While AI in the workplace started as generative models producing text or images, today, more and more organizations are using agents. AI agents are tools equipped to not only mimic reasoning but also enabled to interact with external systems, completing tasks on behalf of the leaders who deploy them. These systems are designed to process multimodal information and can draw on diverse data inputs – from text to video to code – and act as if they could reason, learn, decide, act, and communicate with reduced human intervention. By learning over time, these tools can streamline and facilitate transactions and business processes, working with other agents to coordinate complex workflows.
They can also redefine how organizations operate. What is clearly a developing and evolving way for leaders to think about their technology stack is having a significant influence on reimagining organization-wide structures, governance, and decision-making processes.
Sophisticated strategies include an AI agent ecosystem that scales and enhances the capability of each CEO, CFO, and other senior executives, who monitor this tool in the same way they do any other. But this is not a delegation of control; rather, it is a streamlining and optimizing of execution – in other words, a governance structure for agents. The humans deploying these systems still set priorities and rigorously monitor the agents to resolve ambiguities, intervening to make decisions when important decisions or ethical questions arise.
This synergy helps organizations reimagine what is possible, moving beyond a simple strategy of scaling operations.
When AI agents are used optimally, they exploit the efficiency of machines for executing tasks while relying on human insight to design tasks, develop strategies, and make long-term plans. This synergy helps organizations reimagine what is possible, moving beyond a simple strategy of scaling operations.
CHROs, for example, are starting to use AI agents to improve recruitment, using them to match candidate profiles with job descriptions, optimizing for the best fit from both sides; they are also used in functions including candidate screening, setting mutually convenient times for interviews, and eventual selection and onboarding. This creates a more efficient and effective hiring process, and the agent can analyze previous sourcing data to continuously refine strategies. Of course, this is also an area with many regulatory and ethical frameworks to consider: data storage and use protocols must align with employment laws and data privacy regulations, and the CHRO and HR teams must regularly audit agents to check for bias and ensure inclusion. There is as much potential as risk here.
“As with any workplace tool, human oversight is essential.”
As with any workplace tool, human oversight is essential. In earlier stages of AI maturity, we often discussed the critical issue of building a strong data foundation, and that remains as much of a priority in an agent-driven environment. Agentic AI will make decisions and take actions based on its analysis of your organization’s data. To ensure that this tool’s actions are beneficial, your organization must invest in the skills, practices, and technologies required to deliver trustworthy AI agents. Poor data quality and architecture will also inhibit the agent’s ability to work successfully, so maintaining both is critical.
AI agents give senior leaders the ability to build strategies with evolving layers of complexity and opportunity. While technical readiness is required, these multimodal tools both demand and enable strategic alignment, responsible and ethical oversight, and deep cross-functional coordination.
And the future looks bright: just last month, Tsinghua University announced that it was launching an AI agent hospital. The Beijing-based university outlined its plans to build on early pilot programs in AI capabilities across engineering and medical functions in departments including general practice, ophthalmology, radiological diagnostics, and respiratory medicine.
This bold imagining of how we might integrate artificial intelligence into clinical practice, education, and research has the ultimate goal of building an ecosystem of AI agent-enabled execution across healthcare, education, and research. This closed-loop model will help human experts deliver cutting-edge medical services with greater speed and accuracy. Long term, the team’s vision is to deliver this quality healthcare in a sustainable, affordable way to the broader population.
The future is open, carrying with it both opportunity and risk.
AI agents enable such complex ecosystems, unleashing a new level of ambition in humans by enabling them to make better-informed decisions and giving them space to creatively solve some of the world’s most pressing challenges.
The future is open, carrying with it both opportunity and risk. Leaders should not be complacent, but nor should they be paralyzed by fear. Instead, this is a moment to bring creative and ambitious thinking to lead with responsibility. AI agents are a powerful tool that will be adopted widely; let us each be sure that we use them to build sustainably and ethically, to create a world that is more prosperous, sustainable, and inclusive for everyone.
This is a summary extract of an article that contributed to One agent to rule them all: We build the agentic foundation, so you can unlock new potential, a white paper published by PwC.
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