I Ranked the Best High Income Skills to Learn in the AI Era
In this episode of the Growth Stacking Show, Dan Martell presents a framework for evaluating high-income skills based on three criteria: entry barriers, AI defensibility, and profitability. He ranks over 20 professional skills from S-tier to F-tier, assessing which careers will remain viable as AI automation advances. Martell examines skills ranging from public speaking and sales to traditional SEO and day trading, explaining which command premium earnings and resist automation, and which are rapidly becoming obsolete.
Beyond ranking skills, Martell offers strategic guidance for navigating career decisions in the AI era. He discusses how AI changes rather than eliminates work opportunities, emphasizing the importance of adapting by using AI as a learning accelerator. The episode concludes with Martell's philosophy of self-disruption—continuously monitoring market relevance and transitioning to new capabilities before obsolescence occurs—positioning oneself to stay ahead of automation trends.
This is a preview of the Shortform summary of the Jul 6, 2026 episode of the Growth Stacking Show with Dan Martell
Sign up for Shortform to access the whole episode summary along with additional materials like counterarguments and context.
1-Page Summary
Skills Assessment Framework: Entry Barriers, AI Defense, Profitability
This framework evaluates skills based on their long-term value and earning potential, focusing on three essential criteria: entry barrier, AI defensibility, and profitability. Each skill is ranked from S-Tier (most valuable) to F-Tier (least valuable) for clear career decision-making.
Evaluating Skill's Long-Term Value & Earning Potential
Skills with low barriers like social media management can be learned in a weekend, while high-barrier skills like public speaking, trades, and sales require extensive practice, certification, or psychological resilience. Video editing and project management fall in the middle—editing demands design sense, while project management is increasingly aided by AI.
AI replacement likelihood is critical for long-term viability. Social media management and email management are highly susceptible to AI disruption, as automated tools already handle most tasks. Public speaking remains exceptionally defensible, as machines cannot replicate the emotion and human connection required. Trades are defensible for now, though gradual automation looms. Sales maintains some defensibility through human nuance in closing deals, but AI is encroaching. Project management faces high vulnerability, with AI automating substantial aspects.
Premium skills command high earnings. Public speaking is among the most profitable, with top earners commanding up to a million dollars per speech. Sales is likewise lucrative because selling drives all business. Trades offer solid but capped earnings due to geographic constraints. Social media management, email, and video editing are becoming commoditized as AI handles more tasks, resulting in lower or uncertain income.
Three Criteria For Creating a Comprehensive S-Tier To F-Tier Ranking System
Skills scoring highly in all three criteria—difficult to master, resistant to AI automation, and highly profitable—earn S- or A-tier designations. Public speaking is A-tier: hard to learn, can't be replicated by AI, and pays exceptionally well. Its substantial learning curve prevents it from reaching S-tier.
B- and C-tier skills stand out in one or two criteria but fall short in the third. Social media management is easy to learn but vulnerable to AI with dropping profitability, ranking around B-tier. Trades are hard to learn and defensible but have capped profitability, placing them in C-tier. Sales is lucrative but increasingly less defensible as AI progresses.
Skills that are easily replaced by AI and no longer command premium pricing fall into D- or F-tier. Email management is now handled mostly by AI tools, becoming an administrative afterthought rated D-tier. Video editing is losing defensibility and profitability as platforms adopt AI-driven editing. Such skills are poor investments for career growth and stability.
Analysis of 20+ Skills and Their Viability in the AI Era
This analysis evaluates a wide range of professional and technical skills for their resilience, profitability, and defensibility in the artificial intelligence era.
High-Value Skills Resilient to AI Disruption
Public speaking is rated A-tier due to its high barrier to entry, strong defensibility from AI, and significant earning potential. Elite speakers earn up to a million dollars for a single talk, and humans need to feel the human connection that AI cannot replicate.
Sales is viewed as the ultimate meta skill, applicable across business contexts. While AI handles outbound calls and basic objections, the final close requires human nuance and relationship-building. Young sellers can out-earn their parents, making sales A-tier, though it's trending toward disruption as AI advances.
Cybersecurity earns B-tier ranking for its challenging learning curve and constant adaptation to complex technological threats. As cyberattacks become more sophisticated through AI, demand for skilled defenders will grow, and salaries remain strong.
Software development is now highly approachable as AI streamlines coding. However, defensibility is fading as AI increasingly generates code. Pay remains attractive but declining, securing a B-tier rank behind cybersecurity.
AI automation still commands healthy fees as companies seek expert guidance, but defensibility is rapidly weakening as AI agents automate the automations and employees learn to build their own systems. The field sits at B-tier with uncertain long-term prospects.
Mid-tier Skills: B and C Ratings With Variable Viability
Lead generation is challenging, requiring genuine understanding of market psychology. While AI can assist, practitioners who master adaptation will stay relevant, making it mid-B to low-A tier.
Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) is the evolution of traditional SEO for the AI age, aiming to place products as direct answers in AI chats. It's profitable for now but has uncertain defensibility as AI models improve.
Trades such as plumbing and electrical work remain defensible against automation, as robots aren't yet repairing pipes or wiring homes. These roles are in demand but scalability is limited because time is directly exchanged for money, placing trades at C-tier.
