Experienced Workers' AI Edge: Judgment Over Youth

For many seasoned professionals, the rise of artificial intelligence can feel like an existential threat, particularly when younger colleagues effortlessly navigate tools like ChatGPT. A pervasive narrative suggests AI inherently favors youth, leading to fears of job displacement and a perception that older workers are more resistant to adopting new technologies. However, this assumption—that a younger age automatically confers an advantage in the AI era—may be fundamentally flawed. While ageism in hiring remains a valid concern, decades of accumulated work experience, deep industry knowledge, and refined judgment could be precisely what’s needed to harness AI’s power effectively, while also avoiding its pitfalls.

The current research landscape on who benefits most from AI in the workplace is surprisingly ambiguous, largely because systematic studies on AI’s real-world impact are still in their nascent stages. Some initial findings indicate that lower-skilled workers might see greater gains on simpler, straightforward tasks. Yet, this picture becomes considerably less clear when applied to complex work environments that demand nuanced judgment and extensive experience. Through the “Skills Horizon” research project, which involves conversations with senior leaders across various global industries, a more intricate story is emerging.

Many experienced professionals indeed find AI deeply unsettling. As one US-based CEO of a large multinational corporation remarked, “AI can be a form of existential challenge, not only to what you’re doing, but how you view yourself.” However, these same leaders are observing a crucial and often unexpected distinction: experienced workers frequently demonstrate a superior ability to assess the quality of AI-generated outputs. This skill is rapidly becoming paramount, given AI’s occasional tendency to “hallucinate”—producing incorrect or nonsensical information—or simply get things wrong. The CEO of a South American creative agency articulated this starkly, noting that senior colleagues adeptly use multiple AI tools, iterating and re-prompting until they achieve the right solution. In contrast, junior staff often accept the first answer, copy-pasting it without critical evaluation, potentially hindering their development of essential discernment.

This brings us to a significant advantage held by experienced workers when it comes to “prompting” AI—the art of giving precise instructions. Professionals with extensive backgrounds instinctively understand context and how to articulate it clearly. Consider the difference between a junior advertising creative asking an AI to “Write copy for a sustainability campaign” versus a seasoned account director specifying, “Write conversational social media copy for a sustainable fashion brand targeting eco-conscious millennials, emphasizing our client’s zero-waste manufacturing process and keeping the tone authentic but not preachy.” This skill mirrors the real-world practice of briefing junior colleagues or freelancers, providing detailed instructions that account for audience, objectives, and constraints—a competency honed over years of managing teams and projects.

Ironically, younger workers, despite their inherent comfort with technology, may face a disadvantage here. There’s a critical difference between frequent technology use and effective technology use. Many young people are becoming overly accustomed to AI assistance; a recent survey found that 72% of US teens had used an AI companion app, and some are turning to chatbots for everyday decisions. Without the professional experience to discern when an AI-generated response doesn’t quite fit, younger workers risk accepting outputs that merely “feel right” — a superficial evaluation — rather than developing the analytical skills necessary to truly assess AI’s usefulness.

So, what steps can experienced professionals take? First and foremost, everyone benefits from deepening their understanding of AI. Misconceptions about how AI functions are not age-dependent. Begin by familiarizing yourself with AI’s fundamentals: what it is, its origins, how it learns, and its capabilities. Experiment with prominent AI platforms such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Anthropic’s Claude, or Google’s Gemini to get a hands-on feel.

If you are an experienced worker who feels threatened by AI, lean into your existing strengths. Your decades of expertise in delegation, context-setting, and critical evaluation are precisely what AI tools require. Start small: pick a regular work task and experiment with AI assistance, using your judgment to evaluate and refine its outputs. Practice prompting as if you were briefing a junior colleague: be specific about context, constraints, and desired outcomes, and iterate until you achieve the desired result. Most importantly, do not feel threatened. In a workplace increasingly saturated with AI-generated content, your unparalleled ability to spot what doesn’t quite fit, and to know precisely what questions to ask, has never been more valuable.