What one thing can your company do right now to harness the AI revolution? 

Embrace. Older. Workers. 

The good news is that many firms are already doing so. The bad news is that most are not. A recent report from Generation found that US and European employers are three times more likely to consider a candidate under 35 than one over 60 when hiring for roles that regularly use AI. Job-seekers in their 40s and 50s fared better but are still treated as second-class citizens. 

Of course, ageism marred the workplace before AI. Older staff have long been passed over for promotion, discarded first in hard times or fobbed off with unfulfilling work. The assumption being that aging makes you less creative, less dynamic, less able to adopt new technology. Or as Mark Zuckerberg put it, “young people are just smarter.” 

With the rise of AI, some are embracing the Zuckerberg Doctrine even more fervently. One young executive at a fintech company in London told me recently. “Why would you even hire someone over 50 in this climate. Old people can’t handle new tech, so they’ll just get crushed by AI.” 

But is that even true? Is Zuckerberg right? Are older people a liability in a tech-driven workplace? Of course not. The data tells a very different story. In study after study, hiring managers express a preference for recruiting staff under the age of 35. But when you ask those same managers to rate job performance, 89% say older workers perform as well if not better than their younger peers 

Why? Because most common stereotypes about aging are weapons-grade poppycock. Older workers boast a range of traits and talents that can supercharge any company: 

✅ Experience 

✅ Social acumen 

✅ Patience 

✅ Problem-solving smarts 

✅ Willingness to speak their mind 

✅ Desire to give back and be of service 

And guess what? That same list makes older employees an ace in the hole when steering a course through the AI revolution. We need to build AI tools that are accurate, secure, safe and ethical. Older staff can help deliver that by tapping their experience of: 

✅ Making judgment calls 

✅ Recognising patterns 

✅ Navigating crises and complex challenges 

✅ Spotting small details that make a big difference 

By channeling their experience, older workers can also make better use of the low-hanging fruit that AI is so good at harvesting. 

Here is one example: A friend of mine works at a think tank in Washington DC. She is 54 years old. She used to spend hours and hours reading reports, making notes, cross-referencing sources, summarising findings, sifting through data. Now AI does much of that for her in a few minutes, freeing up time for advanced thinking or debating with colleagues or sharing her insights with the public.  “When I was younger I didn’t have the same knowledge base or understanding of how things work, so I probably needed to do all that reading,” my friend tells me. “But now, with all that experience under my belt, a lot of the reading is just busywork. It’s way more efficient to let AI do that first lift and then allow me to analyse, reflect and connect the dots.”

Surveys show that fifteen percent of workers aged over 45 are now using AI tools at work. That’s a small minority but it’s proof that you can master new tech after the first flush of youth. Truth bomb: the adage that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks is not even true of dogs! And it’s certainly not true of humans: we can go on learning new stuff right to the very end. 

What’s more, most of that fifteen percent of early adopters are not just weekend dabblers. Like my friend in the think tank, they are self-taught ‘power users’, which means they turn to AI tools several times a week, even daily, using them to work better and faster, and to make more time for higher-level tasks. 

All of which is gold dust to any company. 

So, what can be done to harness the powerful synergy between human experience and artificial intelligence? Here are some tips: 

✅ Erase ageism from recruitment. Seek out and hire the best people for the job, regardless of age 

✅ Offer AI training to all employees 

✅ Build AI skills into every training program, making sure to update as the tech advances 

✅ Identify those older power users within your own ranks and hold them up as role models. Turn them into AI mentors for colleagues of all ages. Put them in key posts on projects for adopting AI 

✅ Make a habit of brainstorming scenarios where experience can enrich your use of AI 

Microsoft is a good example. It offers all its employees training in the latest tech. It seeks out “AI managers” who blend technical expertise with leadership experience. It leans on professionals with pedigree in risk management and compliance to help fine-tune AI tools for use in the real world. 

But it’s not just companies that need to move the dial. Older people themselves must also step up to the plate. That means giving AI a chance and then constantly updating your tech skills. Experience alone will never keep you employable.

Recently I started playing around with a new AI app created by some very clever people in Estonia. It’s called Wois and it works like this:

AI trawls through all my writing, radio and TV shows, keynotes and interviews to create a personal library. You can ask my library a question and get an instant answer from ‘me’. It’s a bit like chatting with my digital doppelgänger. Sounds a little spooky, but it’s actually kinda cool.

I’ve road tested it myself and I gotta say the AI comes up with some pretty solid answers. And it does sound like me. If the AI answers don’t cut it, you can also send the real me a direct question and get a personalised video answer. 

I’ve road tested it myself and I gotta say the AI comes up with some pretty solid answers. And it does sound like me. If the AI answers don’t cut it, you can also send the real me a direct question and get a personalised video answer. 

No one knows where the AI revolution is going to take us. It could usher in a new utopian era. It might unleash a dystopian nightmare. Or (and this seems the most likely outcome) it may fall somewhere in between. 

What we do know is that when it comes to navigating the AI revolution, older workers can be our secret weapon.