Future Skills 2026+: how to develop competencies that give you an edge over other talents and artificial intelligence.
In 2026, we no longer ask whether artificial intelligence is changing work, but how quickly it is changing our role. Generative AI models are taking over routine tasks: email drafts, meeting summaries, first versions of analyses and presentations. Our productivity is increasing, but so is the bar. Those who can combine technology with mature business thinking and present results that cannot be generated with a single prompt will gain an advantage.
Importantly, the future is not based solely on technological skills. The World Economic Forum* lists AI and data analysis, cybersecurity and technology literacy among the fastest growing skills. At the same time, however, the importance of typically human skills is growing: creative thinking, resilience, flexibility and curiosity combined with lifelong learning. LinkedIn** emphasises that by 2030, approximately 70% of the skills used today in most professions will change, with artificial intelligence being the main catalyst for this change.
Mature judgement and strategic thinking
AI is great at calculating, summarising and proposing optimal options, but it does not take responsibility for decisions. The advantage of humans lies in their ability to judge: to assess risks, consequences, opportunities, the interests of various parties, and the business and organisational context. This is a skill that is particularly valuable in a world of data overload and automatically generated recommendations.
Cooperation and communication
When a problem arises, it is not only the choice of tools that is important, but above all who can organise people around the solution. In practice, this means clear briefings, conducting discussions, negotiations, providing feedback and facilitating meetings. AI can help prepare the structure of a conversation or an introduction to negotiations, but it cannot replace the relationships and trust built between people.
"Our advantage over artificial intelligence does not come from competing on the speed of task completion, but from the ability to make sense, ask the right questions and translate knowledge and data into wise decisions," says Kamila Izdebska, Head of BPP Professional Education in Poland.
Applied creativity
Creativity is no longer associated exclusively with artistic talent. Increasingly, it means the ability to create useful solutions and connect the dots: knowledge, experience, data and observations in a way that really improves work, processes or collaboration. In practice, it is the ability to ask the question "how can this be done simpler, faster or smarter?" and then translate the answers into concrete actions.
AI literacy, or the ability to work with the tool
According to data from Microsoft and LinkedIn***, by 2024, 75% of employees worldwide will be using AI at work, and the pace of technology adoption continues to grow. AI literacy is the ability to use artificial intelligence intelligently, critically and responsibly, without having to be a programmer or scientist. In practice, this means understanding what AI is and what it is definitely not; the ability to ask good questions (prompting), awareness of the risks associated with, among other things, ethics and responsibility, treating AI as a work tool rather than a gadget, and assessing whether the use of AI in a given process makes sense at all.
Competence development in practice – roadmap for action
- Start by auditing your competencies and identifying real gaps and the potential to "fill" them.
- Select priority areas to build, such as creative problem solving, AI literacy, and communication.
- Focus on micro-learning – short, regular and embedded in your daily work.
- Supplement it with carefully selected training courses that respond to specific needs, rather than just being "another certificate for your CV".
- Learn by doing, by implementing real projects, not just consuming knowledge.
- Ask for feedback and find mentors – this significantly accelerates development.
Future Skills 2026+ is not a list of tools to master, but a set of competencies that allow you to wisely combine people and technology. It is the ability to think, create, adapt and continuously learn – these are the skills that will give you an advantage over other talents and artificial intelligence itself.
*World Economic Forum “Future of Jobs Report 2025”, January 2025