Over the past 4 months, I’ve been reading a lot about what skills to develop to better adapt to the future. I approach stress resilience as a comprehensive field that encompasses learning, skills, strategizing, and adaptability for the future. So, I’ve compiled some thoughts for you that make sense to me as of September 2, 2026.
What will be valuable in a world where AI can replace humans?
1. Professional verification.
Verifying authenticity, the profession of “reality checker” – a person who has been in a real-life situation and, at the risk of their reputation, can confirm the facts of certain events.
From personalized social media algorithms, we’re heading toward even bigger bubbles’ society. The one where each person will be shown the curated version of reality they prefer.
2. Responsibility for Decisions (skin in the game).
AI does the work, but humans take legal and financial responsibility.
Imagine that someone wrote incorrect code for a surgical robot. Who should be held responsible for a mistake during surgery? Who will go to jail – the developer, the project manager, the QA specialist, the team lead, or the clinic’s CEO?
Consequently, this opens the doors to all professions that require licensing.
3. Reputation and Trust.
Hundreds of people are creating content. And these days, you don’t even need to be an expert on the subject.
I’m currently reading a book by Luke Burgis. He writes that you can become an expert in just four weeks if you do everything right.
That’s why reputation among a specific audience has become so valuable – knowing and trusting that this person is sane and reliable.
4. Complex fundamental knowledge in a narrow field of specialization.
Anyone can come up with a trivial question and create a product in a matter of minutes.
5. Synthesis of in-depth knowledge across various categories; a generalist. Systems thinking.
Finding connections that aren’t immediately obvious – ones that AI, with its logic, wouldn’t be able to make. This is, in essence, one of the definitions of creativity.
Plus, it comes down to complexity once again. Anyone can pose simple questions and problems to AI. Those who can tackle complex issues will be more valuable.
6. The ability to read and analyze complex foundational texts.
Some people predict that we are heading into a new dark age, where highly educated people will once again become rare.
We are getting used to consuming a certain type of short-form content, which is causing our brains to become lazy when it comes to processing more complex information.
7. Critical Thinking.
Don’t give in to hype, panic, or manipulation. Filter everything that comes your way, because AI is getting better and better at creating realistic images, videos, and texts – to persuade, polarize society, and simply fabricate information.
8. Structured and literate speech.
About a year ago, I noticed that people had started to seem somewhat slow and awkward when communicating in person. As if they’re constantly speaking a foreign language.
Language is a tool to creating one form of thinking – verbal-logical reasoning. So the way we speak determines the way we think.
9. Developing our own point of view with an understanding of what it is based on.
When AI readily does the thinking instead of us, what becomes valuable is our inner core. Having your own opinion and the courage to voice it – especially if it’s nonconformist but grounded in reality rather than belief. To cultivate this, it’s recommended to read and write essays expressing your own thoughts.
This gives me “How I Spent My Summer” essay vibe, maybe it wasn’t so useless after all?.
10. The ability to learn and quickly acquire new skills.
People used to say, “Now that the internet is here, everyone will be able to learn anything for free.” As we can see, that didn’t happen. Now AI has arrived, and the possibilities have expanded even further.
However, according to some estimates, only 5% of people are capable of learning something on their own (without help from others). AI cannot replace our minds; it can only complement them. So the faster we can master the skills we need right here and now, the better we’ll be able to adapt to the situation.
11. STEM and everything related to new technologies. Especially microchips and general engineering.
We have a lot of problems with infrastructure – high-quality railroads, utilities, buildings, cars, and so on. The key word here is “high-quality,” as opposed to the trend toward “enshitification.”
12. Environmental technologies, climate management, renewable energy engineering.
Climate change causes enormous damage and is potentially uncontrollable. And the problem here isn’t plastic bags or cocktail straws. We need to take into account geodetic, astronomical, and historical-ecological aspects. Ecosystem engineering is becoming a key global challenge for the planet.
13. LLM and their training.
A deep understanding of what lies behind AI, in order to make the most of the technology.
14. Cybersecurity.
This area has already been identified as a key threat for the next 3 years. Thanks to AI, crimes of this kind are becoming more widespread and easier to carry out. The social engineering tactics of scammers and cybercriminals are reaching a new level. AI generates realistic deepfakes capable of deceiving most people.
And the gaps in security systems are impressive – or should I rather say “alarming”?
