By Mike Doner As you approach a short-term work zone, there is a person you should immediately be looking for: the traffic control professional directing traffic. For a moment, you make eye contact. The interaction is brief, but it tells you something important. Someone sees you. Someone is paying attention. Someone is reading the traffic around you, anticipating what could happen next, and that someone is human. As business leaders, educators, and policymakers across Pennsylvania consider how artificial intelligence will reshape the future of work, I keep returning to that moment of direct human connection. AI is already helping businesses work faster, improve efficiency, and solve increasingly complex problems. Those advancements are worth embracing. But after more than two decades leading Flagger Force, a short-term traffic control company, I have watched over 1,500 of our employees in Pennsylvania make real-time decisions that affect lives every day. Their work has taught me that business leaders must ask more than whether AI can perform a task. We must also ask where human judgment, accountability, and experience remain essential, even when technology can perform more of the work. Technology Should Strengthen People, Not Replace Them At Flagger Force, we do not view technology as an adversary. We invest in communication and training tools, advanced work zone technology, vehicle telematics, and other innovations that help us improve safety, strengthen operations, and make better decisions. We approach AI the same way: as a tool to support the people doing the work. The smartest technology investments help people perform at a higher level, not prove they are unnecessary. The future of work should not be measured by how many people AI can replace, but by how effectively it helps people do their jobs better. In my experience, organizations benefit most from innovation when they use it to expand human capability while preserving the judgment, accountability, and experience people bring to their work. Accountability Cannot Be Automated Every work zone changes. Conditions can shift between one passing vehicle and the next. A distracted driver drifts toward the shoulder. A construction vehicle enters the travel path. Weather reduces visibility. Traffic begins backing up around a curve. Traffic control professionals cannot press pause while they evaluate their options. They read the situation, communicate with drivers and coworkers, and adapt in real time to keep people safe. AI can recognize patterns and process information at remarkable speed. But it cannot reassure a confused driver with a glance or build trust through a moment of human connection. And it cannot accept accountability for the consequences when circumstances suddenly change. Human judgment draws on experience, context, communication, and the ability to anticipate what might happen next—qualities that remain essential wherever people are responsible for protecting others. The same principle extends well beyond traffic control. A nurse notices a subtle change in a patient’s condition before a monitor sounds an alarm. A teacher recognizes when a student is struggling. A first responder adjusts to a rapidly changing emergency. Across countless professions, AI can provide valuable information, but people still make, and remain accountable for, the decisions that matter most. A Better Way to Measure Progress Business leaders have every reason to embrace innovation. I certainly do. But if we define progress primarily by the amount of labor technology removes, we risk asking the wrong question about how AI should be integrated. We should ask how AI can make work safer, help people make better decisions, and create new opportunities for employees to grow. Those are the benchmarks that matter because they recognize AI for what it should be: a tool that expands human capability rather than diminishes it. That question is especially important in Pennsylvania, where our economy depends on infrastructure, healthcare, education, manufacturing, and skilled service work. The issue is not whether Pennsylvania businesses will adopt AI, but how we will use it without undervaluing the people whose judgment keeps those systems working. Success should be measured by more than efficiency alone. We should also ask whether AI strengthens the workforce we are trying to build and creates lasting value for businesses, employees, and the communities they serve. When conditions change unexpectedly, when someone’s safety depends on a split-second decision, or when uncertainty calls for sound judgment, people still look to people. AI cannot make eye contact. It cannot take responsibility for what happens next. And it cannot replace the value of human potential. ### Mike Doner is President and CEO of Flagger Force, a Safety-Driven® short-term traffic control company serving communities across the eastern United States. He leads the company’s strategic direction and operational performance with a focus on equipping employees with the knowledge, tools, and support to deliver safe, high-quality work zones.