Directors, Coaches, and Editors: The Human Role in the Age of AI

By Anthea Roberts

In our culture, we tend to glorify the performer—the actor on stage, the athlete on the field, the writer on the page. But behind every great performance is someone whose name you might never hear: the director, the coach, the editor. These roles, often invisible, are essential. They shape, guide, and refine raw talent, bringing out the best in the performer.

In the current age of AI, we find ourselves in a similar position—but now, humans are the directors, coaches, and editors guiding the machines' performances. 

At Dragonfly Thinking, I’ve realized that a crucial part of my role is to build tools that direct AI performances. Generative AI can create impressive outputs, but much of its power lies in how well it’s guided, how critically it’s taught to think, and how carefully its results are refined. Working with AI feels like directing a movie, coaching an athlete, or editing a manuscript—a collaboration where guidance makes a real difference.

Actors need a director to develop a vision of the whole movie or play. Athletes rely on coaches for motivation and strategy. Writers depend on editors to critique and refine their drafts. Similarly, AI needs prompts that guide it effectively, interactive engagement to get the best performance, and editing to take its outputs from good to great. 

The Evolution of Human-AI Collaboration

Generative AI does not generate alone. Instead, it requires human-AI collaboration and the quality of the outputs depends as much on the nature of that collaboration as on the strength of the underlying AI model.

The quality of AI’s outputs depends on the clarity of the direction it’s given. A poorly structured prompt leads to bland responses, while a precise one produces meaningful insights. As Microsoft Deputy CTO Sam Schillace says: Ask smart to get smart. As AI becomes more sophisticated, our role will change. We’ll likely shift from directing and coaching to editing. The focus will be more on selecting valuable insights and enhancing them. 

This evolution in roles isn’t new; it echoes the past. Just as the Industrial Revolution demanded new skills from workers who had to learn to oversee machinery, today’s AI revolution requires us to develop new cognitive skills. At first, humans operated early industrial machines directly; over time, they became supervisors and technicians who maintained and improved those systems. We’re at a similar point with AI, shifting from doing to directing, coaching and editing.

Bridging the Skill Gap Across Generations

This new skill set isn’t widely taught yet, but it’s essential. Young workers and students today are likely to master these AI guidance skills quickly, while older generations may struggle to keep up. These shifts could create a gulf of understanding between generations or lead to new collaborative dynamics. 

Older workers may worry about how younger ones will develop their own skills and judgment without doing the primary work. How can you be a great supervisor if you have never learned to be a great employee? How can you be a great editor if you have never toiled at writing drafts? Might younger workers end up skipping over important steps, leading to a crumbling of expertise over time?

But there’s also an opportunity for reverse mentorship: young employees who quickly master AI tools can teach their supervisors or older colleagues, creating a more collaborative and less hierarchical learning environment. We need to recognize that these emerging skills will be foundational in the workplace, where adaptability and willingness to learn from one another will be essential.

Looking Ahead: From Coaching to Curating

The power of AI isn’t just in its ability to perform tasks but in how well we guide and refine its performance. In a world that often focuses on the front-stage act, it’s the people behind the scenes—directing, coaching, and editing—who play a critical, if sometimes underappreciated, role. Just as with actors, athletes, and writers, the success of AI depends on the skill and insight of those who guide it.

As AI continues to evolve, however, we may find that the hands-on coaching it requires now will transition to roles focused more on curation. This shift will mean we’re less involved in guiding every step and more focused on strategic oversight—evaluating and refining AI-generated content to extract meaningful insights. Our challenge will be to evolve alongside AI, developing skills that balance technical acumen with human intuition.

This evolution doesn’t mean AI will replace us; it means that the nature of our collaboration with AI will continue to change. Success will depend on our ability to adapt, continually refining the art of guidance, selection, and enhancement as AI’s capabilities grow. One day, the roles may be even be reversed, with the AI coaching us rather than us coaching the AI. Human-AI Collaboration will continue, but the nature of this collaboration is likely to change over time.