Why HR must lead the integration of AI agents

Digital workers, or AI employees, are software robots equipped with advanced capabilities that allow them to collaborate with human colleagues on specific tasks and processes.

In 2018, a disruptive news story about an AI News Anchor that debuted on the China News Agency broke the internet. Slowly, Today, more companies have invested in introducing AI into the workforce, not as tools but as ‘augmented’ workers alongside humans. Just like Cognition AI and Qualified have done, these firms are now introducing their AI-powered employees, for example, Cognition’s Devin, the software engineer, and Piper AI’s sales development representative, offered by Qualified.

Statistics from the Association for Advancing Automation show that with 9,064 robots sold at a total value of $580.7 million in the first quarter of 2025, orders rose just 0.4 percent in volume but climbed 15 percent in value compared to the same period in 2024. The figures suggest steady demand paired with increased investment in more advanced, higher-cost automation systems across North American industries.

According to Interact Analysis, the Asia-Pacific region remained the largest market for industrial robots in 2024 despite a global downturn, accounting for over 70% of all installations worldwide . While total shipments declined globally by 5.5% that year, the Asian market displayed resilience, particularly in China and Southeast Asia, where labor shortages and rising wages continue to fuel automation demand. Interact Analysis forecasts a strong rebound in 2025, with the Asia-Pacific region driving the recovery, especially through advanced automation investments in consumer electronics and automotive sectors. This regional trend mirrors the North American data from the Association for Advancing Automation, which reported a 15% increase in robot investment value despite stagnant volume growth. The steady rise in Asia’s automation uptake underscores the pressing need for HR governance frameworks that treat AI and robotic systems as operational actors requiring oversight, not just tools to deploy. As Asia leads in robotic adoption, the gap between automation investment and workforce preparedness must be addressed through structured HR policies that consider digital agents as workforce participants.

AI and robotics are no longer just about speeding up routine tasks. They are becoming intelligent co-workers capable of handling judgment-driven work, interacting with humans, and participating in knowledge-based workflows.

Human resources leaders are increasingly stepping in to define protocols and oversight mechanisms for digital agents. These AI systems are not only drafting emails or scheduling meetings—they are onboarding new hires, managing employee queries, and even conducting first-round evaluations. As noted by Welsh, Nanovic, Warner, and Gattegno in a 2024 report from Northeastern University’s Center for the Future of Higher Education and Talent Strategy, this marks a shift from AI as a mere collaborator to AI as “agent,” performing operational functions with minimal human intervention.

Still, the researchers emphasize that “human-in-the-loop” design remains essential to preserve strategic oversight and contextual judgment. Without it, they warn, organizations risk delegating decisions to systems that lack the nuance required for equitable and effective workforce management.

With AI agents becoming more part of our everyday working processes, the issue of who manages these digital coworkers is becoming increasingly relevant. In her 2024 essay titled “Why we need an ‘HR department’ for AI agents, and how this accelerates AI adoption,” Jessica Shen states that “the responsibilities of a regular HR department can be mirrored for managing AI agents,” even if those duties do not exist in a formal HR team. She believes that AI governance should include such activities as structured onboarding, continuous training, and performance evaluation, which are the functions traditionally under HR’s purview.

The tracking of key performance indicators like accuracy, adoption rates, and internal satisfaction is also considered very important. Shen also added that the most challenging aspect of tracking KPIs is that it becomes almost impossible to know what is going right or wrong and the reasons behind it.

AI management transcends technical considerations because of the employer’s influence. AI is increasingly embedded in organizations, and it is time to move from technology integration to workplace governance.”

This shift is already underway at major corporations. In Rethink Your Workforce Strategy to Incorporate AI Agents (2025), journalist Erica Sweeney reports that companies like Salesforce, eBay, and Microsoft are actively deploying AI agents as “an extension of the workforce,” with HR departments stepping in to manage their performance and ensure alignment with company standards.

According to Amanda Welsh of Northeastern University, human resources must now evaluate the return on investment of AI agents as part of routine workforce planning. As digital agents continue to evolve from backend automation tools to frontline collaborators, the HR function is being recast as a strategic overseer of both human and algorithmic labor.

