A new study on the rise of agentic artificial intelligence reveals that 82 percent of executives now view agentic AI more as a coworker than a tool, marking a shift in how organisations particularly in Africa, are reimagining the role of AI in the workplace.
The report, The Emerging Agentic Enterprise, published by MIT Sloan Management Review and the Boston Consulting Group and based on a survey of 2,102 executives across 116 countries, disclosed that unlike traditional and generative AI, agentic AI systems are more than just tools to be operated or assistants waiting for instructions. Increasingly, they behave like autonomous teammates, capable of executing multistep processes and adapting as they go.
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However, globally, 76 percent of respondents already view agentic AI as “more like a coworker than a tool.”
“Agentic AI has the power to transform entire workflows and challenge existing business processes. The organisations that will succeed are those that put in the effort to reimagine their processes and not just force-fit agentic AI into existing ones,” said Shervin Khodabandeh, BCG managing director and senior partner, a leader of the firm’s AI business, and co-author of the report.
But African respondents, according to the regional datasets, go even further, with a substantially higher proportion ranking AI agents as assistants, mentors, and colleagues rather than automated tools.
The shift is tied to Africa’s unique enterprise realities: leaner workforces, openness to leapfrogging technologies, and the increasing digitisation of financial services, logistics, agriculture, and retail.
Across the report, respondents were asked what role AI is likely to play within three years. The data show increases in the share of executives who say AI will evolve into organisational roles traditionally associated with humans, such as assistant (from 26 percent to 61 percent), coach (13 percent to 42 percent), and colleague (11 percent to 35 percent).
Vibhor Rastogi, head of AI and APAC investments at Citi Ventures, said, “As we’re looking at startups in the space,” he says, “we still feel that these AI agents should be treated like coworkers who need to be trained, coached, and supervised.
“There is some level of supervision, some level of monitoring, and some level of oversight that will still have to be provided. Yet, organisations also deploy these systems precisely because they can work autonomously, so a fundamental contradiction results: systems that must be supervised like employees but owned like equipment,” he said.
This mirrors broader findings from global leaders interviewed in the report. Steve Preston, CEO of Goodwill Industries International, noted that AI is already functioning like an adaptable colleague capable of complex judgment.
“Our supply chain… requires a lot of human intervention and judgment. We see a lot of opportunities to incorporate AI in the entire flow of goods and the decision-making process.”
Experts say Africa’s readiness to treat AI as a teammate stems from its historical approach to technology adoption. The continent has often bypassed legacy systems, moving directly to mobile banking and platform-driven commerce. AI agents, which combine autonomy, adaptability, and learning, fit neatly into this pattern.
The report notes that organisations adopting agentic AI rapidly begin redesigning workflows, governance, and hierarchy, with up to 66 percent expecting changes in organizational structure and 62 percent anticipating rising human accountability in decision-making among heavy adopters.
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African respondents were more likely than those in other regions to say these shifts are already underway, particularly in financial services and logistics.
Across sectors, the report found that agentic AI is already outpacing both traditional AI and human collaboration in boosting performance. Up to 90 percent of respondents say working with generative AI increases speed, and 89 percent say it boosts efficiency, compared with 48 percent and 58 percent when working with humans.
This performance boost helps explain why African leaders increasingly frame AI as a partner rather than a threat. Many view AI not as a substitute for human labor but as a supplement capable of filling critical gaps in overstretched teams.
In addition, employee sentiment supports this collaborative outlook: among organisations with extensive AI adoption, 95 percent say AI improves job satisfaction, largely because it allows workers to focus on higher-value tasks.
By treating AI as a colleague, African organisations may be better positioned to navigate the complex tensions the report highlights, balancing control vs. autonomy, scalability vs. adaptability, and experience vs. expediency.
Margery Connor, Chevron’s chief data and analytics officer, warns in the report, “The fast-paced development of agentic AI requires organizations to be agile while consistently upholding their governance standards.”