There was a time when I could remember the phone numbers of almost everyone important to me. Today, I need to look at my phone to confirm the numbers of those I love. Technology did not make me less intelligent; it changed what my mind is required to remember.
Every technological advancement changes the work we do, while at the same time changing human capabilities. Throughout history, technology has extended our capacity.
Mechanisation transformed physical labour, computers transformed how we processed information and the internet transformed how quickly we can access knowledge. Each innovation enabled people to accomplish more, yet human beings remained responsible for interpreting information, exercising judgment, solving problems and creating new ideas.
Generative artificial intelligence (AI) represents something fundamentally different; it is the first technology capable of participating in portions of the cognitive work that has traditionally defined human expertise. It can summarise, analyse, organise, recommend and support decisions that were once performed almost exclusively through human thought.
Today people are increasingly integrating it into the very process through which they think, learn, communicate, solve problems and make decisions. This brings us to one of the defining leadership questions of our time.
If technology increasingly participates in our cognitive work, what becomes the role of the human mind?
The future of work is being reshaped
In the May 2026, International Labour Organization report, A Moment of Choice: Harnessing Artificial Intelligence for Decent Work, Director-General Gilbert F. Houngbo reminded the world that, “The future of work will not be determined by technology alone, but by the policies, institutions and social dialogue that guide it.”
The future of work needs to be written by the choices leaders make today about how technology will shape people, organisations and society.
Over the past thirty-five years, I have had the privilege of working alongside leaders, parents, engineers, frontline workers, Indigenous communities, supervisors and executive teams across multiple industries. While the work itself has differed, there is a consistency regardless of role, industry or geography.
Human beings need to know that they matter. They need to know that their contribution makes a difference, that their knowledge and experience have value, that they continue to grow and help build something meaningful. I have never met anyone whose deepest aspiration was simply to complete tasks. People come to work to solve problems, contribute, create, help others and ultimately know that what they do has made a difference.
I have witnessed people in the workplace go through profound failure, unimaginable tragedy, personal loss and adversity. Yet I have watched those same people rebuild confidence, rediscover purpose and accomplish what once seemed impossible. Those experiences reinforced something I have come to believe deeply: that technology should never replace the human experiences that develop our human potential.
Understanding the purpose of work
Throughout history, work has always served two purposes, and traditionally, we often measure only one. Work produces organisational outcomes and it builds peoples capabilities.
Every difficult conversation, responsibility accepted, challenge overcome, every mistake corrected, every decision made under pressure and every lesson learned contributes to the development of judgment, confidence, resilience, leadership and character.
One of the most significant human consequences of generative AI is not the technology itself. It is the uncertainty people begin to experience about who they will be in their own future.
Job insecurity is often misunderstood as simply the possibility of losing employment. It is the perceived uncertainty surrounding continued employment, career progression, valued work, professional identity and future opportunity. A person can experience significant job insecurity while remaining fully employed.
Job insecurity is recognised internationally as a psychosocial hazard. ISO 45003:2021, Psychological health and safety at work Guidelines for managing psychosocial risks, identifies job insecurity within the psychosocial hazard category of career development, recognising that uncertainty surrounding employment and future work can negatively affect psychological health and well-being. Likewise, the ILO identifies job insecurity as a psychosocial risk capable of affecting mental health, engagement and organisational performance.
Generative AI introduces a new dimension to that hazard. People are no longer asking only, “Will my job exist?” Increasingly they are asking, “Will my knowledge still matter? Will my judgment still be needed? Will I continue to create value?” These are questions of identity, confidence, purpose and belonging.
Make sure humans are included
The ILO’s 2026 working paper, AI Systems @ Work: A Changing Psychosocial Work Environment, reinforces this concern by recognising that AI can introduce new psychosocial risks through changing job design, reduced autonomy, surveillance, work intensification and uncertainty surrounding the future of work. These risks cannot be managed through technology alone; they require intentional leadership and thoughtful work design.
This is precisely why Human Inclusion will become one of the defining leadership responsibilities of the next decade. Human Inclusion is the intentional design of work that protects the psychological, cognitive and social conditions every human being needs to thrive as technology transforms how work is performed. It ensures that technology strengthens human capability rather than diminishing the very experiences through which capability is developed.
Mining has consistently embraced innovation, from mechanisation and automation to autonomous equipment, predictive analytics and digital operations. Yet despite every technological advancement, mining continues to depend upon deeply human capabilities. Safe production requires judgment under uncertainty.
Strong teams require trust, Indigenous and community relationships require authenticity. These capabilities are developed through experience, responsibility, challenge, reflection and human connection.
People have always attached their identity to what their minds allow them to contribute. A mechanic is respected because of their diagnostic ability, an engineer because of problem solving or a leader because of judgment. Our cognitive abilities have been one of the primary ways we contribute to society.
Generative AI doesn’t simply automate tasks, it is participating in the very capabilities through which many people have historically created personal value, self worth and dignity.
AI is a psychological health and safety matter
This is why the ILO and ISO 45003 frame job insecurity not as a workforce planning issue, but as a psychological health and safety one and AI now sits directly within that frame.
The greatest psychosocial risk is not AI itself. The risk emerges when organisations redesign work without intentionally helping people understand where they continue to create value, how they will continue to grow and why their contribution still matters.
When people begin questioning not only whether they will have a job, but whether their knowledge, experience and judgment remain valuable, leaders are no longer managing a technology initiative. They are leading people through one of the most significant human transitions the modern workplace has experienced.
If we unintentionally remove too many of these experiences in pursuit of efficiency, we may create organisations that are technologically more capable while gradually diminishing the very human capabilities upon which innovation, leadership, trust and society ultimately depend.
This is the choice sitting in front of every leader right now. Before you redesign a role, a process or a team around what AI can now do, ask what it will cost the person still standing there. Ask what they will stop being trusted to decide, stop being asked to solve, stop being given the chance to prove. We will not remember this decade for what AI was capable of, we will remember it for what we chose to protect.
Continue the conversation… Audrey Hlembizky is CEO at TeamsynerG Global Consulting and BIOPTRICS, co-creator of Whole-Person Safety® and the author of SAFE UNTIL IT ISN’T. Connect with her on Linkedin