Meetings: The Last Human Barrier Against the Rise of AI

The Impact of AI on Productivity and Human Interactions

Artificial intelligence has revolutionized the way we approach intellectual tasks, significantly reducing the time required to complete them. Projects that once took months can now be finished in a matter of weeks, or even hours. However, despite these advancements, human interactions, particularly meetings, retain their crucial importance.

Thanks to AI, complex tasks such as strategy writing or prototype development can be executed in record time. Nevertheless, this increased efficiency does not reduce the overall workload but redistributes it. The essential steps of decision-making, persuasion, and alignment remain unavoidable and require meetings to be successfully carried out.

AI Accelerates Production, But Not Decision-Making

Take the example of Dan Sirk, a marketing director juggling two companies. With tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, or Claude, he manages to produce more quickly and at a lower cost. Yet, he finds that meetings limit his capacity to work. With already about ten meetings a week, he believes it would be impossible to manage more than three companies without his schedule being overwhelmed by these exchanges.

One of the most striking effects of AI in business is the dramatic increase in productivity. Strategy writing, code development, and content creation are now automated or assisted, allowing employees to produce more and faster. However, the more options there are, the more decisions need to be made. The more data there is, the more interpretation is required. These decisions cannot be entirely delegated to automated systems.

Meetings then become the central place where these decisions are made. They serve to select, prioritize, and align, transforming raw production into concrete decisions. According to an analysis by the New York Times, while AI replaces certain tasks, "it simultaneously reinforces the need for human coordination." Presenting an idea, convincing, reassuring, negotiating… these dimensions remain human.

The Resurgence of Social Skills

This evolution is not entirely new. A study by the National Bureau of Economic Research published in 2017 already showed that automation increased the value of social skills. As machines took over technical tasks, jobs requiring strong human interactions became more numerous. Today, AI amplifies this phenomenon.

In some tech companies, recruitment processes are already evolving. Previously, technical skills dominated. Now, recruiters prioritize the ability to propose relevant ideas and convince colleagues. Expertise does not disappear, but it is no longer sufficient.

The same applies in consulting. Presentations can be partially generated by AI. However, successful consultants are those who understand their clients, their preferences, and their decision-making processes. This knowledge is acquired through exchanges, often in meetings.

Meetings: A New Value Ground

This shift of value towards human interaction brings renewed importance to meetings. They are no longer just information-sharing spaces, often criticized for their inefficiency. They are becoming places of value creation.

• This is very visible in sales and relational functions. At Salesforce, some employees seek to strengthen their connection with clients. And this goes beyond automated exchanges. Informal discussions, active listening, emotional support… these elements create a relationship that AI cannot replicate.

• The same logic applies at PolicyFly. The company has reduced client onboarding time thanks to AI. But it cannot eliminate meetings. Clients want reassurance, to ask questions, and to validate choices. Above all, they want to speak to a human.

In large organizations, complexity further reinforces this need. Numerous factors make meetings essential for achieving alignment, such as the increasing number of stakeholders, cross-cutting issues, and collective decisions.

One common mistake is to view meetings as a cost to be reduced. This is an increasingly outdated perspective, especially when discussing AI. What decreases are repetitive and technical tasks. What increases are activities related to coordination, persuasion, and relationships.

Thus, the time saved through AI does not eliminate work; it shifts it. And this shift has a direct consequence. Performance now relies on your ability to get buy-in for what you produce.

Meetings then become a form of professional protection. Not because they are non-negotiable, but because they mobilize skills that are difficult to automate. Knowing how to listen, rephrase, convince, and build trust. These qualities are the foundation of human interactions.