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There's a good chance you use AI every day at work. Whether you're a software developer who's using coding tools to cut the bind associated with programming and testing, or a line-of-business professional looking to remove repetitive work processes, right now, businesses want AI to be more of a help than a hindrance. But for many, the threat of https://www.zdnet.com/article/ai-job-anxiety-labor-indicator-forrester/ looms large.
Welcome to the age of the autonomous business, where new combinations of technology and data mean fresh operating models, where some of the roles we take for granted today -- from basic operational tasks up to decision-making responsibilities -- are fulfilled by agents that discover, negotiate, and transact autonomously.
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Gartner suggests companies are increasing their investments in agents, with AI agent software spending set to reach $206.5 billion in 2026 and $376.3 billion in 2027, up from $86.4 billion in 2025. As spending increases, companies are discovering that agents can help cut labor costs. About 80% of businesses piloting or deploying autonomous business capabilities report workforce reductions.
The analyst's research suggests more changes are coming. Almost a third (32%) of CEOs said they expect their businesses to deploy self-learning and adaptable AI tools to assist with human decision-making, and 27% said they expect their organizations to operate primarily without human intervention.
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That lack of human input should ring alarm bells. Many executives have told ZDNET in the past that effective use of AI means keeping the human in the loop. As agents enter the workplace, pushing humans out of the loop altogether might be a neat way for boards to cut costs, keep businesses running, and delight shareholders.
Yet while agents will undoubtedly change the workplace and the roles we fulfill, we're still a long way from complete autonomy.
As Luke Gebb, head of global innovation at American Express, said to ZDNET recently, there's a long and contested history of technology entering the workplace. Tools that herald a revolution often led to more of an evolution than a revolution.
"It also sounds like you're describing the rollout of the phone, the computer, email, Slack, text messages, and everything else," said Gebb, when asked to consider the long-term impact of agents.
"The change in working practices is something that we've been contending with since the advent of the smartphone and earlier innovations. The simple message is that AI is here to stay, and success is about managing its impact."
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That sentiment resonated with Dan Cherowbrier, CTO at Formula E, the motorsport championship for electric cars, who recognized these are early days for autonomous businesses and the future direction is uncertain: "I think the one thing to say is nobody knows, and anyone who thinks they know doesn't know."
Cherowbrier compared the rise of AI to the emergence of the internet and the dot-com boom of the late 1990s, when hype suggested the rapid growth of e-commerce would mean the death of physical retailing. While online shopping took hold, shops haven't disappeared.
"I think the same story will be true for AI," he told ZDNET. "It will definitely change what we do and how we work, but I don't think it's going to remove any of the fundamental processes."
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The watchword for understanding these changes is context. Late last year, Helen Poitevin, distinguished VP analyst at Gartner, explained four future scenarios for AI at work to ZDNET. She suggested that, just as email changed how we communicate and gen AI is changing how employees collaborate, agents will bring further transformation.
"The jury remains out for AI agents and the degree to which they will have a high impact," she said. "But we did include in our analysis the assumption that agents are more likely to have a higher impact than the more general-purpose generative AI tools for knowledge work."
Gartner's latest research suggests this agentic transformation is beginning to (slowly) take hold. While most CEOs (54%) say automation today is limited to specific tasks, only 13% expect automation to remain at this constrained level through 2028.
Tim Chilton, managing geospatial consultant at UK mapping agency Ordnance Survey (OS), told ZDNET that his organization has used AI and machine learning technologies for a decade or more and is now turning to agentic AI services with the help of technology firm Snowflake.
"The newer area of deployment for us is in the corporate space," said Chilton, recognizing the impact of agents on knowledge work. "It's being used by the consultants, managers, HR teams, marketing and sales folk, and all the people who have been selling the vision of agentic AI but are now actually seeing it creep into their day-to-day jobs."
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Chilton said OS is exploring how to connect Snowflake CoWork, a personal agent for knowledge workers, into its underlying Snowflake data platform. One example use case is an agent that helps marketing professionals share campaign insights or find key market trends to support a pitch during a sales call.
"We fed and trained the model to answer those simple questions," he said. "That agent doesn't replace meetings, relationships, and the consultancy model, but it does introduce productivity gains, because you've got a lot more information at your fingertips that you can trust, and you can be a lot more reactive and innovative in the moment."
Emmanuel Frenehard, chief digital officer at Sanofi, draws on similar experiences. He told ZDNET the biopharmaceutical giant is scaling AI across 80 countries and has built Concierge, a service to help staff share knowledge. The service uses Snowflake technology, Elementum workflows, and Claude AI models, including Haiku, Sonnet, and Opus,
One example use case for Concierge is finance. Professionals can run agents to analyze spending patterns across procurement orders, invoices, quotes, and RFPs. By using AI, traditional systems of record are bypassed, and agents act directly on information held in the Snowflake platform.
About 65,000 of the firm's 75,000 employees already use Concierge monthly. In the future, Frenehard expects the service to run across business operations, including HR processes, IT support, and sales tasks.
"I don't know if the technology is going to generate more work, but it is going to create different work," said Frenehard, reflecting on the impact of agents in his company. "I am an optimist by nature. I think every industrial revolution has generated new kinds of work, new value, and this technology will be the same."
Gartner's research is similarly optimistic. The analyst suggests autonomous business will be a net-positive job creator through 2029, driven by new forms of work that AI cannot absorb, with human talent central to running, governing, and scaling agentic enterprises.
Frenehard said the conclusion is simple. Some jobs, such as repetitive work in call centers, could be displaced. For other professionals, who bring value through analysis, collaboration, and interaction, the human will remain very much in the loop.
"If your job can be summarized as several tasks, your job is at risk. If your job cannot be summarized, your job is not at risk," he said.
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