How to Use AI Agents: Lessons from the Frontline

Plus an Invitation to Join our Work 3 Webinar - TODAY

Today, a slightly different format from usual, as we explore how AI Agents are being used in the workplace, and invite you to contribute to our Work 3 Webinar later today!

AI agents are moving from pilots to production across HR, operations, and product teams. But the big questions remain:

🤖 Who is accountable when an agent makes a mistake?
🤖 Will 'Agent Literacy' soon be as essential as Excel or management skills?
🤖 Are AI agents about efficiency - or about creating entirely new ways of working?
🤖 Could “agent sprawl” create a new wave of corporate silos?
🤖 Are AI agents the new interns - or the new middle managers?

🤖 Is the future one human managing ten agents?
🤖 What happens when personal and corporate agents clash?

These aren’t abstract debates — they’re already playing out in real organisations. Here’s a glimpse of what’s emerging:

We’ll also dig into some frontline lessons in our next Work 3 webinar today, hope you can make it!

Wednesday 10 September - 5 pm BST (UK) · 12 pm EDT (US Eastern)

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Agents as Always-On Coworkers

At Vodafone, the Eightfold AI recruiting agent is already handling first-round conversations with candidates around the clock.

• Interviews can be scheduled outside the usual 9–5.

• Recruiters spend less time on logistics, more on relationships.

• Early adoption shows people are surprisingly comfortable with it.

But if interviews can happen at any hour, does that make work more flexible — or simply blur boundaries further?

Agents as Project Coordinators

In outbound sales, Artisan’s “Ava” is designed not as a single-task bot but as a coordinator across CRM, email, and LinkedIn.

• It carries context across steps, rather than restarting each time.

• Campaigns move more smoothly between humans and the agent.

• The shift is from faster sequences to fewer dropped handoffs.

Yet if an agent becomes the glue, do teams risk over-relying on it — or losing sight of the bigger design and strategy choices?

Agents as Scale Multipliers

At Connectly, an AI phone agent called “Julian” now makes over 120,000 sales calls a month.

• That kind of scale was impossible for human teams alone.

• It pushes people “above the algorithm” to focus on closing and strategy.

• Efficiency is no longer just about saving time, but redefining roles.

Still, when errors multiply at the same pace as calls, is sheer volume really the best measure of progress?

What the Early Lessons Suggest

From recruiting to design to sales, one lesson is clear: agents aren’t just “faster workers” — they’re reshaping how coordination, decision-making, and handoffs happen.

We’ll unpack what works (and what doesn’t) in today’s webinar!

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More Reading on AI Agents

Will AI agents transform work by removing drudgery, or will they simply shift coordination problems into new places? These recent essays offer different angles:

Onboarding AI Agents Like People
Should AI agents be treated like new hires — with onboarding, training, and clear roles?

👉 Read full story

Betting Against AI Agents
Are today’s agents too fragile to scale — with errors, costs, and complexity stacking against them?

👉 Read full story

AI Won’t Eat Your Job, But It Will Eat Your Salary
If jobs aren’t disappearing, will it be wages and skills that take the real hit?

👉 Read full story

The Next Wave of AI: Building Your Own Digital Workforce

Join the Work 3 Community

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✅ A 30-page deep-dive PDF report, ‘Nine Global Mega Trends Shaping the Future of Work’ with 60 further resources to explore, PLUS a Q&A Worksheet to apply the ideas in your context

✅ Access to our monthly live webinars

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Hope to see you today!

Andy and Matteo