A survival guide for humans in the age of artificial everything
BY: Michael W.G. Berman
Remember when networking meant showing up to a hotel ballroom, eating stale croissants, and pretending to care about Greg from Accounting’s weekend golf stories? Those were simpler times. Times when humans actually had jobs to network about.
Welcome to 2025, where ChatGPT can write your emails better than you, AI can design your presentations faster than you, and somewhere, a robot is probably doing your old job while humming show tunes. The networking playbook didn’t just get outdated—it got completely obliterated by our silicon overlords.
But here’s the plot twist: humans still need humans. Even more than before.
The Great AI Job Apocalypse (And Why It’s Actually Networking Gold)
Sure, AI took over data analysis, content creation, customer service, and apparently can now perform surgery while livestreaming on TikTok. But you know what AI can’t do? Take you out for drinks and complain about how AI took everyone’s jobs. That’s still a uniquely human experience.
The truth is, as AI handles the predictable stuff, the value has shifted entirely to the unpredictable, creative, and deeply human stuff. The stuff that requires trust, intuition, and the ability to laugh at the absurdity of it all.
Why Old-School Networking Is Dead (And Good Riddance)
The Business Card Cemetery: Remember when people collected business cards like Pokémon cards? Now everyone’s contact info changes faster than TikTok trends. That stack of cards from 2019? Archaeological artifacts.
The Elevator Pitch Graveyard: “Hi, I’m Sarah. I optimize synergistic solutions for cross-platform engagement.” Cool, Sarah. So does the AI that replaced you. What do you actually do now that you’re figuring out how to stay relevant?
Conference PTSD: Those massive conventions where 5,000 people wandered around like lost penguins? They were already dying pre-COVID. Post-AI takeover, they’re just expensive ways to watch robots demonstrate how they do your job better.
The LinkedIn Lie: Everyone’s still posting about “exciting opportunities” and “leveraging core competencies.” Meanwhile, we’re all just trying to figure out how to make money when a computer can do most of our work for free.
The New Reality: Networking for Humans by Humans
Here’s what actually works when you’re competing with machines that never sleep, never complain, and never ask for raises:
1. The “We’re All Screwed Together” Bond
The strongest networks today are built on shared existential crises. Find people who are also navigating the “what do I do when AI does everything” question. Misery loves company, but creative problem-solving loves it even more.
2. Collaboration Over Competition
When AI can outperform individuals, humans win through collaboration. Instead of trying to beat the machines, team up with other humans to do things machines can’t: complex creative projects, nuanced problem-solving, and creating experiences that require actual empathy.
3. The “Uniquely Human” Value Proposition
What can you do that AI can’t? Maybe you’re great at reading a room. Maybe you can navigate family business drama. Maybe you can make people laugh during Zoom calls. These aren’t weaknesses—they’re your competitive advantages.
The New Networking Playbook for 2025
Start “Survival Communities,” Not Just Professional Networks
Form groups of people figuring out the same puzzle: how to stay relevant and profitable in an AI world. These aren’t just networking groups—they’re mutual aid societies for career refugees.
The “Teaching Each Other” Economy
AI might be able to analyze data, but can it teach your specific uncle how to use Instagram for his plumbing business? Probably. But will it do it with patience and understanding for why he keeps accidentally posting photos of his lunch? Probably not.
Micro-Collaborations Over Mega-Corporations
Instead of trying to climb corporate ladders that are getting shorter by the day, focus on small-scale collaborations with other humans. Five humans with complementary skills can often outmaneuver both big corporations and AI by being nimble, creative, and personally invested.
The “AI-Adjacent” Strategy
Don’t fight the robots—flank them. Find the spaces where AI creates new problems that need human solutions. AI generates content? Someone needs to fact-check it. AI handles customer service? Someone needs to handle the escalations when it goes hilariously wrong.
Where to Actually Meet These Humans
Local Problem-Solving Groups: Find or start groups focused on specific challenges in your area. “How to make money when AI took our jobs” is a pretty universal problem right now.
Skill-Swap Communities: Trading human skills is making a comeback. You teach someone photography; they help you navigate cryptocurrency. It’s bartering for the digital age.
Creative Collaboration Spaces: Makerspaces, co-working communities, and creative collectives where humans gather to make things that matter.
The “Anti-AI” Underground: Not actually anti-AI, but spaces that celebrate uniquely human capabilities. Improv groups, debate clubs, cooking classes—anywhere humans practice being human.
The Money Question: How Do You Actually Make Money?
Here’s the uncomfortable truth: traditional “networking for jobs” is largely dead because traditional jobs are largely dead. The new game is “networking for opportunities to create value.”
The Creator Economy (But Make It Human)
AI can generate content, but can it build a community around shared experiences? Can it create content that resonates with specific local communities? Can it host a podcast where people actually want to keep listening?
The Service Economy (The Stuff AI Can’t Do)
Personal training, therapy, event planning, conflict resolution, creative collaboration facilitation. If it requires reading humans and adapting to their unpredictable needs, you’re still in business.
The “Human Authenticity” Premium
As AI gets better at mimicking human output, genuine human creativity, perspective, and connection become more valuable. The premium is on the story only you can tell, the perspective only you have, the connections only you can make.
Your Action Plan for This Week
- Stop pretending everything is normal. The old career playbook is broken. Accept it, laugh about it, then get creative.
- Find one other person who’s also figuring out this new world. Have coffee. Complain about AI. Then brainstorm something you could create together.
- Identify your “uniquely human” superpower. What do you do that makes people feel seen, understood, or inspired? That’s your networking hook.
- Join or start one small community around a shared challenge or interest. Make it focused, make it human, make it real.
- Stop networking for jobs. Start networking for collaborations, creative projects, and mutual support in figuring out this brave new world.
The Bottom Line
Networking in 2025 isn’t about climbing career ladders—it’s about building lifeboats. It’s not about collecting contacts—it’s about finding your crew for navigating uncertainty.
The AI revolution didn’t kill networking. It just revealed that the best networking was always about genuine human connection, mutual support, and collaborative problem-solving. The superficial stuff was just noise.
So here’s to the humans figuring it out together, one authentic conversation at a time. The machines can have the efficiency. We’ll keep the creativity, the empathy, and the ability to laugh at how weird everything has gotten.
Because at the end of the day, when the AI overlords are running everything, they’re still going to need humans to explain why their decisions make people feel weird. And that’s a job that’s never getting automated.
Now go find your people. The future won’t figure itself out.