Staying Human in the Age of AI.
Image by addyfe (UrbanOrigami) using Midjourney.
A few days ago at I delivered a keynote at a SAP event at their US Headquarters in Newtown PA on Staying Human in the Age of AI. Nearly 2000 people comprised of technologists ( primarily enterprise architects) from the top 1000 global companies and leaders of SAP listened to the talk in person or via streaming.
The talk resonated and was highly rated.
Earlier this week Tim Clark wrote an article summarizing the keynote for ASUG website and newsletter. (ASUG is the only SAP customer user group officially partnered with SAP, connecting members directly to SAP expertise and innovation).
I am republishing the article and the video of the talk with permission from Tim Clark the writer and SAP.
Artificial intelligence is not just another wave of automation. It is not another productivity tool. And it is not merely the next phase of digital transformation.
According to Rishad Tobaccowala, who presented at the recent Next Generation SAP Enterprise Architect Learning Forum at SAP headquarters in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, it is something far more profound.
“I believe, with everything we already know, AI is still under-hyped,” said Tobaccowala, an author, speaker, teacher and advisor with four decades of experience helping people and organizations reinvent themselves.
That’s a striking claim in a world saturated with AI headlines, market volatility, and bold predictions. Yet Tobaccowala argued that most leaders still fail to grasp the true scale of change underway. To explain why, he first reflected back on 2019.
A Prescient Warning
When Tobaccowala wrote his first book, Restoring the Soul of Business (which was published in January 2020, just before the pandemic), its subtitle centered on “staying human in the age of data.” The original working title, he notes, was The Story and the Spreadsheet. His publisher, HarperCollins, ultimately went in a different direction.
What’s notable is not just the book’s success, but its timing. Released more than two years before the launch of ChatGPT 3.5, the final chapter already addressed AI. As generative AI entered mainstream consciousness, readers began interpreting the subtitle differently—as being not merely about data, but about staying human in the age of AI.
Today, Tobaccowala’s thesis has sharpened: this is not incremental change. What AI is bringing about is structural.
AI Is Not an Extension
Every major technology in history has extended human capability. Fire extended physical power. The printing press extended knowledge distribution. The internet scaled information sharing globally. Social media turned individuals into publishers.
“All technology up to now has extended the human brain,” Tobaccowala explained. “My basic belief is AI creates a new brain. It’s not about extending our brain. It’s a new brain.”
Previous technologies amplified human cognition. AI introduces a parallel form of cognition, he told attendees at the event, that operates independently and at speeds beyond human comprehension. The implications of this are economic and philosophical.
“All previous technologies enhanced and made valuable knowledge,” he said. “I believe AI will make knowledge completely free and not monetizable. And all of us are knowledge workers.”
The Speed Problem
The velocity of AI development compounds its disruption. Digital advertising, Tobaccowala noted, took roughly 30 years to become the majority of global advertising spend. Moore’s Law predicted computing power would double roughly every 18 months.
When his second book was published just a year ago, AI capability was doubling every 11 months. Now, he says that agentic AI capability is doubling every seven weeks.
“This is the first time that you have a technology that is outstripping human and organizational ability to keep up,” he said. “If anybody basically says, ‘I believe this is what’s going to happen,’ take it with a grain of salt.”
From Artificial Intelligence to Alien Intelligence
At one point in his presentation, Tobaccowala deliberately reframed the terminology, referring to AI as “alien intelligence.”
“The top three reasons today that people in the consumer world use AI is not to make a video or a fake picture,” he said. “The top three reasons are therapy, companionship and self-help medical care.”
In other words, people are engaging with AI systems as if they were human. “It’s not human, but it definitely doesn’t feel like or sound like a machine,” he said.
Extending the metaphor further, AI agents are not simply “agents,” said Tobaccowala. They are “replicants.”
“We are living in a world of aliens and replicants,” he said. “And we are humans.”
Computing Machines Vs. Feeling Machines
In building upon this statement, Tobaccowala reflected that AI systems are computational engines operating in binary logic. Human beings are not.
“Computers are digital, silicon-based computing machines,” Tobaccowala said. “We are analog carbon-based feeling machines.”
Ask a machine a question and it returns a direct answer. Ask a human a question and the response may be layered, emotional, or evasive.
“Human beings are not computing machines. We are feeling machines,” he said.
This distinction has profound business implications, as many technologists model the future on machine logic by assuming humans will optimize decisions purely for efficiency.
