What Work Should AI Take On—and What Should Stay Human?

Author: Harvard Business Review · Watch on YouTube

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Original language: English

Original video: What Work Should AI Take On—and What Should Stay Human? · Channel: Harvard Business Review · 01:01 · Watch on YouTube

Topics: AI agents, Task and workflow automation, Markets and economy

Summary

Leaders should not rely only on the rule that AI handles routine work while people handle complex tasks; that rule is useful but incomplete. Decisions should also account for customer and employee preferences and emotions, sensitive topics, and the needs of different disciplines such as marketing, sales, and service. The discussion frames AI as more than inert software but not a person, describing it as something in between. The speaker argues that AI should be managed as a teammate and that managing AI agents will become an important workplace skill.

Key points

The routine-versus-complex rule offers a useful starting point, but only gets leaders about 70% of the way.
Customer preferences and emotions should inform decisions about which work AI takes on.
Employee preferences and emotions also matter.
Sensitive topics may require people to handle them.
The right approach can vary by discipline, including marketing, sales, and service.
AI is no longer quite like deterministic, inert software, but it is also not a person.
The speaker recommends managing AI as a teammate.
Management skills will apply to working with AI, including managing multiple AI agents.

Chapters

Start	Chapter	Summary
00:00	Deciding what work belongs to AI	The speakers ask how leaders should divide work between AI and people, noting that the routine-versus-complex rule is only a partial guide.
00:30	People, preferences, and context	The discussion highlights customer and employee emotions, sensitive topics, and differences across disciplines as factors in assigning work.
01:01	Managing AI as a teammate	The speaker describes AI as somewhere between software and a person and argues that people will need to manage it as a collaborator.

Quotes

AI can handle the routine and people handle the more complex things. — 00:00

there may be sensitive topics that really only people could handle. — 00:30

AI needs to be managed as a team mate. — 01:01

Concepts and entities

AI, AI agents, marketing, sales, service

Full transcript (original language)

00:00 How should leaders decide about what to give entirely to AI to run and to manage? What should be done jointly with humans? What should be fundamentally human? I mean, is there kind of a decision rule that can guide executives? >> I mean, I think that the general um stereotype that you hear, the general kind of received wisdom of like AI can handle the routine and people handle the more complex things. Like, it gets you about 70% of the way there. But, there are a lot of other things to take into

00:30 account as well. And that includes customer preferences and emotions, employee preferences and emotions, questions where there may be sensitive topics that really only people could handle. And I think the richness is really in kind of thinking about it from a disciplinary perspective. Like, what does it look like in marketing or sales or service? >> And, you know, embedded in all this is how we think about AI. Is it software? Is it a co-worker and a teammate? >> Right, because we’re used to thinking about software as this inert thing, as

01:01 deterministic. It’s not quite that anymore. It’s much more sophisticated. But, it’s also not a person. It’s somewhere in between. I like to say AI needs to be managed as a team mate. There are a lot of skills of management that actually really do apply to AI. I argue we are all going to need to know how to manage it because it is a collaborator and it’s going to be critical we’re all managing multiple AI agents in our job or will be.