Key Takeaways
- 50% of all working hours will be undertaken by AI in the near-future, according to new research from Accenture and The Wharton School.
- Businesses will soon need at least 60 AI agents to conduct their operations, comprising 35 digital agents and 25 physical ones.
- While employees increasingly fear their job security, business leaders are not always forthcoming with their AI automation designs.
50% of all working hours are set to be undertaken by AI agents in the near-future, says a new report from Accenture and The Wharton School. The findings appear in The Age of Co-Intelligence, which examines how human and AI collaboration is evolving.
Elsewhere, the study concludes that so-called “minimum viable” AI-led organizations will require at least 60 enterprise agents to support key functions such as R&D, customer service, and finance. 35 of these agents set to be digital, and the remaining 25 will be physical.
The research is part of a growing body of evidence that, increasingly, AI is no longer just used as an enabler, but as a tangible replacement for human labor. While businesses are pushing back on this narrative, it is becoming harder to deny.
Half of All Working Hours to be Conducted by AI Agents
50% of all working hours will be handled by AI agents in the near-future, according to new research from Accenture and The Wharton School. The consultancy giant itself laid off thousands of employees last year in what many saw as a pivot towards AI.
The study looks at how at the evolving nature of the relationship between humans and AI, contending that usage has shifted from “simple augmentation” to “co-intelligence.”
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To gather findings, the researchers analyzed task-level data across 18 industries using data from O*NET (Occupational Information Network) and the Bureau of Labor Statistics, corresponding to more than 120 million workers across 18 industries.
Findings Illuminate Changing Human-AI Relationship
The report argues that organizations will soon require at least 60 agents to support important business functions, comprising 35 digital agents and 25 physical ones.
Consumer goods and services businesses will see the highest percentage of work undertaken by these agents, with 58% of working hours to be automated (29% digital agents and 29% physical ones).
At the other end of the spectrum, healthcare businesses will remain largely untouched by AI automation, with 28% of hours impacted by digital agents and just 13% impacted by physical ones.
While it’s thought that the emerging dynamic will have a positive impact on business output, the researchers issued a note of caution: “Humans must stay in the lead by setting direction, defining guardrails, challenging analysis, making trade-offs, and owning outcomes.”
Growing Disconnect Between Employee Fears and Business Assurances
The Accenture-Wharton report is the latest in a long line of similar findings that posits AI is no longer just a tool for augmentation, but poses a genuine threat to jobs everywhere. Recently, it was revealed that a staggering 54% of companies plan compensation cuts due to AI, with a further 26% set to lay off staff in favor of automation entirely.
Increasingly, workers are fearful that their job security is at risk due to increasing investment in the nascent technology. Several high-profile companies have already laid off staff while increasing their AI budgets, including Accenture, Salesforce, and Microsoft.
A number of companies have also walked back their AI pivots, with a rift emerging between employee concerns and the language that their bosses are deploying with regards to AI. It’s expected that this division will only continue to deepen as AI uptake increases.
