The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) will always threaten human workers, especially since they don’t get tired, they don’t get sick, and they don’t ask for a raise – this means higher earnings for businesses. However, the question that’s commonly asked is how far will it go in the workplace?
A groundbreaking study from Stanford University titled “Future of Work with AI Agents” shows how AI agents are being utilized by individual workers, particularly for grunt work or mundane tasks, in various industries.
The Stanford study took a different path from the usual AI research. It introduced a novel auditing framework to assess which occupational tasks workers want AI agents to automate or augment.
Related: 10 jobs at risk of getting replaced by AI, according to Google Bard
The study also showed a disconnect between how businesses deploy AI for complex tasks, when workers essentially want help with repetitive tasks.
The researchers interviewed 1,500 domain workers about their preferences for adopting AI agents in their work between January and May 2025. This is the first large-scale audit of worker desire and technological capability for AI agents. The result was the construction of a ‘WORKBank’ database or AI Agents Worker Outlook & Readiness Knowledge Bank.
The results showed that most workers are ready to embrace AI agent automation, particularly for repetitive and low-value tasks, so that they can focus on more engaging tasks.
The researchers further suggest that AI agents may change the skills humans need, moving from information-based abilities to people-focused ones.