15. Countering various forms of terrorism.
Due to the endless possibilities of AI technologies to influence people’s minds, extremism will be on the rise. We are also seeing the polarization of society and certain political ideas that destabilize and divide society.
Imagine that many people will be left without jobs. They’ll be frustrated and hooked on various forms of addiction (this is a huge problem that isn’t talked about much). Such people are easy to manipulate into engaging in criminal activity for a dose, money, or devotion to the idea.
16. Miltech.
Just take a look at the world and what the major countries are likely preparing for. Political analysis isn’t my area of expertise, so I’ll leave the deeper analysis to the experts.
17. Leadership + Agency + Entrepreneurship.
Combining professional skills with the capabilities of AI and other technologies. Managing ecosystems of people and AI agents. All of this requires a broad range of managerial skills.
Agency is the ability to take the initiative and take responsibility for its implementation.
They say we’re moving toward a model of micro-businesses, where a single person, with a team of AI agents, will be able to run a large-scale business. If there are fewer jobs, more people will try to start their own businesses. Or, at least, try to make money from their hobbies. And that’s something you have to learn, too.
18. To want + to feel a sense of purpose.
If you can do anything quickly, it becomes hard to want anything at all or feel motivated. Plus, our personalized world is increasingly manipulating us – giving us hints on what to do and how to do it.
Few people understand their true desires or the meaning behind them. Those desires that aren’t dictated by manipulation and social trends.
19. Refined taste and trained eye.
To separate the sheep from the goats. AI can generate a lot of information, but it’s up to people to decide what they like. As I wrote in my previous post, AI creates fast food, while people curate and select gourmet dishes.
20. Creativity.
New discoveries, new approaches, new meanings. They say that AI is good at building on what already exists. But creating something new requires different forms of creativity that LLMs don’t possess yet.
Another theory suggests that soon all high-quality knowledge will become paid content. Only old data and whatever AI can scrape from social media and websites will remain free.
21. Art, History, Culture, Philosophy, Ethics.
Subjective fields in which facts and information are not as important as a person’s subjective and moral interpretation of them for the benefit of others.
22. Offline. Demanding physical activity in unusual conditions.
Activities that are expensive or difficult for robots to perform – tiling, repairs, plumbing, electrical work, acrobatics, dancing.
23. Offline, where the value comes from 5D sensations, or other forms of unique sensory experiences.
Activities that require moderation and facilitation to create a unique experience for people. My clients use AI, but it doesn’t replace the experience of live sessions, especially if a person is willing to dive deeper and experiment with the formats I offer.
I would also include the facilitation of group conflicts and the experience of using offline products and services that will become premium (since they’ll be available only to elite or the chosen few).
Plus, here are two more skills from me personally: I’m actively working on these myself and in sessions with clients.
24. Finding and Recognizing Your Worth.
From what I hear in sessions, the greatest psychological challenge in 2026–2027 in terms of adaptation is figuring out how to feel valued in this new world and this new economy. We’ve grown accustomed to tying our self-esteem (or self-worth) to the results of our productive labor or our professional status.
If everything you knew and were able to do is no longer in demand in the market, a deep existential void emerges. In this state, a person falls into a depressive state and stops actively adapting to the new reality.
25. Adaptability + Ability to cope with uncertainty.
For now, unpredictability is our new normal. Some say we’ve already entered the era of the singularity. But I believe we haven’t yet hit rock bottom in this crisis.
By design, our brains aren’t very good at adapting to such radical and rapid changes. Our psyche is an adaptation machine, but it can’t automatically adjust to this pace. However, we can help it along without waiting for slow changes to happen by default.
Conclusion:
What do I think about all this as a human and a resilience coach? In this article, I’ve compiled what seems logical to me and what I personally believe in. Therefore, all these points are valid as of September 2, 2026.
No one can predict with 100% certainty how things will actually turn out. Reality is shaped by a complex system of various factors. We don’t yet know how to take them all into account.
But my core philosophy is to follow our personal interests, while adapting them to the objective realities of the world. The reason is simple: if you’re not interested in what you’re doing, you won’t stick with it long enough or deeply enough to see results.
Hi, I’m Anastasia Mladinska.
If you’d like to work systematically on your adaptability and stress resilience, I invite you to schedule a consultation or coaching session.
And here, you can book a time for a free introductory session if you’d like to see if we’re a good fit first.