Project management is increasingly commoditized as AI systems take over scope, budget, and timeline management. The barrier to entry is low, defensibility is weak, and profitability is declining, making it D-tier.
Prompt engineering is heading for obsolescence as AI systems now generate and optimize their own prompts. It's easy to learn, justifying a C-tier rating but with poor long-term prospects.
Skills Rated C-Tier Through F-Tier Facing Disruption
Media buying is rapidly automated by AI platforms that manage creative content, ad spend, and optimization. Major layoffs reflect shrinking demand, putting media buying at low C-tier.
Social media management still commands demand for regular posts and engagement, but AI can automate much of the work. Budgets are shifting to AI tools, leading to declining profitability at the low end of B-tier.
Graphic design is severely disrupted by AI tools that instantly create websites and campaigns. While taste matters, most jobs are moving to automated platforms, relegating graphic design to D-tier.
Email marketing was once lucrative, but now most campaigns are optimized by AI using historical data. The job is easy to learn, almost administrative, and pays far less, ranking it D-tier.
Copywriting is in decline as businesses accept "good enough" AI-generated content. Only rare, elite copywriters delivering high-conversion results can still earn top rates, placing the profession in the upper range of D-tier.
Traditional SEO is becoming obsolete as AI chatbots and answer engines circumvent the need for ranked search results. Defensibility is minimal and the job increasingly unprofitable, sinking SEO to F-tier.
Day trading remains popular but is extremely difficult to profit from consistently and highly vulnerable to AI-powered trading bots. Few succeed and most lose money, leaving day trading at F-tier.
AI's Impact on Careers and Skills Vulnerable to Automation
The emergence of artificial intelligence is rapidly shifting the landscape of careers, automating many tasks previously handled by humans.
Skills Facing Existential Threats From Advancing AI
Data analysis, once a high-value consulting role, now faces a significant existential threat from AI. Tools can efficiently handle organizing, cleaning, and deciphering data, making the barrier to entry extremely low. The long-term defensibility of routine data analysis as a career skill is minimal, with value and compensation dropping.
Roles demanding nuanced judgment and emotional intelligence—such as sales and public speaking—remain less vulnerable, as AI cannot truly replicate the authenticity and trust that humans foster in high-stakes, relationship-driven environments.
Creative professionals face a complicated reality. While AI generates outputs quickly and at scale, the ability to use these tools strategically—blending human creativity with AI's speed—ensures that those possessing true creative mastery remain valuable.
How AI Changes Work Rather Than Eliminating Opportunities
Practitioners who focus on high-value functions such as strategy, creative thought, and human judgment will sustain or grow their income, with AI responsible for routine tasks. Success depends on embracing AI as a tool and using it to magnify existing skills, rather than attempting to compete with automation. Workers who fail to adapt risk displacement.
Media professionals who move beyond tactical content execution into strategic roles are positioned to thrive, while those relying on routine production face obsolescence. Copywriters who pair AI with psychological insight will continue to generate value, while those with only basic skills are easily replaced.
Selecting and Learning High-Value, Future-Proof Skills In the AI Age
Dan Martell outlines an approach for selecting and mastering skills that are resilient and highly valuable in the rapidly advancing world shaped by AI.
Prioritizing Skills Demonstrating Resilience Across All Evaluation Criteria
Success depends on learning skills that are defensible, profitable, and open doors across industries. Sales and public speaking are foundational meta-skills prized in every sector. Cybersecurity and software development stand out for their high barriers to entry and strong profit potential. Martell emphasizes that personal aptitude and interest are more important than choosing the theoretically perfect skill—what's critical is choosing something enjoyable, which increases the likelihood of deep mastery.
AI As a Learning Accelerator for High-Value Capabilities
Martell advocates leveraging AI as a force multiplier for faster skill acquisition. He urges learners to proactively use AI for tailored instruction and guidance, asking AI directly for incremental learning steps and practice exercises. Martell encourages experimenting with AI to assess aptitude for various high-value skills before fully committing.
Personal Strategy For Self-Disruption Before AI Disrupts
Martell's core philosophy is to always disrupt himself before being disrupted by AI. This means continually monitoring which skills are losing market relevance and transitioning to new abilities before obsolescence occurs. He suggests publicly sharing documented learning journeys, which builds personal brand and authority. Ultimately, the goal is to leverage AI as an accelerator and enabler, ensuring one is always ahead of industry shifts and automation trends.
1-Page Summary
Additional Materials
Clarifications
- An entry barrier refers to the difficulty and resources required to acquire a skill, including time, education, certifications, and practice. High entry barriers mean mastering the skill takes significant effort and commitment, often limiting competition. Low entry barriers allow quick learning with minimal investment, making the skill more accessible but also more competitive. This concept helps assess how challenging it is to start and excel in a particular skill area.
- AI defensibility refers to how resistant a skill or job is to being replaced or automated by artificial intelligence. It is determined by evaluating whether the skill requires uniquely human traits like emotional intelligence, creativity, or complex judgment that AI cannot replicate. The more a skill depends on these human elements, the higher its AI defensibility. Conversely, routine, repetitive, or easily codifiable tasks have low AI defensibility.
- Profitability in skills assessment refers to the potential income or financial return a skill can generate over time. It indicates how much demand and monetary value the skill holds in the job market. High profitability means the skill can lead to well-paying jobs or business opportunities. This helps individuals prioritize skills that offer better economic rewards.
