There’s a quiet shift happening.
For decades, expertise meant depth. Specialists were valued for what they knew that others didn’t. Lawyers, accountants, recruiters. People built careers on going deep, mastering nuance, and becoming the go-to in a niche.
Now, we’re moving in a different direction.
Information is everywhere. AI can summarise, generate, and connect ideas instantly. The barrier to entry for “knowing things” has dropped dramatically. And as a result, we’re seeing a rise in generalists. People with broad awareness across many areas, rather than deep expertise in one.
So the question is worth asking.
Are we losing depth? And does it matter?
In many ways, broad knowledge is powerful. Generalists connect dots. They think laterally. They adapt quickly. In a fast-moving world, that’s valuable.
But depth still matters. Especially in professions where nuance, judgement, and consequence are critical. You don’t want a “broad strokes” lawyer handling a complex case. Or an accountant with surface-level understanding navigating high-stakes financial decisions.
And this is where AI becomes an interesting lens.
If AI takes over the easy, repeatable tasks, that’s a good thing. It frees humans up to go deeper. To focus on strategy, relationships, creativity, and judgement. In that world, AI is a tool. An amplifier.
But if AI replaces the need to truly understand, if we start relying on it instead of thinking, then we risk something else entirely. A workforce that knows a little about a lot, but not enough about anything.
That’s where problems start.
Because ultimately, we don’t just reward knowledge. We reward trust.
And trust isn’t built on surface-level understanding.
It’s built on judgement. Experience. Pattern recognition. And in many cases, relationships.
Take recruitment as an example. AI can screen CVs, automate outreach, even predict fit. But it can’t fully replace human intuition. It can’t build real trust with a candidate. It can’t read between the lines in the same way an experienced recruiter can.
The human factor still matters. Deeply.
So maybe the future isn’t a choice between generalists and specialists.
Maybe it’s both.
A layer of broad understanding, supported by AI.
And a layer of deep expertise, built by humans who choose to go further.
Because in a world where everyone has access to information, depth becomes the differentiator.
And the people who combine both? They’re the ones who will stand out.