaching you that you weren't actually done.

Notes and related thinking

Article analysis: Gusto’s head of technology says hiring an army of specialists is the wrong approach to AI

Gusto's tech head argues for leveraging existing staff over hiring specialists to enhance AI development, emphasizing customer insights for better tools.

Bookmark: “Only 3 jobs will survive AI”: Bill Gates is very pessimistic about the future of work

Bill Gates warns that only energy, biology, and AI programming jobs will thrive in an AI-driven future. Embrace digital skills to stay competitive.

Bookmark: Marc Benioff says that from now on CEOs will no longer lead all-human workforces—enter the new era of AI coworkers

Discover how Marc Benioff envisions CEOs leading hybrid teams of humans and AI, transforming workforce dynamics and enhancing productivity.