- The tier ranking system categorizes skills by combining three factors: difficulty to master, resistance to AI automation, and profitability. S-Tier skills excel in all three, offering the highest career value and security. Lower tiers indicate weaknesses in one or more criteria, signaling less long-term viability. This system helps prioritize skills that provide sustainable advantage in an AI-driven job market.
- A "meta skill" is a higher-order ability that enhances or supports the development of other skills. Sales is considered a meta skill because it involves persuasion, communication, and relationship-building, which are essential across many professions. Mastering sales improves effectiveness in various roles beyond just selling products. It enables adaptability and success in diverse business contexts.
- Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) focuses on optimizing content to be directly featured as answers in AI-driven chatbots and voice assistants, rather than just ranking in traditional search engine results. Unlike traditional SEO, which targets keyword rankings on search engine results pages, AEO aims to provide concise, accurate responses that AI systems can pull and present immediately. This requires structuring information to match natural language queries and AI interpretation. AEO adapts to the shift from link-based search to conversational AI interactions.
- Prompt engineering involves designing and refining the input given to AI models to produce desired outputs. It requires understanding how AI interprets language and crafting queries that guide the AI effectively. As AI systems improve, they increasingly generate and optimize their own prompts, reducing the need for human intervention. This automation diminishes the unique value of prompt engineering, leading to its obsolescence.
- AI automates media buying by analyzing data to optimize ad spend and target audiences more efficiently than humans. In project management, AI tools handle scheduling, resource allocation, and risk prediction, reducing manual oversight. For copywriting, AI generates drafts and content variations quickly, lowering the need for routine writing tasks. This shifts human roles toward strategic oversight and creative refinement rather than execution.
- Self-disruption means proactively changing your skills or career before external forces, like AI, make them obsolete. Practically, it involves regularly assessing market trends and learning new, future-proof skills early. It also includes publicly sharing your learning process to build credibility and adapt faster. This approach helps maintain relevance and control over your professional growth.
- AI can personalize learning by analyzing your strengths and weaknesses to create customized lessons. It can generate practice exercises tailored to your current skill level and provide instant feedback. AI tutors simulate one-on-one coaching, adapting explanations based on your responses. This targeted approach speeds up mastery by focusing on areas needing improvement.
- Tactical content execution involves creating and publishing specific pieces of content, like posts or videos, focusing on immediate tasks. Strategic roles focus on planning, setting goals, and aligning content with broader business objectives and audience needs. Strategists analyze data and trends to guide long-term content direction and resource allocation. This higher-level thinking drives overall success beyond day-to-day content production.
- Traditional SEO relies on optimizing websites to rank highly in search engine results pages (SERPs) for specific keywords. AI chatbots and answer engines provide direct, conversational responses to user queries, bypassing the need to click through multiple links. This reduces web traffic to traditional sites and diminishes the value of ranking high in search results. Consequently, businesses shift focus from SEO to optimizing content for AI-driven answer platforms.
- Defensibility refers to how well a skill can resist being replaced or automated by AI and technology. It depends on factors like the need for human judgment, creativity, emotional intelligence, or complex problem-solving. Skills with high defensibility require uniquely human traits that AI cannot easily replicate. This makes such skills more secure and valuable in the long term.
- Scalability refers to the ability to increase output or earnings without a proportional increase in effort or resources. In trades, work is often tied to physical presence and time, so income grows only by working more hours or taking more jobs. Unlike digital or automated skills, trades cannot easily multiply output through technology or delegation. This limits earnings because there is a natural cap on how much one person can work.
- Psychological insight in copywriting and sales involves understanding human emotions, motivations, and decision-making processes. It helps craft messages that resonate deeply, triggering desired responses like trust or urgency. This skill enables persuading customers beyond facts, appealing to subconscious needs and desires. Mastery of psychological triggers differentiates effective communicators from generic content creators.
- AI "automates automations" by using advanced algorithms to design, implement, and optimize workflows without human intervention. It can create new automation sequences by analyzing patterns and outcomes from existing processes. This reduces the need for human consultants to manually build or adjust automation systems. Essentially, AI manages and improves automation itself, making the consulting role less necessary.
- Human nuance refers to subtle emotional cues, empathy, and spontaneous judgment that people use to connect and persuade others. In sales and public speaking, this includes reading body language, adjusting tone, and responding authentically to audience reactions. AI lacks genuine emotions and deep contextual understanding, limiting its ability to replicate these complex interpersonal dynamics. These human elements build trust and rapport, which are critical for effective communication and influence.
- "AI agents automate the automations" means that AI systems are now capable of creating, managing, and improving other automated processes without human intervention. Instead of humans setting up automation rules manually, AI agents design and optimize these workflows themselves. This leads to faster, more complex, and adaptive automation across tasks. It represents a higher level of AI-driven efficiency beyond simple task automation.
- Routine tasks are repetitive, standardized activities that follow clear rules and require minimal creativity or judgment. High-value functions involve complex decision-making, strategic thinking, and emotional intelligence that drive business growth and innovation. AI and automation excel at handling routine tasks but struggle with nuanced human interactions and creative problem-solving. Therefore, high-value functions remain critical for long-term career resilience.
