That is the key to understanding how we can make the best use of this new technology.
How should the average employee relate to a labour market where AI is playing an increasingly prominent role? That was the topic when the ADD project and the union DM Digi hosted a webinar with journalist, author, and former AI fellow at the University of Southern Denmark, Ida Ebbensgaard.
Ida Ebbensgaard has just published her new book Ægte (Authentic), subtitled A Little Book on Artificial Intelligence. The central argument of the book is that we, as humans, have influence over how AI will affect us. And if we use AI in the right way, the artificial can actually enhance the real, human competencies.
Ida Ebbensgaard pointed to four AI trends we need to pay attention to:
Content is becoming fluid: AI can now generate text, sound, and images. This means we must get used to more content appearing almost real. But near-authentic content can still have value, as long as it remains transparent and verifiable.
The fear of deepfakes is overstated—but we’re overlooking a different risk: The sheer volume of deepfakes doesn’t mean there’s high demand for them. In fact, we tend to be quite critical. The real issue is that we risk not believing in any content we see. And if we become too sceptical to trust anything, that poses a greater democratic threat than deepfakes themselves.
Near-real aesthetics are gaining ground: AI-generated content that blurs the line between fantasy and reality is opening up new creative possibilities in both art and political communication. If used well, it can be a powerful and imaginative tool. We’re often preoccupied with whether something is real. But Ida Ebbensgaard stresses that not everything needs to be real to be meaningful.
The more machine, the more human: As AI takes over more standardised tasks, Ida Ebbensgaard predicts that the human will become more important. Skills such as empathy, critical thinking, self-reflection, and authenticity—genuine human traits—are increasing in value. These are qualities that cannot be automated, and this is where we should invest our energy and pride in an AI-driven world.
Ida Ebbensgaard’s message is that we, as humans, have the agency to shape AI into something that supports and empowers us. Unlike text, numbers, images, and other data, human competencies cannot be scaled or replaced to the same extent as machines. But doing so requires that we dare to engage with AI across the broadest possible spectrum.