What it Means to Be Human: Our Competitive Advantages Over AI

“We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.”

“The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.”

“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”

John F. Kennedy, Sun Tzu, Albert Einstein, Martin Luther King. You know these people. You understand these words. They represent desires common across a wide breadth of humanity: desires to seek a better future, to overcome, and to do good . They also represent specific skills humans do well: lead, think strategically, solve problems, and make ethical decisions.

Artificial Intelligence, on the other hand, cannot. Yet.

Kaif-Fu Li is a renown Taiwanese computer scientist and venture capitalist. In his book, AI 2041, he explains there are two axes by which we can identify what kind of jobs are at risk due to advances in artificial intelligence: whether a role has a high or low social component, and whether a role focuses on optimization at one end, or creativity or strategy at the other.

As you can see in his matrix, those roles that are not dependent on human interaction and at the same time are rule-based and repeatable processes, are in the lower left-hand corner called the “danger zone.” And those roles that rely on successful human relationships as well as creativity or strategic thinking are in the upper right-hand corner Li calls the “safe zone.”

When Li asked himself if he believed the “singularity” is near, a time when artificial intelligence outperforms human intelligence to the point of significant and possibly irreversible implications for humanity, he wrote that he did not believe it would happen soon.

“There are many challenges that we have not made much progress on or even understood, such as how to model creativity, strategic thinking, reasoning, counter-factual thinking, emotions, and consciousness. These challenges are likely to require a dozen more breakthroughs in over sixty years, so I believe we are unlikely to see a dozen in twenty years.”

Historian Yuval Noah Harari has stated similar sentiments, in his book 21 Lessons for the 21st Century.

“We might invest a lot of effort teaching kids how to write in C++ or speak Chinese, only to discover that by 2050 AI can code software far better than humans, and a new Google Translate app will enable you to conduct a conversation in almost flawless Mandarin, Cantonese, or Hakka, even though you only know how to say ‘Ni hao.’ So what should we be teaching? Many pedagogical experts argue, that schools should switch to teaching ‘the four Cs’—critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity’.”

I’ve expanded on the assumptions of Li, Harari, and other deep thinkers in this field, creating a framework of skills that, I believe are the competitive advantages of humanity over AI, at least for now, and perhaps for a good part of the 21st Century.

What We Do Well

Current models for artificial intelligence do at times appear to be capable of creativity, or empathy, or strategic thinking. (See the short story ChatGPT4 wrote for me.) But AI is still very limited in those areas compared to human capabilities. On the whole, AI leverages its ability to analyze massive amounts of data at inhuman speeds and reach, but it does so at the behest of humans.

While AI is “motivated” by the objectives of a program designed by human engineers, humans are driven by different motivations. An eloquent way to explain those motivations would be Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs: physiological and safety needs, belongingness, need for esteem and feelings of accomplishment, as well as the need to self-actualize – to fulfill one’s potential or to accomplish one’s dreams.

Why We Do Well

The motivations are different, and as a result, humans still have a significant edge over artificial intelligence with respect to these complex areas of leadership, strategic thinking, problem solving and ethics. Humans are consistently superior at the skills of emotional intelligence, critical thinking and creativity, which powerfully enable our ability to move forward and solve issues, particularly issues relevant to human existence.

• Emotional Intelligence: Humans “think, therefore they are.” We are self aware, to a certain degree sensitive to our feelings, conscious of our beliefs, capable of feeling and being motivated by love, hate, fear and desire. If we need to solve human issues, it’s best if we are steeped in what it means to be human.
• Critical Thinking: Humans are innately curious, capable of evaluating situations quickly with relevant questions, making assumptions and decisions based on inferences from the data and stimuli around them. AI can be programmed to be curious, to ask questions and evaluate. But humans are still more effective in providing relevant explanations and solutions in the face of our thorniest human conundrums.
• Creativity: The ability to generate new ideas by cross-referencing information amidst vast amounts of data is something AI can do really well, which allows it to uncover interesting associations quickly, through brute force. We might on occasion see something that feels astoundingly creative, like AlphaGo’s Move 37, as related here. But human creativity is driven, individually or collectively, by our personal experiences, our feelings, and beliefs based on the particular culture that envelops us. There are still billions of people around the world whose individual uniqueness contribute to a far greater pool of creativity than AI can match today.

The World to Come

“I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die.”

Roy Batty uttered these last words in the 1982 film, Blade Runner, set in a time of advanced AI. Batty is a replicant, a being of artificial intelligence so superb, he is nearly impossible to distinguish from a human. It is that fear of the almost-human which led to the persecution of replicants in the film. Batty is chased by Rick Deckard, a detective hired to terminate the android, but instead finds himself about to be killed.

As Deckard clings to life from the beam of a high building, literally by his fingertips, Batty says, “Quite an experience to live in fear, isn’t it? That’s what it is to be a slave.”

And then Batty does the unexpected, grasping the arm of Deckard, saving the human from a mortal fall, and in his final moments, demonstrating the most human qualities in this story: empathy, mercy and self awareness.

There will come a time when super intelligent machines will be a fixture in our human existence, perhaps reaching a stage where humans and non-humans interact seamlessly, with nary a thought given to differences.

But we do not live in that world yet. Maybe not for decades. Maybe not for centuries. But that time will come.

For now, it’s advantage human.

ARTICLE FAQS

1. What human abilities remain strongest compared to AI?
Leadership, strategic thinking, problem solving, ethics, emotional intelligence, critical thinking, and creativity. These abilities draw on lived experience, culture, and motivation in ways AI cannot yet replicate.

2. How does Kai-Fu Li’s job risk matrix explain the difference?
Jobs that involve repeatable, rule-based tasks without human interaction are most vulnerable to AI automation. Roles that depend on relationships, creativity, and strategy remain most resilient.

3. Why do motivation and purpose matter in this comparison?
AI executes tasks based on goals set by engineers, while humans are driven by layered needs such as belonging, esteem, and self-actualization. These human motivations shape our problem solving and creativity in unique ways.

4. How do experts like Yuval Noah Harari view education in this context?
He argues that schools should focus less on coding and rote skills and more on “the four Cs”: critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity. These are harder to automate and more enduring as advantages.

5. Why are emotional intelligence and creativity especially important?
Humans feel, empathize, and create from personal experience and culture. AI can simulate these traits or generate surprising moves, but lacks authentic awareness, empathy, and cultural grounding.

6. What does the future look like when AI grows closer to human ability?
Science fiction, such as Blade Runner, envisions a time when machines show empathy and self-awareness. That world is not here yet. For now, human qualities remain distinct and advantageous.