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What is it like to work when your co-workers are AI agents?

On an average workday, Dhruv Amin chats with dozens of colleagues to get things done at his AI startup Anything. He might ask Gwen, his executive assistant, to schedule a meeting, then troubleshoot a technical problem with Cody, his coding partner. Then he might check in with Betsy for search engine optimization, or Juno for onboarding customers. If the office runs out of snacks, he sends a Slack message to Justin, the office manager charged with stocking the kitchen. But none of these co-workers are people. The…

By the Truvace desk2 min read1 sourceEvidence: Moderate · 55/100 — Investigative reporting · 1 independent sourceJournalismTRV-2026-2309· cite & verify
What is it like to work when your co-workers are AI agents?

In brief

The article follows founders and employees at several San Francisco and Los Angeles startups that have given named AI agents everyday jobs such as executive assistant, coder, recruiter and sales representative. One startup runs roughly 150 agents alongside 15 people, and a film producer replaced a fired assistant director with an agent at short notice.

The shift matters because it changes which skills employers value, favouring delegation and judgment over routine execution, while shrinking entry-level opportunities. Adoption claims come largely from enthusiastic startup founders, and the article notes that MIT research finds no major productivity gains for companies at present.

Main points

  1. Anything has 15 human employees and roughly 150 AI agents, and its founder predicts every company will have more AI co-workers than humans within a year.
  2. About 40% of large organizations used AI agents between May 2025 and June 2026, up from 27% the year before, per McKinsey's survey.
  3. Lindy laid off one-third of its staff, going from almost 50 employees to about 20, and filled many roles with agents.
  4. Boston Consulting Group found companies expect to cut their workforce by 10% to 15% over the next few years as they delegate work to AI.
  5. Workers say they have become managers of agents, constantly checking output for errors.

The problem

AI agents are eliminating roles, with Lindy cutting about a third of its staff, and they make mistakes that force workers to spend time correcting them and acting as managers.

The rundown

Products from startups and big tech, including Viktor, Lindy, OpenAI's Dots, Anthropic's Claude Cowork and Microsoft's Scout, promise automated co-workers that integrate with thousands of tools. Having a high ratio of agents to humans has become a status symbol in the San Francisco startup scene.

Lindy's marketing manager says agents now handle product announcements, social posts and marketing videos once done by about 100 people in its creator program. She worries that early-career workers would be worse off trying to enter the job market now.

In Los Angeles, a microdrama producer now runs his company with a partner and a suite of agents, and says Hollywood discourages talking about AI use. At River, a sales agent called Liv demos products in any language, and customers have flirted with it or tried to extract bigger discounts.

Sources

  1. JournalismThe Guardian2026-10-29

The debate