AI agents will replace human employees unless companies make a major effort to upskill their workers, says the majority of business leaders

Companies are scrambling to introduce AI agents into their workflow at a rapid clip. But workers are afraid that this tech revolution may actually lead to their own professional demiseand a new study shows that they have good reason to be worried.

Around 87% of business leaders believe AI agents will displace workers unless companies are willing to upskill their employeesaccording to management consulting firm KPMG’s latest AI Quarterly Pulse Survey. That includes providing additional training, creating new goals, or even changing their roles.

“Our clients are no longer asking ‘if’ AI will transform their business, they’re asking ‘how fast’ it can be deployed,” notes Todd Lohr, head of ecosystems at KPMG. “This isn’t just about technology adoption, it’s about fundamental business transformation that requires reimagining how work gets done and how it is measured.”

The deployment of AI agents across organizations has tripled since the fourth quarter of last year, according to the report. Around 82% of business leaders believe that AI agents will become valuable contributors within the next year, and the same number believe these agents will completely change the business landscape in the next two years.

CEOs have recently become bolder about saying that AI could lead to leaner human workforces. The CEO of Anthropic said earlier this year that AI could eliminate half of entry level roles. The CEO of language learning app Duolingo told staff in April that they could only hire a new person if they first proved the task couldn’t be done with AI. And Meta recently announced plans to replace up to 90% of its human employees who review the platform’s privacy and societal risks with AI.

Upskilling employees might be easier said than done, though. While two-thirds of leaders expect employees to update their AI skills, only a third say the companies they work for are providing policies around how the technology should be used, according to recent research from talent advisory The Adecco Group. A separate study from management consulting firm Oliver Wyman found that while 79% of workers want AI training, only 57% say such upskilling efforts made by their company have been inadequate.

“As employers, we have a responsibility to help prepare current and future workers for the transition to a new era of work,” writes Edwige Sacco, head of workforce innovation at KPMG. “Investments in human-centric change management, modern ways of learning, proactive upskilling, and new human-AI collaboration models are essential for unlocking the long-term return on AI investments.”

Brit Morse
brit.morse@fortune.com

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