AI Agents: Productivity Superpowers or Employee Replacements?
- Paula Colmenero
- Sep 1
- 6 min read
The conversation about AI in the workplace is too often framed around fear. People ask: Is this going to replace jobs? Is this just a way to cut headcount? Where do humans fit in an AI-first future?
From what I have seen working with organisations that are actually deploying these tools, the reality is very different. AI agents aren’t replacing people, they are becoming collaborators. Agents are partners that improve human work, helping us move faster, think bigger, and focus more energy on the parts of our jobs that truly require human judgement, creativity, and connection.
What’s an AI Agent, Really?
An AI agent is software that can take input, make decisions, and act without needing to be guided at every step. It’s not a robot or a job replacement. It’s better understood as a digital collaborator, one that takes on structured, process-heavy tasks so humans can concentrate on creativity, strategy, and higher-level activities.
The real power of agents isn’t just in automation. It’s in collaboration. They don’t replace human effort, they complement it. Together, humans and AI agents can produce outcomes neither could achieve alone. Here is a great video that explains "what is an AI Agent and how they work"
You Are Probably Already Collaborating with Agents
Even if you don’t call them agents, you are likely working with them every day. Grammarly checks your writing, not to replace you, but to help you communicate more clearly. Slack AI condenses noisy threads into key points so you can act faster. Notion AI takes messy notes and structures them into actionable task lists.
In technical fields, GitHub Copilot works alongside developers, suggesting code or debugging errors. In everyday office workflows, ChatGPT inside Microsoft 365 drafts reports and emails that humans then refine. Excel Copilot and Google Sheets Duet AI generate formulas and analyses in seconds, while people decide what questions to ask and which insights matter most.
Project management tools like Asana Intelligence and ClickUp AI help teams by summarising updates, creating tasks, and flagging risks, while humans still set priorities and direction. In legal work, Harvey AI and Ironclad scan contracts and highlight potential issues, but the final review and decisions always rest with people.
In every case, the human provides the context and judgement, while the AI provides speed and structure. The result is stronger work, produced faster.
Agents Working Right Beside You
The latest generation of AI agents takes this collaboration even further. Tools like Google Gemini can now see and interact with your screen, making the experience feel like you have a colleague sitting beside you.
Imagine being stuck on an Excel formula. Instead of spending time searching online or experimenting, Gemini can see the exact cell you are working on and suggest the right formula in real time. Or consider reviewing a project board in Asana: AI can highlight overdue tasks or suggest new priorities while you’re looking at the dashboard.
In Google Slides, it can recommend layout adjustments or draft headlines on the spot. Inside a CRM like Salesforce or HubSpot, it can guide you through workflows step by step, pointing out what to do next. Instead of humans adapting to the AI, the AI adapts to human workflows. That’s not automation, it’s collaboration.
From Faster Turnaround to Better Work
Yes, AI agents reduce turnaround times. Support teams resolve tickets more quickly, analysts produce insights sooner, HR teams move faster through scheduling and onboarding, and sales cycles accelerate. But the real power is in the quality of the work produced together.
Take writing. A professional may use ChatGPT to draft an article, then refine it with their own expertise and voice. The draft is created faster, but the final piece is sharper because of the human and AI partnership.
Or take legal work. A lawyer uploads a contract into Harvey AI. The agent highlights unusual clauses, flags risks, and points out where terms deviate from industry standards. The lawyer then reviews these insights, applies judgement, and rewrites sections for negotiation. The collaboration produces a faster, more thorough review than either could manage alone.
Human + AI collaboration means the human isn’t replaced. The human is elevated.
We’ve Seen This Before
History reminds us that every transformative technology has sparked anxiety at first. When Microsoft Excel launched, accountants and analysts worried that their expertise was being automated away. Up to that point, they relied on calculators and ledgers to do their work. Suddenly, Excel could crunch numbers, build formulas, and generate reports in seconds.
But Excel didn’t eliminate their jobs, it elevated them. Instead of spending hours on manual calculations, financial professionals could use Excel to model scenarios, analyse trends, and advise on strategy. What once felt like a threat soon became indispensable.
The same thing happened with other breakthroughs. Email didn’t eliminate assistants; it redefined communication and scheduling. CAD software didn’t replace architects or engineers; it gave them precision and speed that pencil and paper never could. AI agents are on the same trajectory. They feel disruptive today, but in a few years they will be as natural and expected as opening a spreadsheet.
Introduction to Microsoft Excel 1990
Proof from MIT: Humans + AI Outperform Either Alone
This isn’t just theory. Research from the MIT Center for Collective Intelligence demonstrates it. In one study, human + AI teams achieved 90 per cent accuracy in bird image classification, compared to 81 per cent for humans and 73 per cent for AI alone (MIT Sloan).
MIT researchers call this a “supermind”: groups of humans and machines working together more intelligently than either could separately (MIT CCI). This is exactly what AI agents bring to the workplace. They don’t compete with humans, they complement them. Here is a great video featuring Thomas W. Malone, Patrick J. McGovern Professor of Management at the MIT Sloan School of Management and the founding director of the MIT Center for Collective Intelligence.
The Human + AI Future
The smartest organisations are not using AI to cut jobs. They are using it to unlock new possibilities. Agents provide speed, scale, and structure. Humans bring judgement, context, and imagination. Together, they create outcomes that are not just faster, but better.
And this isn’t a distant future, it’s already here. Grammarly trims seconds off your emails. Excel Copilot saves hours on spreadsheet work. Gemini reduces friction directly on your screen. Contract review agents cut days into minutes, freeing lawyers to focus on strategy. Writers, analysts, project managers, and salespeople are already discovering what it feels like to have an AI collaborator sitting beside them. The gains are real, but the bigger story is the partnership.
Final Thought
When new technologies emerge, they almost always arrive with fear. We saw it with spreadsheets, when professionals wondered if Excel would make accountants obsolete, yet it became the very tool that elevated their work. We see it now in law, where AI can review contracts in minutes, and instead of displacing lawyers, it’s giving them sharper insights and more time for strategic thinking. These shifts remind us of an important truth: the technologies that feel disruptive at first often become the ones we can’t imagine working without.
AI agents are following the same path.
Agents are not here to erase people from the equation, but to accelerate the mechanics of work and leave space for human judgement, empathy, and creativity. Research from MIT shows that humans and machines working together outperform either working alone, a concept they call collective intelligence or “superminds.” That’s the real story of this moment.
The fears are real, but so is the opportunity. The future of work will not be humans versus machines, it will be humans and machines, side by side, producing outcomes neither could achieve alone. If history is any guide, this isn’t the end of human work. It’s the beginning of a new era where our capabilities expand, our impact grows, and collaboration between people and technology becomes the foundation of progress.
Colmenero IO (AI Assessments & Diligence Practice)
At Colmenero IO, we can help you conduct an AI opportunity assessment, run the diligence, evaluate the commercials, and develop the business case. We can also assess how AI solutions will work within your enterprise (people, teams, business, operations and technology). As an ISO/IEC 42001 Artificial Intelligence Lead Implementer, we bring structured methodology and compliance to every engagement.
