Paul Welty, PhD AI, WORK, AND STAYING HUMAN

Redefining Leadership: Embracing Human Judgment Amid AI Disruption

The claim that 100 million white-collar jobs may become obsolete due to AI is an alarm bell, not just for employment, but for how we perceive work itself. This article argues that the commoditization of analytical skills by AI is shifting value to technology-driven implementation. But here’s the crux: AI exposes the hollowing of human judgment, not just job roles. It’s a wake-up call for leaders to redefine value beyond process and output. Are we ready to reclaim the irreplaceably human aspects of work, like discernment and responsibility, that AI can’t replicate?

Why the McKinsey layoffs are a warning signal for consulting in the AI age


Featured writing

When your brilliant idea meets organizational reality: a survival guide

Transform your brilliant tech ideas into reality by navigating organizational challenges and overcoming hidden resistance with this essential survival guide.

Server-Side Dashboard Architecture: Why Moving Data Fetching Off the Browser Changes Everything

How choosing server-side rendering solved security, CORS, and credential management problems I didn't know I had.

AI as Coach: Transforming Professional and Continuing Education

Transform professional and continuing education with AI-driven coaching, offering personalized support, accountability, and skill mastery at scale.

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

When teaching stops being bounded

AI removes the constraints that gave teaching its shape—one teacher, thirty students, limited time. But lifting constraints doesn't make the work easier. It makes it different. Teachers trained for a bounded classroom now face an unbounded role that requires judgment, discernment, and presence in ways we haven't yet mapped.

Why your job matters more than mine: the selective morality of job loss

This article reveals the uncomfortable pattern behind which jobs get moral protection and which get called 'market forces'—and what that means for everyone outside the creative class.

AI in writing: the end of a professional monopoly

This article reframes the AI writing debate: the panic isn't about creativity—it's about a professional class losing control of the systems they've gatekept for a century.

Notes and related thinking

Bookmark: AI is going to eliminate way more jobs than anyone realizes

AI is set to disrupt millions of jobs, demanding urgent workforce reskilling while creating new opportunities in the evolving job market.

AI didn't deskill us, we were already deskilled

This article challenges the narrative that AI is deskilling workers, instead highlighting how many jobs were already mechanical. It offers a thought-provoking perspective on how AI could be an opportunity to reclaim and enhance human skills.

Influence in the AI Era: Why Human Skills Still Matter

Discover why empathy and leadership are essential in the AI era, enhancing jobs and ensuring a human-centered future in a tech-driven world.