Michael Earls urges a return to human skills in the AI era

Technology leader and author Michael Earls is framing AI’s rise as a chance to protect the skills that make people effective leaders and coworkers. His new movement centers on empathy, judgment, presence and human connection as machine capabilities expand.

Why it matters: - Michael Earls argues that AI should free people to strengthen the human skills technology cannot replace. - The message lands as AI takes on more writing, coding, summarizing and decision support across work. - Earls says the real risk is not machine capability. It is people losing practice in empathy, judgment and presence.

What happened: - Earls is building a movement called “How to Be Human Again in a Digital World.” - The effort comes after more than two decades of work across infrastructure, cloud, data, enterprise transformation and AI. - The movement centers on skills Earls says matter more as technology gets more capable: empathy, emotional intelligence, trust, judgment, intuition, voice, presence and genuine human connection. - Earls frames the core question as: how do people become human again in a digital world?

The details: - AI can process more information than most people can consume, recognize patterns, summarize conversations, generate ideas and increasingly take action. - Earls argues that those capabilities should give people more time for conversation, listening and in-person connection. - He says people should let machines handle repetitive work, meeting summaries and data-heavy tasks. - Earls points to leadership as an area where data is useful but not sufficient. - He says leaders sometimes sense problems before a dashboard shows them. - He says trust built over years can matter more than another data point. - He says leadership can require listening, making a judgment and using one’s own voice. - The movement links to three books Earls has written: “Finding Direction in the Age of AI,” “Wired for Purpose” and “The Digital Compass.” - Earls describes “Finding Direction in the Age of AI” as the map, focused on leadership and clarity. - He describes “Wired for Purpose” as the practice, focused on reflection, intentionality and staying grounded. - He describes “The Digital Compass” as the compass, built around the idea that speed without direction adds noise. - Earls says the three books point back to one question: as machines become better at being machines, how do people become better at being human?

Between the lines: - Earls is not making an anti-AI argument. He is making a human-capital argument. - The underlying thesis is that automation can create room for deeper human judgment, not just higher output. - The framing also positions leadership as a distinctly human discipline even in highly data-driven workplaces.

What's next: - Earls is continuing to build the movement around the idea of reclaiming human skills in a digital world. - His broader message is that AI should be used intentionally so technology gives people some of their humanity back. - He says the long-term opportunity is not to compete with machines at being machines.