The “Human Touch” Fallacy

We always say things like we pay for knowledge, but in today's AI era what we really pay for is the way it's sold, like storytelling.

In a world where knowledge is cheap, curiosity, curation, and well-pointed judgment become incredibly valuable.

Sangeet Paul Choudary a multiple bestselling author, has written a magnificent article, with paragraphs like the following:

Sommeliers emerged as luxury items in a world where the product (wine) was becoming a commodity, and selection was the new differentiator. That’s exactly where jobs are headed.

Also:

As AI takes over increasingly larger parts of knowledge work, what it cannot take over becomes more valuable. These attributes become the defining trait of premium work.

Also:

In a world where knowledge is cheap, curiosity, curation, and well-pointed judgment become incredibly valuable.

Furthermore:

As a result, value begins to shift from knowledge to curiosity, curation, and judgment.

Likewise:

But in markets for luxury goods, price is less a reflection of inputs and more a signal of status and exclusivity. The economist Thorstein Veblen observed that in markets where social status mattered, higher prices could actually increase demand. This made sense once it was understood that buyers bought identity and status, not utility.

No wonder someone writes this about his article, now also in Spanish here:

Wow! I've reread this three times and still get new insights and thoughts. I've spent over 2,000 hours using AI since December 2022 and subscribe to over 40 AI newsletters/channels, and this is by far the best description of how AI will affect people and work. As CHRO of a 700-person company, and having spoken to over 7,000 HR professionals about AI over the past two years, the information in this article is truly invaluable.

-Paul Carney