Human skills in education in the age of AI

When designing new curricula and courses, we as educators naturally focus on future skills and labour market needs. We analyse industry trends, changing operational environments, and sustainability challenges. We ask what employers will expect from graduates five or ten years from now. However, are we giving enough attention to the importance of empathy, emotional intelligence, and human connection in the workplaces of the future?

As AI becomes more embedded in professional tasks, interpersonal skills may become one of the key differentiators between average and exceptional professionals. The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report (2025) explicitly ranks ’empathy and active listening’ among the core skills employers consider important whereas AI and big data, interestingly, rank below empathy and active listening.

Capabilities such as empathy, communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and creativity are becoming scarce and therefore more valuable. Education has a key responsibility to develop these qualities alongside technical competencies, especially as AI-human interactions continue to grow (Mäkelä & Stephany 2024).

One reason lecturers at Haaga-Helia encourage students to return to campus and work together on assignments is to develop their human skills. As educators, we need to create learning experiences and interactions that enable students to connect and collaborate.

Artificial empathy and compassion illusion

According to Weng, Huang and Weng (2026), artificial empathy can make AI feel like an emotional and social partner, increasing customer satisfaction through intimacy and social bonding. Studies show that AI-generated responses may be perceived as equally or even more compassionate than human responses (Ovsyannikova, Oldemburgo de Mello & Inzlicht 2025).

However, while AI can recognise emotional cues and simulate empathy, it cannot genuinely experience emotions or empathy. This creates what Ajeesh and Joseph (2025) call a ‘compassion illusion’ where people feel understood and cared for even though the interaction relies on algorithmic prediction rather than emotional reciprocity.

Reliance on artificial empathy may blur the boundary between genuine and simulated human connection, potentially affecting trust, relationships, and expectations of empathy. Cheng et al. (2026) also highlight the risks of AI ‘sycophancy’, where AI systems can reinforce users’ existing views, reducing exposure to alternative perspectives and critical reflection.

To avoid the compassion illusion, students need to understand that AI can mimic empathy without genuinely experiencing it. They also need opportunities to engage in authentic human interaction, including disagreement, negotiation, and changing perspective.

By collaborating with people from different backgrounds and viewpoints, students also tackle AI sycophancy and develop critical thinking, conflict-resolution skills, and nuanced judgment, making higher education an essential environment for these experiences.

Our role as educators is to help students understand both the capabilities and limitations of artificial empathy. AI systems can simulate compassion so convincingly that customers may perceive them as genuinely caring in business environments, for example in hotels, airlines, destinations and brand interactions. This makes it essential for students to know not only how to use these systems but also recognise where human empathy, judgement, and relationship-building remain irreplaceable.

At Haaga-Helia, this distinction is actively taught and reinforced in our values, courses and practices. In our Psychology of Marketing course, for example, students explore how emotional intelligence and empathy influence consumer behavior and brand loyalty. They learn to analyse marketing messages for emotional appeal, recognising that genuine empathy cannot be fully replicated by AI. In the Futures Thinking, Trends and Transformations course, students are also encouraged to navigate ethical and practical challenges in future service environments.

Learning to be human in an AI world

Le and Doan (2026) argue that AI familiarity alone does not ensure the evaluative judgement and ethical readiness required for responsible use. While structured coursework can improve efficiency, project-based learning is better for developing relational judgement, shared accountability, and readiness for AI-mediated work.

This calls for learning experiences that encourage reflection, collaboration, and creativity. Students should not outsource their thinking to AI. The values of Haaga-Helia are curiosity, courage, collaboration and caring, which highlight the importance of combining technology with empathy, ethics and community.

Haaga-Helia is also revising its thesis model, giving greater emphasis to reflection as a core component of the learning process. Students are expected to demonstrate not only what they have produced, but also how their expertise has developed throughout the process.

Collaborative learning builds communication, empathy, and teamwork, while creative learning helps our students to question, imagine, and develop original solutions beyond AI-generated content. As an example, using physical and sensory learning experiences along with visual storytelling, design, music, drawing, or drama to explore complex issues increases creativity and curiosity.

Project-based learning and service design engage students in authentic challenges, helping them develop empathy, collaboration, critical thinking, and judgement while understanding where AI can support human work and where human connection and responsibility remain irreplaceable.

As an example, students could present the same challenging customer scenario to an AI and a human team, then compare the responses for emotional accuracy, cultural sensitivity, authenticity, responsibility, and the proposed solutions. This makes artificial empathy something that our students study and evaluate, rather than something they passively accept.

The future of work will demand both technological competence and human skills. It will demand people who can think critically, connect deeply, and lead with empathy. Our call-to-action is clear: let students explore and experiment with the tools of AI while cultivating the human qualities that no algorithm can replicate.

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