Identity Recrafting in the Age of AI

Jun 09, 2026

Technology & Change

By Deepa Premkumar

The previous post on AI in particular and technology in general, forcing humans to adopt new identities got us a few interesting conversations. One of the leaders said “Factories and the printing press were threats right from the start. They were always going to replace humans and hence it was apparent that we had to step up differently. But AI is an enabler, a technology which is helping humans do better. Why would we need new identities in such a situation?”.

The need for change is easier to see when there is a threat. We have seen this time and again in our work. Individuals and organisations that have their back against a wall rally differently. When revenues are threatened, when survival is at stake, new ways of working and new identities are easier to adopt. More often than not however, the need for change is strongest when things seem to be going well.

Take a radiologist for example. Technology currently helps assess scans far better. AI identifies anomalies more accurately. On the face of it, things are going well. Work gets done faster and more accurately. This is usually when professionals surrender control to technology and at best do more of the same. It is at this precise moment when professionals across industries should be asking three questions. These are not just questions about your work. They are questions about who you are becoming in your role. Answering them consciously is how identity recrafting happens. In the small deliberate choices you make about what to hold and what to release.

 

What am I letting go?

When technology steps up, it makes sense to release the work it does better. A radiologist who insists on not using technology is clinging to habit dressed up as dedication. There is a phrase worth holding onto here: letting go by choice is evolution. Letting go by default is erosion. Consciously naming what we are releasing puts things in perspective.

 

What am I taking on that will add value?

You cannot stop at the first question. The space that technology creates is not meant to stay empty. Nor should it be filled with more volume of the same work. For a radiologist it means getting better at talking with patients, at seeing clinical connections across cases, at bringing judgment to the situations where AI flags something but cannot interpret what it means in context. Accountants face the same question — releasing the arithmetic to focus on the insight and advice that numbers alone cannot give. Architects who let CAD handle the drafting find themselves with space to do the thinking that software cannot replicate.

 

If this technology disappeared tomorrow, would I be inconvenienced or handicapped?

There is an important difference between the two. Inconvenienced means the tool is gone but the skill remains — you can still do the work, just more slowly. Handicapped means the capability itself has gone. Do not dismiss the question. It is playing out with commercial pilots right now. Pilots are so accustomed to automation that many hardly touch the controls. They have begun to lose the core skill they trained for. The Federal Aviation Administration has asked pilots to deliberately switch off autopilot so they can practice and stay sharp. Because if they need to override the controls in an emergency, they need to know how. That capability, once lost, does not come back quickly. It must be practiced deliberately, kept alive by choice, and treated as non-negotiable.

These three questions are not a one-time exercise. The tools will keep improving. Roles and identities will keep shifting in response. The professionals who do well are not the ones waiting for a crisis to force their hand. They are the ones asking these questions now, while everything still feels fine.

Recrafting your identity is not a crisis response. It is an ongoing practice.

And it can start with three questions.

 

 

 

Further Reading

On pilots and the cost of over-relying on automation
FAA Safety Alert SAFO 17007 — Manual Flight Operations Proficiency https://www.faa.gov/sites/faa.gov/files/other_visit/aviation_industry/airline_operators/airline_safety/SAFO17007.pdf

A flight Simulator Study. Impact of automation level on airline pilots’ flying performance and visual scanning strategies. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0003687024002333

Use It Or Lose it. Without practice, pilots find that some flying skills — especially cognitive skills — grow weak. https://flightsafety.org/asw-article/use-it-or-lose-it/

 

On radiologists actively recrafting their identity in response to AI

Me, My Work and AI: How Radiologists Craft Their Work and Identity — Journal of Vocational Behavior, 2024 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0001879124000836

 

On identity shifts during professional and career transitions

Herminia Ibarra — Working Identity: Unconventional Strategies for Reinventing Your Career https://www.amazon.com/Working-Identity-Unconventional-Strategies-Reinventing/dp/1591394139

On the psychology of letting go during change

William Bridges — Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change https://www.amazon.com/Managing-Transitions-25th-anniversary-Making/dp/0738219657