- Publicly sharing learning journeys showcases your growth and expertise, building credibility with your audience. It creates a narrative that attracts followers, potential employers, or clients interested in your progress. This transparency fosters trust and positions you as a thought leader in your field. Consistent sharing also encourages accountability and motivates continued skill development.
Counterarguments
- The framework may overstate the speed and extent of AI disruption in certain fields, as adoption rates and effectiveness of AI vary widely across industries and regions.
- High-barrier skills like public speaking and sales can still be subject to market saturation, changing consumer preferences, or economic downturns, which may impact profitability regardless of AI defensibility.
- The assessment may undervalue the importance of soft skills, adaptability, and interdisciplinary knowledge, which can enhance employability even in roles vulnerable to automation.
- Some low-barrier skills, such as social media management, can still offer significant value and profitability for niche markets, small businesses, or personal brands, especially when combined with unique creativity or strategic insight.
- The framework assumes that AI will always be a substitute rather than a complement, whereas in many cases, AI augments human work, creating new roles and opportunities rather than simply replacing existing ones.
- Trades may have more scalability and earning potential than suggested, especially for those who start their own businesses or specialize in high-demand areas.
- The focus on profitability and defensibility may overlook the societal value and personal fulfillment derived from certain professions, which can be important factors in career choice.
- The ranking system may not account for regional differences in demand, regulation, or cultural attitudes toward certain skills and professions.
- The idea that only "elite" practitioners in creative fields will remain valuable may discount the ongoing demand for mid-level or specialized creative work that AI cannot fully replicate.
- The emphasis on self-disruption and constant skill transition may not be feasible or desirable for everyone, particularly those with limited resources or differing life circumstances.
Get access to the context and additional materials
Skills Assessment Framework: Entry Barriers, Ai Defense, Profitability
This framework evaluates skills based on their long-term value and earning potential, focusing on three essential criteria: entry barrier, AI defensibility, and profitability. Each skill is ranked from S-Tier (most valuable) to F-Tier (least valuable) for clear career decision-making.
Evaluating Skill's Long-Term Value & Earning Potential
Skill Mastery Barriers: Low for Quick Learning, High for Sustained Effort
Skills with low barriers of entry, such as social media management, are easy to learn, often requiring only a short time or guidance from online content. For instance, one can pick up social media management in a weekend. Conversely, skills like public speaking and trades (plumbers, electricians) involve high entry barriers. Public speaking is hard to master and demands significant practice; trades not only require extensive learning but also certification and hands-on experience. Sales, while technically easy to learn, is psychologically demanding—the best salespeople overcome significant rejection with resilience, making mastery genuinely challenging. Video editing and project management fall somewhere in the middle: video editing requires a distinct sense of design and taste, making it hard to excel at, while project management is valuable but relatively easier to learn, though increasingly aided by AI.
Defensibility Against ai: Assessing Skill Replacement Likelihood
The likelihood of AI replacing a skill is a critical measure of long-term viability. Social media management is highly susceptible to AI disruption—automated tools can already write posts, captions, and manage content calendars, with future models promising autonomous performance. Email management is similarly at risk, as most emails are written or assisted by AI, reducing defensibility. Video editing is increasingly handled by AI, making it less defensible over time. Public speaking, however, is exceptionally defensible against AI: machines simply cannot replicate the emotion, nuance, and human connection necessary for powerful presentations. Trades like plumbing and electrical work are defensible for now; AI and robots are not close to physically replacing humans in these roles, though gradual automation is possible. In sales, AI is encroaching on outbound calls and objection handling, and while AI assists the sales process, closing deals still requires irreplaceable human nuance—though this defensibility is trending downward. Project management is predicted to be highly vulnerable to AI in the near future, with many tools and agents already automating substantial aspects of the work.
Profitability Dictates Premium Pricing For Skills; High Profit Signals Demand, Low Profit Signals Ai Commoditization
Premium skills command high earnings. Public speaking is among the most profitable, with top earners commanding up to a million dollars per speech. Sales is likewise lucrative—talented closers can earn exceptional incomes, even as young adults, because selling drives all business. Trades offer solid earnings because of persistent demand, but remain capped since individuals often sell their time directly and face geographical constraints. Social media management and email, meanwhile, are commoditized; as AI handles more of these tasks, businesses pay less. Video editing, too, is shifting toward performance-based compensation, often resulting in lower or uncertain income. Project management has modest profitability, as businesses spend more on change implementation through AI than traditional project oversight.
Three Criteria For Creating a Comprehensive S-Tier To F-Tier Ranking System
A-Tier or S-Tier Skills Have High Entry Barriers, Strong Defensibility, and Excellent Profitability, Making Them Highly Valuable Despite Difficulty
Skills that score highly in all three criteria—difficult to master, resistant to AI automation, and highly profitable—earn S- or A-tier designations. Public speaking, for example, is A-tier: it’s hard to learn, can’t be replicated by AI, and pays exceptionally well. Its only limitation is the s ...
Here’s what you’ll find in our full summary
Skills Assessment Framework: Entry Barriers, Ai Defense, Profitability
Additional Materials
Clarifications
- An entry barrier in skill acquisition refers to the difficulty and resources required to start learning a skill. It includes factors like prior knowledge, time investment, cost, and access to training. High entry barriers mean more effort and commitment are needed before becoming competent. Low entry barriers allow quicker, easier initial learning with less investment.
