Two Human Abilities That AI Will Never Replace, According to Google Cloud
The rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI) has sparked concerns about the potential loss of human roles across various sectors. However, Vice President of Customer Engineering for Google Cloud Asia Pacific, Moe Abdula, has asserted that two fundamental human abilities will never be replaced by AI technology, regardless of how advanced it becomes.
Speaking at a Google Cloud media briefing in Jakarta on Wednesday (15/7/2026), Abdula identified empathy and interpersonal connection as the first absolute human advantage. “I think there are human skills that will endure, and they have survived all previous technological shifts. Our ability to have empathy and connection is a very human thing,” he said.
He explained that understanding emotions, sensing the condition of others, and providing appropriate social responses are aspects far too complex for technology. As an example, Abdula highlighted the profession of policing. In carrying out their duties, police officers often need to de-escalate tension and understand the psychological state of the public to help them make the right decisions. “The skill of understanding how to de-escalate, understanding the condition, and helping someone understand what is right or wrong requires human reasoning and feeling,” he added.
Beyond empathy, the second irreplaceable capability is the human capacity to continuously adapt and discover new ways of working. Abdula noted that AI fundamentally operates reactively based on data and instructions provided by humans. In contrast, humans possess the instinct to create new solutions amidst changing times. He cited the evolution of human transport, from using animals to creating modern vehicles, as well as the shifting role of calculators in education. “Humans do not stop at using new technology, but instead leverage it to solve more complex problems,” he explained.
In the current AI era, the ability to utilise technology to create something new has become a crucial skill. Abdula remains optimistic that professions relying on deep reasoning and human emotion will stay relevant and be difficult to automate.