Opinion

Invest in human-AI collaboration -- not just automation

AI boosts efficiency but can't replicate emotional intelligence or nuanced judgment. Forward-thinking companies pair technology with talent to drive sustainable growth and loyalty.

Sarah Amsler
By
Published: 27 May 2026

AI agents may be powerful -- accelerating tasks and arriving at resolutions more quickly -- but there's one thing they're missing: the human connection.

Human skills are just as important as quick resolutions in the business world. These skills are really the ability to read what's not being said -- something AI is not able to do, said Vineeta Bansal, partner at PwC, during a panel discussion titled Leading the AI-native IT workforce: Why agility and empathy are your greatest tech assets at the annual MIT Sloan CIO Symposium in Cambridge, Mass., on May 19.

Some of these human skills include coaching, communication, adaptability, judgment, empathy and agility, said Roderick Adams, principal, advisory people and inclusion leader at PwC, during the same panel.

Human skills are often the difference between retaining customers and losing them to the competition. If a customer is upset, it takes empathy, compassion and understanding to relate to and get through to a customer. Preprogrammed emotionless responses won't cut it. These robotic interactions often infuriate customers, leading them to seek a more human-centric company with which to do business.

Roderick Adams and Vineeta Bansal speak at the MIT Sloan CIO Symposium.
Roderick Adams, principal, advisory people and inclusion leader at PwC, left; and Vineeta Bansal, partner at PwC, speak during a panel discussion at the annual MIT Sloan CIO Symposium on May 19 in Cambridge, Mass.

Retaining customers is essential to a successful business. It costs 5-25 times more to acquire new customers than it does to retain existing customers, according to statistics from BusinessDasher, a business profile and comparison platform.

Choosing AI over people

Although human skills remain essential to businesses, many are laying off workers, adopting AI to automate tasks while citing cost-cutting measures.

Eighty percent of organizations using autonomous tech report workforce reductions, according to a Gartner press release. But while those reductions in force may create budgetary breathing room, they don't fully offset the cost of replacing people with AI.

Take the recent Meta layoffs, for example. In May, the company laid off 8,000 employees -- 10% of its workforce. The cuts are an effort to offset heavy investments in AI infrastructure, as Meta plans to spend $125 billion to $145 billion in capital expenses this year. Assuming each employee made $200,000 annually, that would only be $1.6 billion in savings -- just over 1% of what Meta expects to spend on AI infrastructure. The AI investment far outweighs the people cuts. Where is the actual cost savings? And at what cost to the business?

AI is in the early stages of business use, never mind scaling it from experimentation to operationalization. AI is not ready to replace humans. Justifying job cuts with AI adoption is a lazy narrative, and one that can be detrimental to businesses.

Businesses need to be truthful about why they are conducting layoffs. Blindly pointing to AI investment as the reason can come back to bite a CIO. If Meta can't turn its $125+ billion AI investment into bottom-line revenue tied to this spending, employees, board members and investors will want to know why.

CIOs at other companies should pause before overpromising revenue or cost savings attributed to unproven AI systems. Maybe the real reason for downsizing is that the business is right-sizing its organization after a period of overhiring. Maybe there's a budget shortfall and the head count needs to be cut. Maybe they are flattening the organization. Whatever the reason, employees, board members and investors deserve the truth.

Invest in people to help them find AI value

Artwork describing panel discussion at MIT Sloan CIO Symposium.
This artwork describes the discussion during a panel on why agility and empathy are a business' greatest tech assets at the annual MIT Sloan CIO Symposium on May 19 in Cambridge, Mass.

Choosing AI over people doesn't have to be the only option. Instead, businesses should invest in their employees to develop both AI and human-centric skills. These are skills that will set them apart in an AI-enabled world. And skills that will contribute toward a successful business.

What does this mean for CIOs? It means assessing the skill sets of both employees and the people they're hiring to find the gaps that need to be filled. It means not rolling out AI tools with no training. It means ensuring company learning platforms deliver content that helps employees build these necessary skills. And it means making sure employees don't feel like they will become obsolete by using AI in their jobs.

Humanity matters. 

Sarah Amsler is a senior managing editor for the IT Strategy team at TechTarget. 

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