The human edge: creativity and relationships
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The human edge: creativity and relationships
This week, a16z co-founder Ben Horowitz named the two skills he believes will matter more than ever in an AI world: creativity and relationships. "Do you have original ideas?" he asked. "Can you establish and maintain very high quality, high fidelity relationships with people off the rip?" His reasoning is simple. The "grind-them-out tasks" are what AI is already really good at. What's hard to get from AI is original thinking and the trust between people.
The research points the same way. In the World Economic Forum's Future of Jobs Report 2025, based on a survey of more than 1,000 employers, creative thinking ranks among the fastest-rising skills for the rest of the decade, right behind the three technology skills. Among the core skills employers rely on today, leadership and social influence ranks third, creative thinking fourth, and empathy and active listening makes the top ten. The same day as Ben's clip, Box CEO Aaron Levie told a16z that AI's biggest gains go to people with real expertise, the ones who know what's true and what won't work.
This fits our Predictions. The winners won't be the people who simply "know AI." They'll be the people who use it to ship finished work, then spend the time it frees on what only they can do: original ideas, sound judgment and relationships kept with care. a16z says it looks for exactly this in the founders it backs, which makes it a lens for growing companies, not just for careers.
What it means for you: this week, hand one routine task to AI and give the hour back to people. Call a customer, a colleague or a mentor you haven't spoken with in a while, and write down one idea that's yours alone. The tools will keep getting better. The craft and the people stay ours.
Sources: via a16z (Ben Horowitz, Oct 18, 2026) · World Economic Forum, Future of Jobs Report 2025