AI-generated summary
For many companies, transversal or soft skills are now as important as, if not more than, traditional hard skills. A study by BusinessNameGenerator highlights how emerging technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) have shifted skill demands, pushing employees to enhance existing abilities and acquire new ones focused on collaboration and adaptability. Digital advancements have made innovation and flexibility crucial for maintaining competitiveness, creating a paradox where automation increases but human interpersonal skills become even more vital. Technologies such as AI, augmented reality (AR), and virtual reality (VR) enable immersive training environments that simulate real-life situations without consequences, helping workers manage stress and improve communication, conflict resolution, and leadership skills.
These immersive “virtual gyms” offer tailored scenarios with real-time feedback on verbal and non-verbal cues, while AI tools like chatbots foster effective interaction. Advances include tactile feedback and biometric monitoring to gauge training effectiveness, though privacy concerns around data collection remain. Simulation-based learning, including AI-driven serious games, allows safe experimentation and strategic decision-making, proven by research from the University of Utrecht to enhance knowledge, cognitive, and even motor skills. Looking ahead, work will involve a synergy between humans and machines, blending soft skills with digital intelligence. Success in the 21st century will depend on mastering both technology and human dynamics to harness the full potential of augmented intelligence.
The alliance between the potential of technology and human capabilities is the key to the formation of the future and access to the labour market with guarantees
For most companies, transversal skills already count as much as, if not more, than so-called hard skills. This is confirmed, among others, by a BusinessNameGenerator (BNG) study. According to the research, the introduction of new technologies such as artificial intelligence has modified the demand for specific skills , requiring employees to deepen the skills they already possess or integrate new ones, especially those that have to do with the way people work and interact with others.
In particular, the development of digital technologies has made adaptability and innovation an essential requirement for companies that want to stay competitive in their sector. The apparent paradox is that the increased prominence of technology on the one hand allows processes to be automated, but on the other hand makes the human component more indispensable than ever, those soft skills that this same technology can help to develop.
Artificial intelligence (AI), augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) make it possible to develop ‘immersive’ training paths with which the worker can learn from plausible situations, but without the fear of repercussions in the event of an error. This trains the management of the stressful conditions that could be created in reality.
The strengths of technologies applied to learning are the possibility of recreating scenarios adapted to the context in which the worker operates and interacting with it, providing real-time feedback, both on verbal language and gestures. There are countless scenarios that these ‘virtual gyms’ can create: a presentation to colleagues or stakeholders or the management of a customer complaint.
On the other hand, AI-based solutions such as chatbots can train verbal exchange for conflict resolution or foster effective communication. In addition, the latest advances in the field of immersive learning also involve the sense of touch with new forms of manual tracking, while biometric sensors make it possible to analyze elements such as heart rate and breathing, useful parameters to monitor the real effectiveness of ongoing programs.
While there is an issue related to the collection and interpretation of this data, which should be as respectful as possible of the individual’s privacy, simulation-based learning is a rapidly growing paradigm in training: from the first rudimentary hyperlink-based tools, systems have been reached that offer a simulation environment in which people face complex situations, similar to real life.
Simulators based on artificial intelligence and interactive cinema are used, which allow training the required skills; Among these solutions are the so-called serious games, which reproduce realistic situations in a protected environment to experiment with different strategies and test the effectiveness of what is normally done, receiving feedback and learning from the experience. This is an invaluable opportunity for leadership development and decision-making skills.
In a Research conducted by the University of Utrecht, in the Netherlands, examined 28 scientific studies that compared the effectiveness of serious games with other learning methodologies. The researchers concluded that this solution does indeed improve the acquisition of knowledge and cognitive skills and seems to be promising even for the acquisition of motor skills.
The future of work will not be a competition between humans and machines, but a synergistic collaboration. Soft skills will evolve into new forms of augmented intelligence, where human capabilities merge harmoniously with the potential of AI. We must trust in a meeting between ‘soft skills’ and ‘digital skills’ to develop the necessary skills in the 21st century, where it will be essential to know how technology works but, even more, that of people.
