Can AI help with reduction-in-force decisions?

This is a question I’ve been asked several times recently.

I’ll be direct about both the opportunity and the risk.

Yes, AI can legitimately help with:

→ Identifying skill redundancy across the organisation more accurately than

“How do we balance foundational industry expertise against AI proficiency when hiring?”

I keep hearing this question.

And I think it’s the wrong framing.

It’s not a trade-off between industry expertise and AI proficiency.

It’s about whether candidates can integrate the two.

Will AI shift workplaces to value human connection even more?

Yes.

But with a caveat that HR leaders need to hear.

As AI handles more transactional and routine work, the remaining human value increasingly sits in:

→ Judgement
→ Relationships
→ Creativity
→ Navigating

Most skills taxonomies focus on what people can do today.

That’s a mistake.

The element most organisations underestimate in the AI transition?

Learning velocity.

The ability to acquire new capabilities quickly.

Here’s the maths that should concern you:

Skill half-lives in

What skill should managers develop first to lead AI adoption effectively?

It’s not technical.

It’s narrative.

The ability to help your team make sense of what’s changing, what it means for them specifically, and what “good” looks like in the transition.

Most managers default