What happened?

Experts agree that agentic AI is changing the workplace. From the deployment of intelligent assistants to the rise of autonomous businesses, agents are expected to fulfil a range of activities traditionally carried out by professionals.

While there is agreement that agents will have a significant impact on operations, there is less consensus on the role humans will play in that workplace. What is already clear is that the future of work will require a careful blend of human expertise and AI capabilities.

The polymath idea

Gerrit Kazmaier, president of product and technology at Workday, says finding the right balance between human and AI agency presents new opportunities. In his account agentic AI amplifies workers' strengths, allowing them to function as polymaths.

Experts note the term has its roots in Ancient Greek and describes someone who excels in multiple fields. As Workday principal strategist Julie Colwell suggested in a blog post, the rise of the polymath in the agentic age is associated with a shift in labour demand away from specialists who know everything about a single domain to professionals with knowledge across multiple disciplines.

Kathy Pham, Workday's vice president of AI, also acknowledged the trend and told ZDNET that professionals who can work with agents across multiple areas simultaneously will be crucial: "These are the gaps that we need to fill, and maybe we can then redirect our energy to higher-value areas, because we've now automated the less valuable parts of our working lives that took our time."

The two qualities sought

  • Adaptability: keeping pace with AI-enabled change
  • Confidence: making the valuable decisions that agents cannot

The piano analogy

Chris Kairinos, senior director of global modern workplace technology, client services and technology operations at A+E Global Media, says adaptability and flexibility will be crucial as agents continue to take hold: "Everybody needs just to embrace technology." In his view, a focus on expertise in one area is being replaced by the aptitude to work across many.

"I don't think you need to master technology, because I don't think there is a way to master it now," Kairinos said, using a musical instrument to explain skills development: rather than learning to play a piano once, professionals must be able to tune their skills to modified instruments quickly and effectively.

"It's as if 30 different keys are being added to a piano. The shape of the piano is changing; there are now three layers of keys on that piano, and there are an extra three pedals. If the piano is changing all the time, how are you ever going to become a master? In those conditions, you can't. You've just got to be adaptable enough to be able to use it."

The other side of the argument

The claim that demand is moving from specialism to versatility does not mean specialism has lost its value. Kairinos's piano analogy is about using an instrument; deciding what to play on it requires a different kind of knowledge, and that knowledge comes from domain expertise.

The second of the two qualities the report lists — the confidence to make decisions agents cannot — implies exactly that. Knowing whether a decision can be left to an agent requires knowing the field.

What is not settled

Most of the assessments in the report come from executives at a company that sells agent products — Workday. That does not invalidate the observations, but it shows the balance of sources. No numerical labour market data supporting the shift from specialists to polymaths is presented in the report.