But real-world behavior tells a different story. If humans optimized purely for utility, Tobaccowala asked, why wear expensive watches when smartphones keep better time? Why own cars in cities where ride sharing is available? Why choose luxury brands if cheaper alternatives function just as well?
“Humans choose on stories,” he said. “We choose on identity. We choose on design. We choose on desire. People choose with their hearts, then use numbers to justify what they just did.”
That tension between rational optimization and emotional decision-making will shape how AI integrates into markets.
The Work Disruption Ahead
Historically, technological revolutions have created more jobs than they destroyed—over time. But Tobaccowala worries about the pace.
“My biggest fear is organizations are moving too slow,” he said. He expects 20-30% of current tasks to be “machined away” in the near term. That work will not be reassigned to humans using AI. It will simply disappear.
“Half the jobs are cut away because the machines can do it better,” he said. “That part of our job is not going to be done by anybody.”
While new roles will emerge, the transition could outpace institutional adaptation.
“No organizational design is setting up for the other world,” he said.
Alien Intelligence Plus Human Intuition
Despite the disruption he anticipates, Tobaccowala remains optimistic.
The future, he argued, belongs not to AI alone but to a combination of AI and what he calls HI: human intuition.
“Human intelligence is overrated,” he said. “It’s long been beaten.”
Instead, Tobaccowala emphasizes four uniquely human strengths: intuition, insight, imagination, and interaction.
“Only messy human beings can connect with messy human beings,” he remarked, offering an example from health care.
AI tools may analyze scans with remarkable accuracy, yet patients still want human doctors to deliver life-altering news.
Embrace, Adapt, Complement
For individuals navigating this shift, Tobaccowala proposed a three-part framework: embrace, adapt, complement.
First, embrace AI. Learn it. Understand it. Accept that it is transformative.
Second, adapt. Some portion of current work will vanish. Clinging to outdated roles is futile. “Between 20-30% of what we currently do is going to be machined away,” he reiterated.
Third, complement. Identify how uniquely human capabilities integrate with machine strengths. Tobaccowala rejects the notion that workers will simply lose jobs to other workers who use AI.
“That’s like telling a horse you’re not going to lose your job to a tractor. You’re going to lose your job to a horse who learns how to use a tractor,” he said. “That’s nonsense.”
Some work will disappear entirely. The opportunity lies in redesigning roles around what machines cannot replicate.
Efficiency Is Not the Strategy
Many enterprises focus narrowly on AI-driven efficiency and effectiveness. Cost savings. Productivity gains. Faster processes. Those improvements are measurable—and necessary. But Tobaccowala argued they are not where true advantage lies. “The real opportunities and threats are not going to come from being more efficient or more effective,” he said.
Instead, leaders must consider existential opportunities and threats.
Tobaccowala pointed to the shipping container as a historical example. Standardized containers revolutionized global trade, not merely by improving shipping efficiency but by reshaping entire cities, industries, and supply chains.
Similarly, in media, some newspapers optimized printing processes while others questioned the premise of print itself. Today, The New York Times has transitioned from 1.8 million print subscribers to roughly 12 million digital subscribers, evolving into a multimedia platform spanning audio and video.
Roots and Wings
Large organizations, Tobaccowala noted, cannot rely solely on yesterday’s strengths.
“There’s going to be some combination of yesterday’s you, which I call ‘roots,’ and tomorrow’s you, which I call ‘wings,’” he said.
AI capability alone is not a differentiator. It is infrastructure, much like electricity. What differentiates companies is how they integrate that infrastructure into new value creation models.
He pointed to emerging AI-first companies generating millions in revenue per employee as signals of a new operating model. The question for established enterprises is not whether they will remain important, but whether they will evolve.
Importance of Optimism
Despite the immediately incoming volatility that AI promises, Tobaccowala’s outlook is not dystopian, he said. “Human beings adapt,” he said. “Human beings are resurrection engines.”
Every technological upheaval has triggered fear. Every era has also generated new forms of wealth, opportunity, and innovation. AI, he believes, will cure diseases, expand access to knowledge, and create economic growth. But it demands self-reinvention.
“It’s never too late to invent tomorrow,” he said.
Staying human in the age of AI is not about resisting alien intelligence. It is about upgrading human capability, leaning into intuition, imagination, and emotional intelligence.
Here is the 35 minute talk as delivered: