Networking in the age of AI: why becoming more human is the new superpower

Somewhere over the past ten years, networking turned into a performance.

We collect LinkedIn connections like stamps. We type "Awesome, let's connect!" under posts by people we'll never speak to again. We optimise our profiles, share content with hashtags and call it "personal branding". And somewhere between the fifth "Looking forward to the exchange!" and the tenth automated follow-up, we forgot what networking is actually about.

People. Real relationships. The conversation where someone tells you something they don't tell anyone else.

Now AI enters the picture. And many fear everything will become even more shallow. AI writes our messages, AI generates our comments, AI "personalises" our outreach campaigns — where "personalised" means: the first name is correct and the company name was inserted properly.

Here's the counter-thesis: AI will separate the wheat from the chaff. Not because it networks better than us, but because it automates everything that's automatable — making the non-automatable more valuable than ever.

If an AI can write the same LinkedIn comment as you, the comment was worthless.

Think about what AI can't do: it can't sit at dinner and notice that the person across from you is going through a tough time. It can't wait for the right moment to make a recommendation. It can't be genuinely happy for someone in a way that lands.

These aren't soft skills. They're the hardest skills there are. Because they don't scale, can't be automated, and can't be copied.

The question isn't whether AI changes networking. The question is which side you're on: the side trying to imitate machines — more content, more reach, more automation? Or the side doing what machines can't?

The best networkers of the future won't be the ones with the most contacts. They'll be the ones who remember.

Who remember what someone said the last time you met. Who ask how the project went. Who know your business partner had a birthday — not because LinkedIn told them, but because it mattered to them.

It sounds old-fashioned. And that's exactly the point. In a world where everything is optimised, automated and scaled, real interest stands out. It stands out because it has become rare.

500 LinkedIn connections are easy to get. 10 people who pick up when you call, are not.

The irony: AI can help you network in a more human way. Not by replacing the relationship, but by taking over the remembering. Because the real problem was never a lack of interest — it was that with 200 contacts, you simply can't keep everything in your head. What if, before every conversation, you could get back up to speed in 13 seconds?

Then you'd be the person who listens. Who follows up. Who cares. Not because software told you to, but because you want to — and the software helps you actually do it.

That's the real opportunity of AI in networking: not more automation, but better memory. So the next conversation picks up exactly where the last one left off.