This need for a workforce realignment is echoed in PwC’s 2025 AI Business Predictions, which outlines how leading companies will shift from experimenting with generative AI to building “scalable, enterprise-ready AI systems.” The report notes that companies will require “clear rules and accountability frameworks” as AI becomes embedded in core operations. It warns that without such systems in place, “AI adoption will stall at the pilot stage.”

It emphasizes that governance must include human-in-the-loop design, performance tracking, and aligned incentives—elements that mirror core HR functions. In this evolving landscape, HR is no longer just a custodian of people operations; it is becoming a critical architect of responsible AI integration.

This push to institutionalize governance around AI workers is echoed by Dr. Matthew Call of Texas A&M, who warns that “organizations find themselves at a critical juncture,” as HR must balance AI’s efficiency with “uncertainty and apprehension” surrounding its impact on the workforce.

In the Mays Business School benchmarking study, only 13 percent of surveyed organizations said HR currently governs AI, with most oversight falling under IT. Even more concerning, 10 percent of respondents were unsure who was responsible for AI governance at all.

Call emphasizes that managing the human-AI balance requires intentional investment from HR—not just in training human workers to collaborate with AI, but also in crafting ethical oversight structures, transparency protocols, and upskilling programs to ensure both human and AI performance align with organizational goals.

In a recent survey carried out by Great Place to Work, a total of 7,000+ employees from various parts of Asia participated, where they highlighted a worrying trend; only 49% of employees stated that they were trained about AI and its risks and benefits, whereas only 46% were of the view that their employer was interested in helping them develop AI skills.

This disparity is significant as organizations that have been recognized as the Best Workplaces invest enormously, and their participation rate in development programs is a remarkable 87%. This active course of action not only reaps the trust of employees in need but also accelerates the process of AI adoption.

The growing disparity between AI integration and workforce readiness in Asia, as highlighted by the Great Place to Work survey, is not just a training gap; it is a governance imperative. Gene Marks, writing for The Guardian, illustrates this tension in a report on AI adoption efforts at Lattice.

The company had declared it would “onboard, train and assign goals, performance metrics, appropriate systems access and even a manager” to AI agents—treating them like human hires. But after widespread public criticism, the plan was quickly paused. Marks observed that CEO Sarah Franklin had made the same error as Microsoft and Google: “overhyping something that’s still not ready for prime time”.

The incident underscores that even in tech-forward environments, employee trust and operational clarity cannot be sidelined. With only 49% of Asian employees trained on AI risks and just 46% feeling supported in AI skills development, HR must lead by defining protocols for AI integration, not just deployment. Without transparent governance, AI adoption risks backlash, inefficiency, and erosion of workplace trust—precisely the outcomes strong HR frameworks are designed to prevent.

To further underscore the urgent need for HR governance in managing AI in the workplace, Computer Weekly reporter Aaron Tan spoke with Fabio Tiviti, group vice-president for field operations at Workday in Asia-Pacific and Japan. In the interview, Tiviti explained that businesses must now treat digital agents “the same way you treat humans.” He emphasized that organizations should apply the “full employee management lifecycle” to AI agents—including onboarding, training, performance reviews, and even succession planning.

“You have humans and digital agents that will need to coexist in the same workforce,” he said. Without a single system of record to manage both human and AI workers, Tiviti warned, organizations will find workforce integration “impossible.”

This viewpoint directly reinforces the regional gap revealed in the Great Place to Work Asia survey, where fewer than half of employees said they were trained on AI risks or felt supported in building AI-related skills. Tiviti’s assessment makes clear that the issue is not simply about technological readiness.

It is a matter of HR governance and organizational strategy. As digital agents become more embedded in workflows, HR departments must lead the charge in setting clear protocols for performance, accountability, and workplace integration; before the trust deficit deepens and adoption grinds to a halt.

Together, the insights from Asia’s workforce and Tiviti’s call to action paint a clear picture: HR must evolve from managing people to managing performance ecosystems. This includes digital agents, with accountability structures equal to those of human staff. Without this, AI will remain a tool without a framework, and innovation will stall at the very point where collaboration should begin.

These findings echo Dennis et al. (2023) conclusion that AI adoption must prioritize team compatibility, not just task automation. Their study found that without clear role definitions and adaptive protocols, human workers often feel sidelined or confused—conditions that directly hinder adoption. For HR leaders, this highlights the importance of training programs and governance frameworks that address both operational and emotional dimensions of AI integration.