- AI defensibility refers to how resistant a skill is to being automated or replaced by artificial intelligence. AI can replicate routine, repetitive, or data-driven tasks by analyzing patterns and generating outputs without human input. Skills involving creativity, emotional intelligence, and complex physical actions are harder for AI to fully replace. AI often assists by speeding up work or improving accuracy but may reduce the need for human involvement over time.
- Profitability refers to the overall ability of a skill to generate income or profit over time. Premium pricing means charging higher rates for a skill due to its perceived value or scarcity. A skill can be profitable without premium pricing if it is widely used but generates steady income. Conversely, premium pricing often signals high demand and exclusivity, boosting profitability.
- Sales is "technically easy" because the basic skills, like product knowledge and communication, can be quickly learned. It is "psychologically demanding" because salespeople face frequent rejection and must maintain confidence and motivation. Success requires resilience to handle emotional stress and persistence despite setbacks. This mental toughness is harder to develop than the technical skills.
- Performance-based compensation means video editors are paid based on the success or results of their work, such as views, engagement, or sales generated. Instead of a fixed salary or hourly rate, earnings fluctuate with the video's performance. This model shifts financial risk to the editor, rewarding only effective content. It contrasts with traditional payment methods that guarantee income regardless of outcome.
- AI tools automate social media management by generating content ideas, writing posts, scheduling them, and analyzing engagement data to optimize performance. For email management, AI can draft responses, sort and prioritize messages, and automate follow-ups based on context and user behavior. These tools use natural language processing to understand and create human-like text, reducing manual effort. Automation also includes monitoring trends and audience interactions to adjust strategies in real time.
- The "S-Tier," "A-Tier," "B-Tier," etc., rankings are borrowed from gaming and performance rating systems to categorize skills by overall value. S-Tier represents the highest quality or most desirable skills, while lower tiers indicate progressively less valuable or less secure skills. These tiers help simplify complex evaluations into clear, actionable categories for career planning. They combine multiple factors—difficulty, AI resistance, and profitability—into a single, easy-to-understand ranking.
- Public speaking requires real-time emotional intelligence and adaptability to audience reactions, which AI cannot authentically replicate. It involves nuanced human expressions, tone variations, and spontaneous interactions that create genuine connection. AI lacks the lived experience and empathy needed to engage audiences deeply. These human elements make public speaking resistant to automation.
- Certification ensures tradespeople meet legal and safety standards required to work professionally. Hands-on experience develops practical skills and problem-solving abilities that cannot be learned from theory alone. Together, they validate competence and build trust with clients and employers. These requirements create significant time and effort barriers before entering the trade.
- AI impacts project management by automating routine tasks like scheduling, resource allocation, and progress tracking. It uses data analysis to predict risks and optimize workflows. Communication tools powered by AI can generate status reports and reminders. This reduces manual oversight but cannot fully replace strategic decision-making and human leadership.
- Commoditization of skills means that a skill becomes widely available and standardized, reducing its uniqueness and value. AI accelerates this by automating routine tasks, making those skills easier and cheaper to perform. As a result, businesses pay less for these skills since many providers offer similar services. This drives down wages and career growth opportunities in those areas.
- Trades often require physical presence to perform services, limiting work to a specific local area. Th ...
Counterarguments
- The framework may overstate the speed and extent to which AI will replace certain skills, as real-world adoption of AI can be slower and more uneven across industries and regions.
- The assessment of trades as having "capped" profitability does not account for entrepreneurial opportunities, specialization, or business ownership, which can significantly increase earnings.
- The framework assumes that profitability is static, but market demand and compensation for skills can fluctuate due to economic, cultural, or regulatory changes.
- The claim that public speaking is highly defensible against AI may overlook the potential for AI-generated avatars or deepfake technology to impact certain aspects of the field.
- The framework does not consider the value of hybrid skills or interdisciplinary expertise, which can enhance defensibility and profitability even in fields vulnerable to AI.
- The ranking system may undervalue the importance of soft skills, adaptability, and continuous learning, which are increasingly critical in an evolving job market.
- The framework focuses primarily on fi ...
Get access to the context and additional materials
Analysis of 20+ Skills and Their Viability in the Ai Era
This analysis evaluates a wide range of professional and technical skills for their resilience, profitability, and defensibility in the artificial intelligence era. Ratings from A-tier to F-tier reflect their susceptibility to automation and evolving market demands.
High-Value Skills Resilient to Ai Disruption
Public Speaking: A-Tier for High Entry Barrier, Robot-Proof Inspiration, and Million-Dollar Profits
Public speaking is rated A-tier due to its high barrier to entry, strong defensibility from AI, and significant earning potential. Successful public speakers inspire audiences in ways that AI cannot replicate—"Humans need to feel the human." The profession commands the highest fees, with elite speakers earning up to a million dollars for a single talk, making it extremely profitable and safe from automation.
Sales: The A-Tier Meta-Skill Driving Business Success, Challenging yet Profitable Even With Ai
Sales is viewed as the ultimate meta skill, applicable to business, recruiting, negotiation, and even family dynamics. It is challenging because it requires overcoming rejection and psychological hurdles, not just mastering basics. While AI is already handling outbound calls and basic objections, the final close often needs human nuance and relationship-building—roles AI is beginning to encroach on but hasn't fully supplanted. Sales positions can be extremely lucrative; young sellers can out-earn their parents, so the skill remains A-tier, just behind public speaking. However, it is trending toward disruption as AI advances.
