From Managing People to Managing Agents
Our CEO Hassan Sawaf joins Robert Scoble to discuss how agentic AI is transforming the role of the modern manager, from task delegation to workforce orchestration.
The role of a manager is evolving faster than ever before. You’re no longer just leading teams of people, you are now starting to manage AI agents alongside them. These aren’t just smarter chatbots or clever automations. AI agents are intelligent, goal-driven systems that reason, plan, and act—often across systems and teams—without needing you to handhold them step by step. And they’re not some far-off future: They’re already in use today, inside enterprises, operations centers, and even homes.
To unpack this shift, our CEO Hassan Sawaf sat down with legendary tech evangelist Robert Scoble for an in-depth conversation about what AI agents really are and what they mean for how work gets done.
Hassan brings rare depth to this topic, with 30+ years of AI leadership across DARPA, AWS, and Facebook, and now as the founder of aiXplain, a platform hosting over 55,000 intelligent agents. Together, they explore everything from how agents are currently streamlining RFP processes and insurance claims, to the next wave of AI-infused glasses that may serve as your personal field operations assistant.
This isn’t a conversation about AI hype. It’s a practical look at how managers and executives can adopt agentic thinking to reduce manual overhead, increase operational resilience, and prepare for a hybrid workforce where humans and agents collaborate side by side.
Whether you lead a small team or an entire enterprise, this interview is your field guide to understanding and leading in the age of AI agents.
What Makes AI Agents Different
Robert pushed for clarity on what separates agents from basic AI tools, drawing on his experience as a technology evangelist. Hassan explained that agents fundamentally differ because they have “a reasoning engine at their center” and are “given tools to execute on that reasoning.” Robert helped illustrate this with practical examples, like telling an autonomous car to go to In-N-Out rather than providing turn-by-turn directions. This helped to illustrate what an autonomous agent does – you give it a high-level goal rather than detailed step-by-step instructions.
Real World Applications Already Working
The discussion highlighted several compelling agent use cases already deployed on the aiXplain platform, which now hosts over 55,000 agents:
Enterprise transformation
- RFP Streamliner that Hassan described as reducing “four to six weeks” of work to “an hour” with agents communicating in human language
- Hurricane response systems for insurance claims, where Robert noted the critical need for speed when “people don’t have a roof over their head”
- Hyper-personalized education that both agreed could give every student a personal coach
Daily productivity
- Email pattern recognition and management (though Robert shared his cautionary tale of an agent unsubscribing him from his own newsletter)
- Calendar optimization and smart scheduling
- Home automation that responds to weather patterns and news events
The Safety Challenge: Building AI “Inspectors”
Robert raised important concerns about agents “going rogue” sharing his experience with an overzealous email cleanup agent. Hassan addressed this with the concept of AI “Inspectors“, safety systems that monitor agent behavior “like white blood cells in the body.” He emphasized that “we need to make agents safe” and prevent them from deleting data or taking actions users didn’t intend.
Looking Ahead: The Wearable Future
Both speakers expressed excitement about the upcoming wave of AI glasses from Meta (September release), Google, and Apple. Robert envisioned practical scenarios like vacation planning: “Go and do some research on cool places to go… come back and give me a nice report.” Hassan focused on memory assistance and real-time guidance for tasks like home repairs, acknowledging his own experience with forgetting complex daily tasks.
The Democratization of Agent Building
What excites Hassan most is how aiXplain makes agent development accessible to non-technical users. “You program an agent with human language, not code” he explained. “You describe what you want the agent to do, connect it to the right tools, and it learns from there.”
From Smart Homes to Healthcare
The conversation revealed a fundamental shift in how work gets organized. As Hassan noted, the goal is enabling “one person to do the job which seven to ten people had to work on for a month.” Robert’s perspective as a technology evangelist helped ground this in practical terms that managers can understand today.
The interview demonstrates that AI agents aren’t just another tech tool. They represent a new way of thinking about delegation, automation, and workforce composition. For leaders ready to explore this transformation, the conversation provides both inspiration and practical guidance.
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