[Editor’s Note: Agents of Transformation is an independent GeekWire series, underwritten by Accenture, exploring the adoption and impact of AI and agents. See coverage of our related event.]
A new Microsoft study of 20,000 artificial intelligence users in workplaces around the world concludes that the biggest barrier to getting real value from AI isn’t the technology or the employees themselves — it’s the deep-rooted culture of the organizations where they work.
That “Transformation Paradox” is one of the central findings from Microsoft’s annual Work Trend Index, released Tuesday morning, that paints a picture of workers eager to reshape their jobs and organizations that aren’t in a position to make it happen.
Sixty-five percent of AI users surveyed said they fear being left behind if they don’t adopt AI soon. But only 13% said they were rewarded for using and experimenting with AI in their work.
“Employees are ready to reinvent the way they work, but the system around them — metrics, incentives, and norms — continues to reinforce the old way,” Microsoft said in a report.
The takeaway: For companies to capitalize on the AI revolution, leaders need to reshape the way work is planned, managed, and rewarded, rather than simply handing employees new tools and expecting them to figure it out.
Matt Firestone, general manager of the Microsoft Frontier Firm initiative, said the message to leaders has changed. Two years ago, executives were under pressure from their boards to unlock value in AI. Now, he said, the message is that their people are already there.
It is the job of leaders to “rebuild the profession,” Firestone said in an interview before the report’s release. “Your job is to transform each agency and the strengths and skills of your people to unlock that and use it to increase the business value of the business.”
Leaders who encourage employees to explore AI and share their experiences create “these amazing learning programs that move us forward into the agency era,” he said.
Of course, this serves Microsoft’s interests: the company is betting big on agents in the next phase of its AI product ambitions, and the report that says organizations must change the way they work is a scene for more tools, training, and licenses.
Alongside the report, Microsoft is announcing new Copilot Cowork capabilities, including a mobile app and plugin ecosystem for connecting to third-party business systems.
New data on how employees are using AI
The report is the latest installment in a survey that has tracked the transformation of work since the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic with the rise of AI in the workplace and the “endless workday.” Last year’s program introduced the concept of the “Frontier Firm” and envisioned a world where employees work as “agent managers” managing their AI teammates.
This year’s Work Trend Index was small, covering 20,000 workers in 10 countries, down from 31,000 in 31 countries in recent years. The research was conducted by Edelman Data x Intelligence. In a new twist, it also put anyone who hasn’t already used AI out of a job.
As it has done in the past, Microsoft also analyzed billions of anonymous productivity signals from Microsoft 365. The company partnered with Harvard Business School and internal organizational psychologists to interpret the findings.
New this year was an analysis of over 100,000 Copilot conversations, categorized by the type of work involved. That analysis found that 49% of all Copilot interactions involved cognitive work — analyzing information, solving problems, and thinking creatively — rather than simple tasks like summarizing documents or finding information.
Microsoft uses that data point to argue that AI is not only making workers faster but expanding the types of work that humans can accomplish.
The Rise of ‘Frontier Professionals’
Fifty-eight percent of AI users surveyed said they were producing work they didn’t have a year ago, rising to 80% in a group the report calls “Frontier Professionals” – 16% of AI users regularly use agents in multi-step workflows, reorganize how their work is done, and share what they learn with their teams.
These Frontier Professionals are also more deliberate about when to use AI: 43% say they intentionally do some work without it to keep their skills sharp.
The largest group of AI users in the study (42%) resides in what Microsoft called the “emerging enterprise”, where individual capabilities and organizational support are still developing.
On the organizational side, the report found that culture, management support, and talent practices more than doubled the AI impact of individual factors such as mindset and behavior.
When managers actively model the use of AI, employees reported a 17-point increase in the value they get from AI and a 30-point increase in trust in agents, according to a separate Microsoft survey of 1,800 employees. But only one in four AI users say their leaders are clearly aligned with AI.
Patterns of AI adoption are still emerging
The report also includes the first data from the Microsoft Work Trend Index on AI agents, which shows a 15x increase per year in agents working in Microsoft 365, rising to 18x in large enterprises. Microsoft did not disclose the basis, making it difficult to assess the true scale of the acquisition.
A new report says adoption trends vary by industry. As expected, software and technology companies showed extensive use of agents in all functions.
But Microsoft said it was surprised by the depth of adoption in manufacturing, where fewer companies were using agents but those that were deploying them more for specific tasks. Banking and financial markets, sales, and education have also shown significant agent acceptance.
In a blog post accompanying the report, Jared Spataro, Microsoft’s chief marketing officer for AI at Work, described four emerging patterns for how humans and AI agents interact:
- Author: A worker produces work, calling the AI for help as needed.
- Reviewer: A worker sets an objective and AI creates a first draft for editing and approval.
- Administrator: The worker assigns all tasks for the AI to perform and signs the result.
- Orchestrator: A worker designs a system where multiple agents work in parallel, flagging exceptions back to the person.
Firestone compared the current era in AI to the early days of mobile apps, when people built apps before app stores and permission models.
“People are construction workers. They like to have fun,” he said. “Their personal knowledge is expanding the professional workplace. This is a new wave of technology, but all the essential emotions of how to transform the workplace have not changed.”
