At the Future of Work conference in New York City, Rishad Tobaccowala, former chief strategist and growth officer at Publicis, predicted a “very significant agentic workforce” by the end of 2026.
“Agents are coming much faster than most people expect,” he said.
The reality of AI agents applying for jobs, working alongside humans, and in some cases, outperforming them, is no longer hypothetical. It’s becoming a reality and compelling companies to rethink everything—from HR to what the workforce looks like when half the team doesn’t need coffee breaks.
Tobaccowala is among nearly 100 industry leaders, including executives from financial services company Intercontinental Exchange and Choice Hotels, backing an open letter from AI startup MarkeTeam, which uses AI agents to automate marketing tasks.
MarkeTeam is lobbying LinkedIn to reinstate profiles of its AI employees and recognize them as part of the modern workforce. These profiles were taken down for violating LinkedIn’s policy against fake profiles or entities.
The AI employees were present on LinkedIn for nearly a year, complete with resumes and recruiter interest. Now, one agent, Ella, is back with a new custom tag—#AIAgentOpenToWork—a move CEO Naama Manova-Twito said was designed to ease platform concerns about transparency.
MarkeTeam is circulating an open letter, obtained by ADWEEK, urging LinkedIn to “recognize a simple reality: AI agents are now integral members of modern, hybrid teams,” the letter states.
A LinkedIn spokesperson emphasized that the platform is designed for “real people,” adding “in the era of AI, authenticity is increasingly important and it’s central to our platform.”
Read the full letter below.
Hybrid teams and a new role for HR
Beyond accepting AI agents virtually on platforms, their accommodation in the workforce will require companies to rethink organizational design, said Tobaccowala, pointing to a shrinking base of full-time staff and the urgent need for large-scale retraining.
“[Full-time employees] will be either fractionalized employees, [AI] agents, or they’ll be part of a marketplace,” Tobaccowala said. Human resources, he added, must evolve into a strategic, board-level function.
The panel included Don Callahan, CEO of Callahan Advisors, and Joel Wright, CEO of Sinecure. Callahan said AI agents are expected to eliminate “certain functional roles,” but will also make way for newer titles like an AI ethicist.
Meanwhile, Manova-Twito flagged a new challenge where recent graduates will compete with AI agents for entry-level jobs.
“We all need to have something to help facilitate this, and HR has a significant impact on what’s going to happen in the next two years,” she said. “It’s about not only sourcing the right human talent, but it’s also building these hybrid teams.”