How AI “Employees” Reshape Workplace Behavior

In The Wall Street Journal, BCG Henderson Institute’s Julie Bedard and Matthew Kropp explain how positioning AI agents as “employees” can have unintended consequences for employee accountability and sense of professional identity. According to a BHI study of more than 1,200 managers, those who reviewed work produced by an “AI employee” caught 18% fewer errors. Furthermore, managers were 13% more likely to report uncertainty about their professional identity when leadership framed AI as people.