We spoke with Tara Chklovski about the AI mindset and how it is mental discipline, ahead of skills, that keep tech professionals on track.
For many professionals working in the STEM space and often outside of it, artificial intelligence (AI) has become an accepted part of the job. From automation and workload management, to data analysis and decision making, AI is an organisational aid that can mimic and even, controversially, replace some employees, however, that doesn’t mean that human oversight is not needed.
In fact, experts skilled in AI are finding that their jobs are evolving in line with a workforce and indeed a world that is being transformed by AI, providing far more opportunities than they may have previously had. For example, the rise of the CAIO is being well documented, as companies scramble to position leaders at the front of the AI innovation race.
For Tara Chklovski, a former aerospace engineer and the founder and CEO of edtech non-profit Technovation, professionals in 2025 are navigating a chaotic landscape where resiliency is fast emerging as the most important skill to possess.
“Tectonic shifts will continue to occur frequently,” she told SiliconRepublic.com. “We are living in an age of knowledge abundance, but our brains have not evolved to meet this abundance. The speed and density of change is overwhelming. What is within our control is our ability to train for this, to be able to make strategic decisions and to innovate within these environments.
“That is resilience. And we know how to do that. The military, the medical field and the airline industry train their people to be resilient in the face of extreme stress, to make high-stake decisions under high stress. So we know how to prepare people for these times. We just need to bring in those lessons and insights into our education and training systems.”
Mind over matter
Chklovski explained that growing up in a slightly lower income household in India imbued her with an appreciation for the opportunities opened up by education. But more than that, she saw how an entrepreneurial point of view and an appreciation for technology could set her up for success.
“I trained as an aerospace engineer and that training further showed me how a problem-solving mindset could help unlock your own potential and that of others. These experiences helped shape my journey and directed me towards starting Technovation, an organisation dedicated to helping nurture problem solvers and innovators.”
Whether you’re an AI power user, a functional user or sceptical of its benefits, Chklovski is of the opinion that it all comes down to mindset and whether or not you are willing to take the time to explore AI’s potential.
“If you have the mindset of an entrepreneur, or have the sense of agency and ownership of a product or problem, then you are very quickly going to become a power user, because you are constantly pushing the boundaries of what these technologies can do. So, I would say, the one most important thing to do today, is to ask yourself why you are doing what you are doing and to ask that five times.”
She said that rather than adding to the already copious amounts of “internet sludge” by regurgitating copies of unwanted content, professionals exploring AI should think about the process in a far less clinical or technical way and query what they are actually contributing.
“This is the higher level thinking and problem solving that we need to be doing. With powerful tools we are getting closer to the customer, closer to real-world implementation and use. That means we can do more and it’s even more important to ask the question ‘why are we doing what we are doing?’.”
Fearless in the face of change
She is of the opinion that the most sought-after professionals will be the ones who exhibit a desire to experiment with AI tools, regardless of their background, noting that younger co-workers often excel in this area as they tend to be fearless when confronted with newer technologies.
“Today’s ideal candidates combine foundational domain knowledge with the intellectual flexibility to continuously reinvent their skillsets, embodying what computer scientist François Chollet describes as true intelligence – ‘the ability to efficiently acquire new skills and improvise in the face of novel challenges’.
“For instance, I like to ask candidates if they have used AI tools to code, even if they are non-coders and most of the time they will say that they don’t. But I am also seeing how open they are to the idea of learning.”
Ultimately, she is of the belief that it’s not the skills that provide professionals with an advantage, rather it is the mindset that keeps them relevant and continuously learning. More than that, people should harness their inner strength and ambitions, putting them towards the technologies and innovations that can create a real-world impact.
“With access to such powerful tools, it is more important now than ever to critically examine the problems we are working on and the purpose of what we do. We can very quickly replicate and clone and create multiple copies of information and clog up the internet, all the while training AI models on these creations. Where is it headed?
“The world still has a lot of suffering and with such powerful technologies, each of us has a chance to do much more than what we ever thought was possible. We have the opportunity to truly help ease human suffering, if we were to direct our ambitions and our goals that way. We have the opportunity to do so today.”
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