Cybersecurity B-Tier: Substantial Learning, Strong Defense, Excellent Compensation
Cybersecurity earns a B-tier ranking. The skill is challenging to learn, involving constant adaptation to complex technological threats. As cyberattacks become more sophisticated through AI, demand for skilled defenders will only grow. It remains highly defensible, and salaries are strong, sometimes allowing top professionals to "write their own check." However, its difficulty places it lower than A-tier skills.
Software Development Ranked B-Tier For Ai Approachability, Product Defensibility, and Career Paths
Software development is now highly approachable, as AI streamlines coding and app development. Even young teens can build functional sites or games with minimal prior exposure. However, defensibility is fading, with AI increasingly able to generate code and automate tasks; future demand will focus more on product thinking than raw coding. Pay remains attractive, but rates are declining as automation increases, securing software development a B-tier rank just behind cybersecurity.
Ai Automation Ranks B-Tier Due to Substantial Fees For Expert-Designed Workflows, Though Defensibility Weakens as Ai Agents Improve and Employees Learn to Build Autonomously
AI automation, or the orchestration of business workflows using AI, still commands healthy fees as companies seek expert guidance to automate operations. However, defensibility is rapidly weakening as AI agents automate the automations, and as ordinary employees learn to build and deploy their own systems. The field is shifting quickly, and while profitability is high now, the long-term outlook is uncertain. AI automation sits at B-tier due to shrinking defensibility, with future prospects tied to the rise of AI agents.
Mid-tier Skills: B and C Ratings With Variable Viability
Lead Generation Ranks Below Sales but Deserves Consideration Because It Requires Understanding Market Psychology and Customer Pain Points, Offers Profitability as Businesses Pay For High-Quality Leads, and Maintains Defensibility Despite Ai Search Disruption Since Skilled Practitioners Adapt
Lead generation is challenging, requiring genuine understanding of market psychology to attract quality leads. AI can assist, but practitioners who master adaptation will stay relevant. While the field is profitable (businesses pay for leads), it's less lucrative than sales proper, yet still valuable and relatively defensible, making it a mid-B to low-A tier skill.
Aeo Ranks As B-Tier: Evolving From Traditional Seo, It Offers Decent Profitability Amid Ai Search Competition, yet Long-Term Defensibility Is Uncertain as Ai Models Grow Sophisticated and Resistant to Optimization
Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) is the evolution of traditional search engine optimization for the AI age, aiming to place products or services as direct answers in AI chats and search. It's a tough and rapidly changing skill, profitable as long as companies want prime placement in search answers. However, defensibility is uncertain: As AI models improve, their resistance to external optimization may reduce the value of AEO expertise.
Trades Like Plumbing & Electrical Work: C-Tier For Defensibility & Demand, Limited by Scalability & Profitability
Trades such as plumbing and electrical work remain defensible against automation, as robots are not yet repairing pipes or wiring homes. These roles are in demand and profitable on a per-job basis, but scalability is limited because time is directly exchanged for money. Unless trade skills are parlayed into a business, earnings will be capped. This places trades at C-tier—valuable and defensible, but limited by personal labor.
Project Management Is D-Tier: Ai Automates Scope, Budget, and Timeline Tasks, Reduces Profitability With Fewer Project Managers, and Is Weak Against Automation in Routine Tasks
Project management is increasingly commoditized, as AI systems take over scope, budget, and timeline management. There remains some value in change management, but the barrier to entry is low, defensibility is weak, and profitability is declining as more tasks are automated and fewer project managers are needed.
Prompt Engineering Ranks C-Tier Due to Declining Profitability and Poor Defensibility as Ai Writes Its Own Optimized Prompts
Prompt engineering, once crucial, is now heading for obsolescence. AI systems now generate and optimize their own prompts, making specialist knowledge less valuable. It's easy to learn and still related to the AI space, justifying a C-tier rating but with poor long-term prospects.
Skills Rated C-Tier Through F-Tier Facing Disruption
Media Buying Ranks C-Tier: Ai Platforms Automate Creative, Manage Ad Spend, Optimize Campaigns, Leading To Declining Profitability as Companies Cut Teams and Automate Advertising, With Weak Defensibility Despite Some Demand for Complex Multi-Platform Campaigns
Media buying, the process of purchasing and managing advertising, is rapidly automated by AI platforms. Platforms now manage creative content, ad spend, and optimization. Major layoffs in the field reflect shrinking demand, and while complexity in multi-platform campaigns provides some residual value, profitability and defensibility continue to drop, putting media buying at the low C-tier.
Social Media Management: B-Tier due to Availability; Consistent Presence Needed, but Weak Defensibility as Ai Writes Captions and Schedules; Profitability Declines With Budget ...
Here’s what you’ll find in our full summary
Analysis of 20+ Skills and Their Viability in the Ai Era
Additional Materials
Counterarguments
- While public speaking is currently resistant to AI, advancements in AI-generated avatars and speech synthesis may eventually erode its uniqueness, especially for virtual events or scripted presentations.
- Sales processes are increasingly being augmented by AI-driven analytics, recommendation engines, and automated negotiation tools, which can reduce the need for human involvement in many sales scenarios, particularly in transactional or lower-value sales.
