AI Is Spurring New Workforces Of Agents, Managed By Humans

What’s a good term for the prototypical organization we’re seeing emerge in the latter half of the 2020s? It is powered to a large degree by artificial intelligence and related data technologies, of course. But there’s also an even more essential ingredient in the mix – they are comprised of autonomous evolving teams of people working side-by-side with AI.

These new organizations can be called frontier firms, state the authors of a new Microsoft report on the state of work. They are “structured around on-demand intelligence and powered by hybrid teams of humans and agents.” Human workers, in fact, will be stepping up to new roles as the managers in charge of these agent workforces.

While not surprisingly AI is at the core of this new amalgamation, they represent the next logical stage beyond the storied digital-native companies that often captivated our attention, and definitely captured many venture capital dollars, over the last two decades. Expect a surge of AI-native companies, as well as established companies taking bold but measured steps to infuse AI-driven processes.

This requires much more than simply dropping expensive new technologies on top of organizations and expecting overnight miracles. “If you have a people problem, you will have an AI problem,” said Amy Webb, futurist and CEO of Future Today Strategy Group, quoted in the report. “Companies that already know how to enable their human
workforce will succeed – breaking down silos, fostering collaboration, and ensuring the entire organization works toward common goals.”

As the so-called frontier firms take shape, they will likely be hierarchy-free, instead functioning as collectives of ad-hoc autonomous teams, bringing in expertise as needed for projects.

“Org charts are shifting. Labor markets are evolving,” the study’s authors assert. “New startups are emerging. Some roles are evolving, while others – not even on the radar just a year ago – are being posted and filled,” the Microsoft study’s authors assert. “The question isn’t if AI will reshape work – it’s how fast we’re willing to move with it.”

There’s actually nothing new about such forward-looking organizations – their genesis dates back several decades, as leaders began to recognize that top-down hierarchies don’t deliver the productivity and innovation needed to compete in a fast-moving global economy. But progress has been slow, with most organizations still operating as hierarchies, wracked by economic ups and downs that result in squashed innovation, bad decisions, and thoroughly demoralizing layoffs.

Some firms, however, have more adaptable structures that allow for individual initiatives and self-managing networks of autonomous teams, that are assembled and dissembled as needs are met. Digital-native companies such as Google and Zappos evolved and thrived with such loosely structured models.

Is technology – now, AI – ready to provide a boost for this model into the mainstream business world? The Microsoft study’s authors believe this is this case, based on their global survey of 31,000 workers, along with LinkedIn labor market trends, and “trillions of Microsoft 365 productivity signals.” Within the next two to five years, the survey’s authors expect that every organization will be evolving into frontier firms, powered by AI.

For instance, 82% of leaders say they expect agents to be moderately or extensively integrated into their company’s AI strategy in the next 12 to 18 months. Twenty-four percent of leaders say their companies have already deployed AI organization-wide, while 12% remain in pilot mode.

So, how will technologies such as AI open up organizations and promote team-led management? Here are the ways that is happening, as identified in the study:

• Intelligence on tap. Nearly half of leaders of frontier firms (45%) in the survey “say expanding team capacity with digital labor is a top priority in the next 12 to 18 months – second only to upskilling (47%).” In addition, workers at these firms are far more likely than non-frontier workers to use AI for tasks related to marketing (73% versus 55%), customer success (66% versus 44%), internal communications (68% versus 46%), and data science (72% versus 54%).
• Human-agent teams. “The traditional org chart may be replaced by a ‘work chart’ – a dynamic, outcome-driven model where teams form around goals, not functions, powered by agents,” the researchers predict. “This mirrors the model we see in movie production, where tailored teams assemble for a project and disband once the job is done. With agents acting as research assistants, analysts, or creative partners, companies can spin up lean, high-impact teams on demand, accessing the right talent and expertise at the right time—no reorg required.” Already, 46% of model frontier firms in the survey say their organizations are using agents to fully automate workstreams or business processes for entire teams or functions.
• Every employee becomes an “agent boss.” This is perhaps the most compelling shift of all. The so-called agent boss will be “someone who builds, delegates to, and manages agents to amplify their impact – working smarter, scaling faster, and taking control of their career in the age of AI,” the study’s co-authors state. “Every worker will need to think like the CEO of an agent-powered startup, directing teams of agents with specialized skills like research and data analysis.”

These changes will not occur overnight, of course. Rather, it is an evolution taking shape, with the democratic organization of autonomous employees many have dreamed about for decades finally coming into view, assisted by digital technology. The organizational singularity is drawing closer than ever.