No. AI makes certain human tasks obsolete, not humans themselves. The qualities that define humanity—consciousness, moral agency, the capacity to care—are not functions that can be automated.
The nuance
The idea that AI will make humans obsolete confuses what humans do with what humans are. A person is not the sum of their economically productive tasks. Even if AI could do every job (it can’t), humans would still love, govern, create meaning, raise children, and build communities—none of which are “work” in the economic sense.
From a purely economic perspective, AI does make some human functions less valuable. If a machine can write a report in seconds, the human who spent hours writing reports loses that specific source of value. But the human who interprets the report, makes decisions based on it, and takes responsibility for those decisions becomes more valuable, not less.
In The Last Skill, the argument is that human obsolescence is a category error. Machines are tools. Humans are agents—beings who choose, create, govern, and bear consequences. You can’t obsolete agency. You can only fail to develop it.
Key takeaway
Humans can't be made obsolete because they aren't products. They're agents. AI makes tasks obsolete; it doesn't make meaning, choice, or accountability obsolete.
For a deeper framework on what makes humans irreplaceable in the age of AI, read The Last Skill: What AI Will Never Own by Juan C. Guerrero.
More: The skill AI will never master · Will AI replace humans? · How to be irreplaceable in the AI age