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Skills & the Future of Work19 June 2026By Janine van Throo

The Most Dangerous Response Is Waiting

The digital skills gap will not arrive as a sudden crisis. It shows up gradually, in moments small enough to ignore, until the gap is already hard to close.

The Most Dangerous Response Is Waiting

A tool is introduced, but few know how to use it properly. A role evolves, but training never catches up. A competitor becomes faster through automation. A colleague completes the same task in half the time.

Individually, these moments seem small. Together, they reshape careers and industries.

Institutions are too slow to fully solve this problem. Curriculum updates, policy changes, and training programs take years. Technology changes faster.

That means professionals cannot rely only on formal education or employers to stay relevant. The responsibility becomes personal.

The goal is not to master every new tool. It is to understand where your work is changing, build strong digital foundations, and apply the right tools to real problems.

A better question to ask is this: which parts of my work are already becoming digital or AI-assisted, and am I prepared to adapt?

Because by the time the need feels urgent, the gap is already harder to close.

JT
Janine van Throo
Faculty · International AI Academy
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