Research: Why You Shouldn’t Treat AI Agents Like Employees

by Matthew Kropp, Julie Bedard, Emma Wiles, Megan Hsu and Lisa Krayer

May 6, 2026

Illustration by Oscar Duarte

Summary.

As organizations push to accelerate AI adoption, many leaders are considering a simple idea: Stop treating AI as a tool and start treating it as an employee.

Matthew Kropp is a managing director and senior partner at Boston Consulting Group, CAIO of BCG X, and a BCG Henderson Institute Fellow. His work and research focus on implementing AI in the enterprise and shaping the relationship between agents and humans at work.

Julie Bedard is a Managing Director & Partner at Boston Consulting Group, a member of the firm’s global People & Organization and AI leadership teams, and a BCG Henderson Institute Fellow. She advises leaders across industries on AI strategy and people transformation.

Emma Wiles holds the Isabel Anderson Career Development Professorship at Boston University’s Questrom School of Business and is an assistant professor in the Information Systems group. She is also a digital fellow at the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy and a faculty fellow in BU’s Digital Business Institute.

Megan Hsu is a Project Leader at Boston Consulting Group and an Ambassador at the BCG Henderson Institute. Her research focuses on how AI and agents are reshaping the nature of work and value creation.

Lisa Krayer is a principal at Boston Consulting Group, a member of the People & Organization, Technology and AI teams, and she is a BCG Henderson Institute Ambassador. Her work and research are focused on the human and business impact of emerging technologies, with a special focus on agentic AI in the enterprise

Read more on Generative AI or related topics Managing people, Leading teams, AI and machine learning, Organizational change and Teams

Research: Why You Shouldn’t Treat AI Agents Like Employees

Summary.

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