AI Will Not Replace Great Negotiators.. But It Will Expose Average Thinking

For years people were rewarded for sounding intelligent. Now a machine can do that in seconds.

May 29, 2026

The Weekly Walkaway highlights negotiation in its ‘good’, ‘bad’ and sometimes ‘downright ugly’ forms. Issue No. 123 (29th May 2026)

I Think Most People Are Sleepwalking Into The AI Era..

Nah.. I don’t think. I know.

Happy Friday Walkawayers..

I was supposed to write No.10 of the 47 Negotiation Tactics today.

“The Consequence.”

You know.. ticking clocks.. threats.. false deadlines.. pressure tactics.. the usual corporate and political BS theatre.

You see it every day in your news feeds.. and it’s overused on the geopolitical stage right now.

It’s failing.. it’s making a once-great nation look weak and quite frankly, for those of us who can negotiate.. it’s boring.

But something else happened this week.

I dived into some self-learning and spent the last five days deep inside Gemini.

Nah.. The AI you fool and not the social media version. Not the “write me a funny email” version. Not even the “look, it made a cartoon of my dog” version.. although there was a module on it.

I mean properly inside it.

I completed Google certifications in AI for:

Writing and Communication
Research and Insights
Data Analysis
Content Creation
Brainstorming and Planning

And today I plan to finish the Professional Certificate with AI App Building.

Now before LinkedIn wets itself with excitement and starts posting:
“Thrilled to announce..”

Relax.

That’s not what this post is about.

Because honestly.. I didn’t come away excited.. I came away unsettled.

And I think most people are catastrophically underestimating what’s coming.

And I say that as somebody who has spent years running businesses and being around:

people from early careers to senior executives..
commercial negotiators..
operations.. sales.. procurement.. HR.. finance and legal.

I’ve been lucky enough to work alongside some really smart people.. experienced people.. and most of those people still think AI is a search and admin tool!

It isn’t.

Most people still think their value comes from what they produce:

writing reports.. building decks.. creating content..
summarising meetings.. managing actions.. analysing data..
researching markets.. writing proposals.. communicating and yes, negotiating.

But this week I watched AI do competent versions of all of that in seconds.

Seconds Walkawayers.. seconds.

A machine produced polished corporate comms, relevant to different stakeholders, faster than most organisations can schedule the meeting about the meeting.. about last week’s meeting.

I’ve even written my own negotiation ‘Gem’.

Thats a custom, reusable version of the AI that I programmed for a specific task! To be my expert negotiator!

I know right!! Bonkers!

Yeah.. it got my attention and I’ve taken a lot onboard about the Human-in-the-Loop (HITL) mindset and I get it now.

My conclusion: Our value is no longer in production.

It’s in judgement.. Communication.. Emotional intelligence. You know:

Governance.. Truth.. Decision making.. Trust.. and Human behaviour.

And here’s where it gets uncomfortable.

Average capability is about to become worthless.

And that doesn’t just mean people with average intelligence.

It also means younger generations entering the workplace.. because traditionally:

experience = competence = capability.

AI has just smashed that chain apart.

You no longer need ten thousand hours to become highly capable at something.

You no longer need to climb that ladder rung by rung.. earning capability through painful repetition, mistakes and experience.

That ladder is disappearing.

So what replaces it?

I predict a huge shift.

And the people who survive it will not necessarily be the most technical or even the most intelligent.

They’ll be the people who alreday have good judgement, communication and emotional skills. All hard to learn.

Take communication for example.

Not emails, social media and slide decks.. I mean real communication. The ability to:

question properly and to articulate what you want..
challenge and be challenged..
collaborate with AI instead of simply using it.

Because here’s what I learnt this week:

Talking to AI is becoming a serious skill.

Not prompting.

Talking.

Having a conversation.

Example:

“I’m going into a brutal negotiation with a client under major cost pressure. We’ve had a strong relationship for ten years but I know market conditions will change the tone. I want you to act as my negotiation coach. Challenge my thinking. Predict the behaviours and tactics I’m likely to face. Tell me what I haven’t thought about.”

Ten seconds later it responded with a more structured negotiation preparation process than most commercial teams build in a week.

And yes.. that really got my attention.

And this skill will not disappear.

The people who thrive will be the people who can collaborate with AI while still bringing their uniquely human capability.

Empathy: the ability to translate messy human problems..
Curiosity and judgement: wanting to know what matters and what’s allowed..
Emotional intelligence: reading people.. building trust.. feeling the moment.

That’s why I’m learning AI.

Not because I want to become “the AI guy.”

God no.

Yeah, I’m interested, I’m curious and I love learning..

But I know if I want to remain relevant as a negotiation expert in 2026, and beyond, without understanding AI..

..it would be like preaching cavalry tactics in a drone war.

And here’s my other prediction.

The more advanced AI becomes.. the more valuable human skills will become.

The irony?

The future may belong to the most human people in the room. Not the most technical. Not the most intelligent..

And maybe that’s the real consequence.

Not that AI replaces us.. but that it exposes us.

And I think Walkawayers.. I think a lot of people can already feel it.

Their is a quiet panic.

The strange urgency from executives suddenly desperate to “understand AI.”

The Weekly Walkaway - (A Community of Negotiators)

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