The rise of AI agents is reshaping the workforce, and 2025 is poised to be their breakthrough year. When they replaced artists, I stayed silent, not being an artist myself.
When they targeted developers, I kept quiet, lacking coding skills. But now, they’re coming for Excel — and that’s hitting closer to home. At a client dinner on Wednesday, SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son unveiled a bold new strategy, hinging on trillions of AI agents. The company plans to deploy 1 billion agents this year within its group, aiming to handle internal development as a cheaper, more efficient alternative to human labor.
Son revealed that replacing one employee will require about 1,000 agents, each costing just 27 cents per month. Programmers are the first target: “The era of humans writing code is ending — at least within our group,” he declared. “Our goal is to fully hand programming over to AI agents. There’s no question they can’t grasp. We’re nearing a stage with virtually no limits.” As a major investor in OpenAI’s Stargate project, which will power these agents, Son has a vested interest. During the same event, OpenAI’s Sam Altman joined via video, noting that declining computing costs will further boost efficiency.
Yesterday, OpenAI introduced the ChatGPT Agent, capable of tasks like analyzing calendars, buying groceries, or creating presentations. It can write and run code, filter results, and even open web-based PDF reports, extract 200 data points, and build models in Google Sheets.
In spreadsheet benchmarks, where human accuracy hovers around 70%, the agent scores about 45%. More strikingly, in “economically significant tasks,” internal testing shows it outperforms human office workers in 50% of cases, sometimes exceeding human results across various timelines.
Yet, the trend of AI replacing humans remains shaky. Evidence is thin: a Stanford researcher noted a “slight” uptick in unemployment among young programmers aged 18-25; leaders at Anthropic, Microsoft, Amazon, Shopify, Fiverr, and Klarna predict disruptions, though it’s mostly talk so far; and while big tech layoffs are often linked to AI, less than 10% are genuinely AI-driven.
Experiments like Klarna’s replacement of 700 support staff with AI last year —followed by rehiring humans — suggest limits. Klarna denies disillusionment, citing a need for both automation and a “premium” human touch.
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Still, 2025 will likely see a surge in agent adoption. They won’t replace everything but will automate significant economic tasks, siphoning off wage budgets. A Forbes report offers hope: when Fiverr’s CEO addressed this with staff, they didn’t revolt but collaboratively sought solutions.
With a tsunami of change approaching, complaining won’t suffice. We need action. Any ideas?
