The Paradigm Shift No One Saw Coming

What does it mean to be "hirable" in the age of AI? The dictionary definition of "hirable" is straightforward: "capable of being hired; available for hire".^[1] Simple. Clear. But incomplete.

When we say someone is "hirable," we expect it to mean they possess the right skills, have relevant experience, and can demonstrate competence in their field. A hirable candidate can do the job; they have what it takes to fulfill the responsibilities and deliver results.

That understanding is now obsolete.

We're witnessing a fundamental transformation in what makes someone employable, and many people haven't fully grasped this concept yet. The change isn't gradual; it's seismic. And it's happening right now, in boardrooms and C-suites across the world.

The Mantra Everyone's Repeating (But Few Understand)

You've probably heard it by now: "AI is not going to replace you. People using AI will replace you."

It's become the mantra of our age, repeated by business leaders, educators, and tech evangelists. Harvard Business School's Karim Lakhani has stated that humans with AI will replace humans without AI.^[2] IBM's CEO Arvind Krishna and Microsoft's Satya Nadella have echoed similar sentiments, emphasizing that organizations need to focus on AI capabilities across their workforce.^[3]

But let's think carefully about what this statement actually means.

When someone says "people using AI will replace you," they're not just saying you need to learn a new tool. They're saying something far more profound: to be hirable now means being able to use AI to do what a human alone cannot accomplish.

This isn't just adding another skill to your resume. This is the first half of a complete redefinition of human labor itself.

The Shopify Signal: A Harbinger of Things to Come

Consider Shopify. It's a company valued at over $100 billion, employing approximately 8,000 people worldwide.^[4] That translates to more than $10 million in market value per employee, reflecting how modern technology companies create enormous value with relatively lean workforces.

In a memo that sent ripples through the tech industry, Shopify's CEO Tobi Lütke laid out expectations that foreshadow the future of work everywhere.^[5] The memo contained several striking mandates, but three points stand out as particularly significant:

Point One: Universal Adoption

"Using AI effectively is now a fundamental expectation of everyone at Shopify."

Not just the developers. Not just the data scientists. Everyone. Marketing, finance, HR, operations. Every single role. This isn't a suggestion or an opportunity; it's an expectation. The distinction matters enormously.

Point Two: Performance Accountability

"We will add AI usage questions to our performance and peer review questionnaire."

Performance reviews exist for three primary purposes: to determine whether to keep you, promote you, or let you go. When a CEO mandates that AI usage becomes part of performance evaluation for everyone, and everyone means everyone, the message is unmistakable: your ability to leverage AI is now inseparable from your ability to perform your job.

Point Three: The Paradigm Flip

"Before asking for more headcount and resources, teams must demonstrate why they cannot get what they want done using AI."

This is the most revolutionary statement of all, because it represents a complete inversion of how we've thought about work throughout human history.

Until this moment in time, the default assumption was that humans would do the work. If someone proposed letting AI or automation handle a task, leadership would say, "Interesting. Prove to me that it can work before I cancel that job posting."

Now, the assumption has flipped. The default position is that AI can handle many tasks previously done by humans. The burden of proof now falls on humans to demonstrate that a task requires human capability.

This is not hyperbole. This is not fearmongering. This is the explicit policy of a major global corporation, and it won't be alone for long.

This is where the second half of the "hirable" definition reveals itself. First, we learned that being hirable means using AI to do what humans alone cannot. Now we see that being hirable also means proving you can do what AI alone cannot.

The New Definition

So what is the new definition of hirable?

Hirable: The ability to perform tasks in the context of a work role that neither a human nor AI can accomplish alone.

Being hirable means being able to synergize with AI in ways that produce outcomes impossible for either party independently. It means:

• Knowing what AI can do that you cannot
• Knowing what you can do that AI cannot
• Knowing how to orchestrate the collaboration to achieve results beyond either capability

You must be better than other humans working alone. And you must be better than AI working alone. Only the combination of human judgment, creativity, context, and emotional intelligence, combined with AI's speed, memory, pattern recognition, and tireless iteration, creates irreplaceable value.

The Crisis in Education

This has ground-shifting implications for educators, training centers, certification exams, and HR departments everywhere. Yet many are resisting rather than adapting.

Across universities and educational institutions, there's been significant resistance to adopting AI in the classroom.^[6] Following ChatGPT's public release in late 2022, numerous schools and universities implemented bans or strict restrictions on AI usage, citing concerns about academic integrity. Some institutions explicitly prohibit students from using AI tools in their coursework, warning of consequences ranging from failing grades to expulsion.

The argument typically goes like this: "We want to teach people how to think, and AI is subverting that."

But here's the uncomfortable truth: if you're giving students the same assignments you gave before AI existed, you're the one who's cheating.

Let me be clear: students using AI to complete assignments? That's not cheating. That's adapting to reality. But educators using the same stale assignments they used before AI? That's cheating. It's like reusing the same test that's been circulating among students for years. You're taking shortcuts with outdated work instead of doing the hard job of redesigning education for the current landscape of knowledge, skills, and abilities that students need to know for the future job market.

And worse, by prohibiting students from using AI, you're cheating them out of the essential skills they'll need to be hirable upon graduation. The irony is striking, isn't it?

A educator's job is to prepare students for the world they're entering, not the world you left behind. If your assignments can be completed by AI alone, they're no longer measuring what matters. And if they can be completed by a human alone without AI, they're measuring obsolete capabilities.

According to our new definition of hirable, educators need to design assignments that neither humans alone nor AI alone can complete successfully. Give students challenges that require them to think critically while using AI, assignments that demand the unique capabilities that emerge only from human-AI collaboration. That's what employers will actually require.

This is what Kasparov's hypothesis taught us (see my related article): humans and computers working together can outperform either alone, but only if we train for the partnership, not the solo performance.

And here's the kicker: AI itself can help educators redesign curricula and create assignments that achieve these goals (see my article on using AI for instructional design). The very tool they're resisting could solve the problem educators are struggling with.

The No-Lose Proposition

Here's the good news buried in this disruption: adopting this new definition of hirable is a no-lose solution.

If you prepare yourself to work with AI in ways that make you superior to humans working alone and superior to AI working alone, you win regardless of how the future unfolds.

Scenario One: AI Doesn't Replace Most Human Jobs

If the doomsayers are wrong and AI doesn't dramatically reduce human employment. By developing the skill of harmonizing with AI, you've still made yourself exceptional. You'll stand out among your peers. You'll be more productive, more valuable, and more promotable. You'll accomplish in hours what takes others days.

Scenario Two: AI Does Replace Many Human Jobs

If AI does replace significant portions of human labor, you've positioned yourself in the category that remains essential: humans who can leverage AI to produce results that neither humans nor AI can achieve independently. You become part of the irreplaceable minority.

In either future, you've made the right choice.

The Definition You Cannot Ignore

The new definition of hirable is not a prediction. It's already a reality at leading companies. It will spread to mid-market firms, to small businesses, to non-profits, and government agencies.

The question is not whether this change is coming to your industry, your company, or your role.

The question is whether you'll be ready when it arrives.

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This article is part of a series exploring AI's impact on work, education, and human capability. Related articles include: "Kasparov's Hypothesis," "The Three Most Important Questions to Ask AI to Become Irreplaceable," "How to Judge What People Say About AI," and "The Great and Terrible AI."

For practical guidance on developing AI-augmented capabilities, see our AI Career Retooling Guide