A recent webinar moderated by Nathan Furr, Professor of Strategy at INSEAD, explored where agentic AI is already creating value within companies, and why the real challenge lies not in the technology itself but in its deployment. In conversation with Jur Gaarlandt (MBA’10D), partner at Artefact, the discussion cut through the hype to focus on what makes AI agents work inside an organisation. 

Although AI agents are often presented as autonomous systems capable of replacing human labour, Furr challenged the narrative of mass disruption. Drawing on research and historical parallels with earlier technological revolutions, he argued that technology tends to eliminate tasks rather than jobs, shifting roles towards more analytical, technical and creative activities. 

Where organisations are seeing the strongest results today is in internal processes. AI agents are particularly effective when embedded into repetitive, rules-based workflows such as coding support, contract processing and logistics operations. The key, however, is to keep the human operator at the centre. 

Rather than designing systems to automate entire roles, the starting point should always be: Where does the human operator need help? Answering that question requires more than experimentation. It calls for strong data foundations, clear governance and the internal capabilities to scale use cases across the business. The real competitive advantage lies not in access to AI tools, but in the ability to integrate them into how work actually gets done.