- Cybersecurity roles are also being automated, with AI-driven threat detection and response systems reducing the need for manual intervention in many cases, potentially lowering the number of high-paying roles.
- Software development may retain value in areas requiring deep domain expertise, creative problem-solving, or integration of complex systems, which are less susceptible to full automation.
- AI automation consulting may remain viable for organizations with complex, legacy systems or regulatory requirements that cannot be easily automated by off-the-shelf AI agents.
- Lead generation is increasingly automated through AI-driven targeting, data enrichment, and outreach, which can reduce the need for human expertise in many industries.
- AEO's long-term viability may be higher in regulated industries or specialized niches where AI models are less likely to be fully closed or resistant to optimization.
- Trades like plumbing and electrical work may see increased scalability and profitability through business ownership, franchising, or leveraging technology for efficiency, challenging the notion of capped earnings.
- Project management still requires significant human skills in stakeholder management, conflict resolution, and leadership, which are not easily automated.
- Prompt engineering may evolve into more complex roles involving AI system design, evaluation, and alignment, rather than disappearing entirely.
- Media buying for complex, multi-channel, or high-budget campaigns may still require human oversight and strategic input, especially where creative judgment or negotiation is involved.
- Social media management can involve crisi ...
Actionables
- you can create a personal skills defensibility tracker by listing your current skills and rating each one monthly on how resistant it is to AI automation, how profitable it remains, and how much human nuance it requires, then use this tracker to decide which skills to invest more time in or pivot away from as trends shift.
- a practical way to future-proof your income is to set a recurring calendar reminder every quarter to research and add one new skill from the most defensible, high-fee categories (like public speaking or sales) to your learning plan, even if you only spend 15 minutes a week on it.
- you can run a simple experiment by offering a small servic ...
Get access to the context and additional materials
Ai's Impact on Careers and Skills Vulnerable to Automation
The emergence of artificial intelligence is rapidly shifting the landscape of careers, automating many tasks previously handled by humans and forcing workers to rethink how to create value.
Skills Facing Existential Threats From Advancing Ai
Skills Vulnerable to Ai: Routine Data Processing and Pattern Matching Like Data Analysis and Seo
Data analysis, once considered a high-value consulting role due to its ability to uncover insights for decision-makers, now faces a significant existential threat from AI. The process of organizing, cleaning, and deciphering data—which was previously the domain of trained analysts and consultants—can be efficiently handled by powerful AI models. Tools like Claude have launched a comprehensive suite of features to manage financials, data cleanup, and data visualization, and can even generate manipulation-ready artifacts. In practice, many teams already use AI for these tasks, making the barrier to entry extremely low. Experience or a quantitative background no longer provide meaningful differentiation, and the long-term defensibility of routine data analysis as a career skill is minimal, with value and compensation dropping accordingly.
Skills Requiring Nuanced Judgment and Emotional Intelligence, Like Sales and Public Speaking, Face Less Threat as Ai Can't Replicate Authentic Human Connection in High-Stakes Contexts
While routine technical skills are increasingly automated, roles that demand nuanced judgment and emotional intelligence—such as sales and public speaking—remain less vulnerable. AI still cannot truly replicate the authenticity and trust that humans can foster in high-stakes, relationship-driven environments.
Creative Skills Face Threats as Ai Generates Outputs Quickly, but True Mastery Retains Value When Combined With Ai Tools
Creative professionals face a complicated reality. While AI generates outputs quickly and at scale, the ability to use these tools strategically—blending human creativity with AI's speed and depth—ensures that those possessing true creative mastery remain valuable in the marketplace.
How Ai Changes Work Rather Than Eliminating Opportunities
High-Value Practitioners Sustain Income By Leveraging Strategy, Creativity, and Human Judgment, With Ai Managing Routine Tasks
Rather than eliminating all opportunity, AI shifts the baseline. Practitioners who focus on high-value functions such as leveraging strategy, applying creative thought, and utilizing human judgment will sustain or grow their income. AI becomes responsible for routine tasks, freeing these professionals to focus on areas where human strengths matter most.
The Future Is for Those Who Use Ai to Enhance Their Abilities Instead of Competing With It
Success now depends on embracing AI as a tool and using it to magnify existing skills, rather than attempting to compete ...
Here’s what you’ll find in our full summary
Ai's Impact on Careers and Skills Vulnerable to Automation
Additional Materials
Clarifications
- Claude is an AI language model developed by Anthropic, designed to assist with natural language understanding and generation. It can perform tasks such as summarizing text, answering questions, generating content, and managing data-related workflows. Claude is built with a focus on safety and user alignment to reduce harmful outputs. Its capabilities extend to automating complex data processing and visualization tasks efficiently.
- Routine data processing involves repetitive tasks like cleaning data, organizing it into usable formats, and running standard calculations or summaries. Pattern matching refers to identifying regularities or trends within datasets, such as spotting sales trends or customer behaviors. These tasks often follow predefined rules and do not require deep interpretation or creative insight. AI automates these by quickly handling large volumes of data with consistent accuracy.
- AI tools can automate many routine data tasks, reducing the need for manual intervention. These tools standardize processes, making advanced skills less unique. As a result, employers value strategic insight over technical execution. Thus, experience or quantitative skills alone no longer guarantee a competitive edge.
