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Why AI upskilling
is key to building
the future workforce
The forward shift isn’t about replacing people with technology—it’s about choosing to bring employees along on the AI journey.
For many workers, regardless of industry, role, or location, the mention of AI can come with a twinge of existential dread. As widespread AI adoption continues to boom and reports of mass-layoffs due to automation roil headlines, their concerns are valid—but the reality may not be so grim. “We’re at this huge crossroads now in the world of work,” says Jayney Howson, senior vice president of global workforce skills and talent readiness at ServiceNow, whose AI platform connects AI, data, and workflows to simplify the way people work. “Companies have two paths they can take: one of human displacement or one of human renaissance. It’s essentially a decision between, ‘Are we going to do AI to people or for people?’” To understand how AI and related technologies will impact workers and organizations over the next five years, ServiceNow partnered with Pearson to create the 2025 Workforce Skills Forecast. According to the research, many economies, including the U.S., are predicted to face a growing labor shortage despite the rising tide of digital transformation. AI can help bridge this gap but only if businesses prepare their people to thrive alongside it.
The U.S. would need
additional workers by 2030
without agentic AI.
8.08 million
“We need to lean into reskilling our workforce to enable people to unlock the power of AI and unleash their potential,” says Howson. Not only is this the right thing to do, according to Howson, but it’s also a business imperative for driving innovation, closing talent gaps, and building a more resilient, future-ready workforce. “There are still going to be more jobs in the future. They’re just going to look different.”
Weather talent shortages by replacing tasks, not people
Using machine learning and economic analysis, ServiceNow and Pearson modeled labor market shifts over the next five years. Their projected transformation of a country’s workforce is driven by three key factors: overall economic growth generating labor demand, additional jobs created to support emerging tech, and the number of jobs displaced due to digital transformation. Of the 10 countries studied, the majority will face a persistent talent shortage in the coming years. Put simply, these countries will need more workers than are currently in the workforce. While AI-powered automation and augmentation can offset this, it won’t completely close the gap. “The global and working population is dropping, and we’re not going to be able to fill those jobs with humans if things continue as is,” says Howson. “And we won’t need to because agentic technology is incredible.”
workers’ roles will be impacted by agentic AI in the U.S. by 2030.
8 million
More than
Instead, Howson proposes a collaborative solution between people and AI: a human renaissance in which skills growth and learning accelerate and creativity and humanity take center stage. She cites agentic AI specifically as a major factor in the evolving relationship between workers and technology. Unlike generative AI, which is a reactive tool that uses prompts to make content, agentic AI is an autonomous system that can proactively plan, reason, and act to achieve goals with minimal human oversight.
“Agentic AI is different from anything we’ve seen before,” says Howson. While past tools required humans to be in the loop to make critical decisions, agentic AI can understand context, simplify complex workflows, and independently take action. The 2025 Workforce Skills Forecast report projects that this technology will have a massive impact and fundamentally change how we work, though the effects will vary across countries, industries, and roles. In the U.S. alone, 8 million workers will find their jobs impacted by agentic AI by 2030, meaning key tasks will be automated or augmented by AI agents.
The report also identifies the five non-tech roles that will see the greatest impact from agentic AI: payroll and timekeeping clerks, medical secretaries, data entry keyers, accounting clerks and billing specialists, and communications managers. The common denominator among these positions is that many of their tasks are highly repetitive in nature and increasingly capable of being automated. If these roles change but the workers themselves don’t adapt in tandem, there’s a good chance they will be displaced.
“The real opportunity is in augmentation: letting AI handle the repetitive, time-consuming tasks so that humans can do the creative, uniquely human ones.”
—John Rogers
Vice President of Strategic Accounts and Senior Client Partner, Pearson
“It’s not about replacing people; it’s about replacing tasks,” says John Rogers, senior client partner, Pearson. “The real opportunity is in augmentation: letting AI handle the repetitive, time-consuming tasks so that humans can do the creative, uniquely human ones.” He adds that workers who build strong cognitive and learning skills are more resilient to the risk of automation. In turn, the organizations that employ them can benefit from their competitive agility. “AI will disrupt, yes—but replace? No.”
Act today to transform the future
Both Howson and Rogers agree that investing in employees is critical to effective AI adoption and success of the business overall. “The cost of companies doing nothing is far greater than the risk that comes with reskilling,” says Howson. If your workers lack the skills to implement AI, then adoption won’t happen, which creates a reduction in productivity and reinforces what Howson refers to as a “fear state.” “The human brain doesn’t do well under fear,” she explains. “Fear of job displacement is real, and it triggers the part of our brain that controls our flight-or-fight response.” When employees work in a fear state, the company suffers a loss of productivity and a lack of trust between workers and employers grows. Ultimately, this means that the organization can’t take full advantage of the benefits of AI.
Moreover, as the competitive landscape continues to evolve, companies will need an edge to get ahead. “If you don’t [invest in your people and in agentic AI] now, someone else will,” warns Howson. “Imagine in five years’ time, if you’re the company that invested in people who have these incredible success stories of building careers, [then] you’re the company that the best talent is going to flock to. So, the cost of not doing that is decreased productivity and a loss of talent to your competitors.”
The 2025 Workforce Skills Forecast lays out three steps leaders can take to support employees while also harnessing the full potential of AI. First, deploy AI agents in the areas with the greatest potential for transformation. “Companies need to think about how they can implement AI agents at the same time as they’re thinking about how to reskill their workforces,” says Howson. “Think about what you’re trying to achieve as a business. Implement it boldly, but thoughtfully, and make sure all your teams are trained in AI governance.” Once you’ve determined where AI agents will make the most impact, focus on upskilling and reskilling workers to adapt to new or relevant roles. To avoid job loss in positions that will be the most heavily impacted by AI, identify adjacent skills among jobs so that individuals and enterprises can repurpose their expertise to fulfil other business needs. Howson and Rogers recommend leveraging AI to map out tailored pathways for employees to bolster their expertise, such as ServiceNow University, which offers guided courses and activities that individuals can complete at their own paces to transition into new positions.
Lastly, invest in AI governance, which Rogers describes as “everyone’s job.” He adds that their research identified governance as a major skills gap as well as a career opportunity. “As more workers interact with autonomous agents, they need to understand things such as data stewardship, bias detection, compliance, [and more].” Beyond hiring for risk management and ethicist roles or embedding governance into job descriptions, companies can build these pathways for workers by offering certifications and rewarding ethical behavior. “This isn’t just about compliance,” he says. “It’s about trust, accountability, and long-term value for your customers.”
If used responsibly and alongside authentic investment in people, AI won’t be a job destroyer. Rather, it can become the key to a more resilient workforce that is ripe for innovation and longevity. “The advantages of AI are intoxicating, but the reality is there is so much incredible work to do,” says Howson. “It can really unleash human potential.”
“The advantages of AI are intoxicating, but the reality is there is so much incredible work to do. It can really unleash human potential.”
—Jayney Howson
Senior Vice President of Global Workforce Skills and Talent Readiness, ServiceNow
