The future of work will be hybrid: intelligent agents and human responsibility.
Column co-signed by Quentin Amaudry (CEO of Mendo) And Jérémy Lamri (French entrepreneur and researcher specialist in human issues linked to the future of work and society).
Never have speeches about the end of human work been so loud. And never have the facts shown so clearly that organizations cannot function without humans. From Silicon Valley, the idea has taken hold that a future governed by “agents” – these autonomous systems capable of deciding and acting – would be not only possible, but inevitable. This narrative attracts capital and fuels technological imaginations. But it is based on confusion: believing that efficiency of execution is enough to give meaning, and that computing power can replace confidence.
The gap with reality
AI champions, from OpenAI to Anthropic, use this fiction of the “full-agent” enterprise to justify spectacular valuations. However, in reality, promises are struggling to come true. The very recent MIT report (Project NANDA, The GenAI Divide, July 2025) caused a cataclysm by announcing that 95% of GenAI initiatives provide no measurable return, not for lack of models, but for lack of appropriate approach and integration.
This gap is not just a question of technological maturity: technological change is first and foremost a cultural and organizational change, which requires a real business effort: mapping and rethinking processes, cleaning up and governing data, integrating systems, and above all hiring and training to obtain effective adoption.
It is also due to the very nature of organizations. A company is not a well-oiled machine, but a living organism, crossed by implicit rules, local cultures, balances of power and a large part of the unexpected. Herbert Simon spoke of “limited” rationality: situated decisions, taken with incomplete information, in imperfect human contexts. It is precisely this embodied rationality that agents cannot assume. In the same way, cohesion in an organization is based on shared representations and common symbols; here again, the agents have neither memory, nor legitimacy, nor ritual.
The example of a European fintech: a revealing disillusionment
Recently, a European fintech, known to all, illustrates this limit forcefully. By replacing seven hundred advisors with a chatbot, the group hoped to improve its efficiency. Above all, he degraded his service, frustrated his customers and had to backtrack. Its CEO finally admitted: “From a brand perspective, it is essential to be clear with your customers: they will always be able to speak to a human interlocutor, if they wish. » Behind this recognition lies a simple truth: productivity without confidence is a losing proposition.
This episode reminds us that the value of a company is not limited to its immediate production. It is also built on intangible assets such as reputation, customer loyalty, employee motivation. In other words, on these invisible links which hold because they are human.
Hybrid governance as a horizon
So the real question is not whether agents will replace all humans. They won’t. The question is that of their articulation. Agents are remarkable at executing, simulating, and optimizing. Humans remain essential to embody direction, interpret purposes, and assume responsibility for a choice. It is in this complementarity that the future of organizations takes shape.
It can be summarized in three dimensions. First the meaning: linking an action to a purpose, a work to a collective project. Then trust: creating loyalty, making a relationship last over time. Finally, judgment: making a decision in uncertainty and assuming the consequences. In these three areas, humans remain irreplaceable.
Strategic and political responsibility
This transformation involves new responsibilities. HR managers must support the redefinition of professions and give teams the skills necessary to work with agents. CIOs must organize clear governance, establish safeguards, and guarantee that technology remains at the service of the organization. But beyond the functions, it is the responsibility of managers that is at stake. Introducing agents into the company is not only a choice of efficiency: it is deciding the place that we give to humans in the work. It is, ultimately, a political decision.
The real revolution
The “human-free” business is a costly illusion. The future will be that of hybrid collectives where talents will guide, question and adjust the action of agents. The leaders who succeed will not be those who have automated the most, but those who have been able to orchestrate a balanced alliance between human and agentic intelligence.
The real revolution is not in substitution, but in governance. And it is on this terrain that, from the next decade, not only the competitiveness of businesses, but also the meaning of work and the place of humans in the economy will be at stake.