- "Long-term defensibility" of a career skill refers to how well that skill can remain valuable and relevant over time despite changes in technology or market demands. It means the skill is difficult to replace or automate, ensuring job security and sustained demand. Skills with high defensibility adapt to evolving environments and maintain their importance. Conversely, skills with low defensibility risk becoming obsolete as new tools or methods emerge.
- AI generates creative outputs by analyzing vast amounts of existing data to identify patterns and then producing new content based on those patterns. True creative mastery involves deep understanding, originality, and the ability to innovate beyond existing templates or trends. It requires human intuition, emotional insight, and the skill to blend diverse ideas in novel ways. Mastery also includes strategic use of AI tools to enhance and refine creative work rather than relying solely on AI-generated content.
- Tactical content execution involves creating and distributing specific pieces of content, like writing articles or posting on social media, focusing on immediate tasks. Strategic roles focus on planning, analyzing audience behavior, setting goals, and deciding how content fits into broader business objectives. Strategy guides what content to produce and when, ensuring it aligns with brand positioning and market trends. This higher-level thinking requires judgment and insight that AI struggles to replicate.
- Psychological insight in copywriting involves understanding human emotions, motivations, and behavior to craft messages that resonate deeply with the audience. When combined with AI, these insights guide the AI to generate content that is not only relevant but also emotionally compelling and persuasive. This synergy enhances the effectiveness of marketing by targeting specific psychological triggers. Thus, human expertise directs AI to produce nuanced, impactful communication beyond ge ...
Counterarguments
- While AI can automate many routine data analysis tasks, complex data interpretation, contextual understanding, and domain-specific expertise often still require human involvement, especially in fields with ambiguous or incomplete data.
- The assertion that experience or quantitative backgrounds no longer provide meaningful differentiation may be overstated; such backgrounds can enhance the ability to frame the right questions, validate AI outputs, and interpret nuanced results.
- AI-generated outputs in creative fields often lack originality, cultural context, or emotional resonance, which can still differentiate human creators, especially in niche or high-stakes creative work.
- Emotional intelligence and nuanced judgment are being partially addressed by advances in AI, such as sentiment analysis and conversational agents, which may eventually reduce the gap between human and AI capabilities in some contexts.
- The impact of AI on job displacement is not uniform across industries or regions; some sectors and geographies may experience slower adoption or different effects due to regulatory, cultural, or economic factors.
- The narrative that only those who adapt and automate will remain valuable may overlook the importance of roles that require physical presence, manual dexter ...
Get access to the context and additional materials
Selecting and Learning High-Value, Future-Proof Skills In the Ai Age
Dan Martell outlines an approach for selecting and mastering skills that are resilient and highly valuable in the rapidly advancing world shaped by AI.
Prioritizing Skills Demonstrating Resilience Across all Evaluation Criteria
Success in the AI age depends on learning skills that are defensible, profitable, and open doors across industries. Sales and public speaking are foundational meta-skills prized in every sector, offering the ability to transfer value and ideas, and opening multi-industry opportunities. Cybersecurity and software development stand out for their high barriers to entry, strong profit potential, and robust long-term defensibility. Martell emphasizes that personal aptitude and interest are more important than choosing the theoretically perfect skill; what's critical is choosing something enjoyable, which increases the likelihood of deep mastery over time.
Ai As a Learning Accelerator for High-Value Capabilities
Martell advocates leveraging AI as a force multiplier for faster and more efficient skill acquisition. He urges learners to proactively use AI to condense and accelerate learning—whether for software development, cybersecurity, or sales—by asking AI directly for tailored instruction and guidance. Rather than defaulting to traditional resources, individuals can use AI to receive incremental learning steps, explanations, and practice exercises suited to their needs. Martell encourages experimenting with AI to assess aptitude and fit for various high-value skills before fully committing to a given specialization.
Personal Strategy For Self-Disruption Before Ai Disrupts
Martell’s core philosophy is to a ...
Here’s what you’ll find in our full summary
Selecting and Learning High-Value, Future-Proof Skills In the Ai Age
Additional Materials
Counterarguments
- The emphasis on sales and public speaking as universally foundational skills may overlook the importance of technical or creative skills that are equally valuable in certain industries or roles.
- High barriers to entry in fields like cybersecurity and software development can also act as deterrents for many, potentially limiting access and diversity in these professions.
- Relying heavily on AI for learning may reduce the development of critical thinking and problem-solving skills that come from grappling with complex material independently.
- Personal aptitude and interest are important, but market demand and economic realities sometimes require individuals to pursue skills outside their primary interests to ensure employment.
- The suggestion to continually self-disrupt may lead to instability or burnout, as constant skill acquisition and transition ...
Actionables
- You can create a weekly “skill swap” with a friend or family member where each of you teaches the other a defensible skill you’re learning, using AI to help break down concepts and generate practice scenarios tailored to your interests and pace; this builds communication, public speaking, and technical skills while making learning social and adaptive.
- A practical way to monitor your skill relevance is to set a monthly calendar reminder to review job postings in your field and adjacent industries, noting which skills and AI tools appear most often, then use AI to generate a personalized learning plan for the top emerging skills you find.
- You can document your learning process by recordin ...
Get access to the context and additional materials
Create Summaries for anything on the web
Download the Shortform Chrome extension for your browser
