Making AI Headlines · Page 8

The Office Hires AI Coworkers, Then Gives Humans the Job of Working With Them

October 31, 2026 at 6:01 AM EDT · New York time

Companies are using AI agents in roles ranging from executive assistants to chiefs of staff, while promoting their ability to do more with less. At the AI startup Anything, worker Dhruv Amin described interacting with software colleagues assigned tasks such as scheduling, coding, search optimization and onboarding. The arrangement gives familiar job titles to tools that can handle pieces of office work. It also creates tension for human employees as companies consider which tasks to automate and how much work a smaller staff can manage. An agent can be available without a lunch break, but the work around it does not necessarily disappear. Someone must decide what to request, check whether the result is useful and fit it into the rest of the organization. Giving software a name makes that interaction feel like a conversation with a colleague, even when the responsibility for the outcome remains with people. Managers may see an appealing collection of roles that can be assigned without adding desks. Workers may see a new set of systems to coordinate alongside their existing duties. The office of the future has therefore found an ingenious way to expand the staff directory while keeping the headcount debate open. The new colleagues can send the agenda, but someone still has to attend the meeting.

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