This new class of digital labour is changing how teams function, how targets are met, and how people spend their time at work.

From now on, almost every job, team, and company will involve AI agents – systems that can analyse vast datasets, apply human-like reasoning, and act independently.

Their presence is set to influence workflows, increase productivity, support innovation, and redefine roles across the organisation.

Rather than replacing people, AI is tilting the workload. Salesforce research shows that 23% of HR teams plan to redeploy employees into roles that make better use of their uniquely human strengths. At the same time, agentic AI adoption is projected to surge by 327% over the next two years (from roughly 15% adoption today to about 64% by 2027).

This shift is tied to anticipated productivity gains of 30% per employee and labour cost reductions of 19%, equating to about $11,000 in savings per employee annually, based on Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) wage averages. Rather than replacing people, organisations are preparing to reskill and redeploy workers, enabling humans to focus on higher-value roles that emphasise creativity, strategy, and interpersonal skills.

A recent Gartner poll further found that 95% of customer service teams intend to retain human agents to help define and guide the role of AI, reinforcing the value of a “digital first, not digital only” approach.

Gartner further says that by 2027, half of the organisations that planned to significantly reduce their customer service workforce will abandon those plans, highlighting the limits of going fully “agentless”.

For African countries, the rise of digital labour presents an opportunity to build modern, inclusive workforces without being bound by outdated development models.

But realising this potential depends on sustained investment in skills training, digital infrastructure, and equitable access to AI tools.

Train for tomorrow

Africa has the world’s youngest population. It’s bursting with entrepreneurial energy. But many young people still don’t have access to the tools and skills that will define the next era of work.

If the continent wants to lead in the digital labour revolution, it should act now by investing in digital infrastructure, prioritising skills development, and forging partnerships that make future-focused training widely accessible.

Yes, the skills gap is real and broadband internet is still a luxury in many communities. But on the upside, AI training doesn’t require a university degree. Much of it is free, online, and accessible to anyone with a smartphone and a curious mind.

That opens the door to governments, educators, businesses, and civil society to step up to update school curricula, expand digital infrastructure, and support public-private training partnerships. All of this matters: not just for economic growth, but for social inclusion, too.

If these foundations are put in place, African countries could not only meet the needs of their growing population but also leapfrog outdated development models.

From entry-level to in-demand

When AI begins to handle the simpler tasks, it’s easy to worry about what’s left for those starting out. Entry-level jobs aren’t disappearing though.

Instead of doing routine work, newcomers will now need to build skills in oversight, collaboration, and using AI tools effectively from day one. The ladder still exists; it just starts in a different place.

This will require a different kind of training – not just technical know-how, but in soft skills like empathy, adaptability, ethical judgement, and communication, which are all human traits that help teams thrive.

AI’s presence in the workplace may be concerning, with reports of job cuts due to its adoption (here, here, here, and here), but all is not as it seems.

Research suggests a more balanced perspective: One of the most comprehensive studies, from the National Bureau of Economic Research, tracked 25,000 workers across 7,000 Danish firms using AI chatbots. It found no significant changes to jobs, wages, or working hours. Productivity rose by around 3%, without leading to layoffs.

The St. Louis Fed found something similar. Based on large-scale surveys in the US, researchers reported one in four workers now use generative AI weekly, saving on average just over two hours a week. Spread across the entire labour market, that translated into a 1.1% productivity gain. Crucially, there was no sign this efficiency came at the cost of jobs.

Adding to this, a 2024 study by Mäkelä and Stephany analysed over 12 million US job listings and revealed that demand is surging for “AI-complementary” skills such as resilience, teamwork, digital literacy, and analytical thinking.

These are the very human capabilities that help people work effectively with AI. The study found AI-focused roles are nearly twice as likely to list these skills, and they command wage premiums of 5–10%.

Even more telling: the positive impact of these complementary skills outweighs the substitution effects of AI by up to 70%.

These findings all suggest that AI isn’t replacing workers; it’s helping them work smarter and more efficiently.

To thrive in this blended future, we need to prepare today, by building the right skills, expanding access, and embracing AI not as a threat, but as a partner in progress.

Because the future of work won’t be entirely human, nor entirely automated – it will be a blend of both.

Helping them take control of the situation, startup Anthropos has raised $2.7 million to create a new way for companies to help employees evolve their skill sets in line with business needs while improving retention. 

With offices in the US and Switzerland, Anthropos’ pre-seed round was led by Switzerland-based Founderful with additional participation from Eden Ventures, Exor Ventures, Zanichelli Venture, Alessandro Rivetti and several angel investors across the EU and US. 

“People want to see a clear path to grow in their organization and learn the exact skills they need to succeed there. At the same time, you can’t run your business without modern skills and a solution to constantly understand what your people can and cannot do. It’s a problem that is intensifying across all industries and it will get even more important as people need to adopt AI and make it part of their daily job,” said Stefano Bellasio, CEO of Anthropos. 

Anthropos was founded by Stefano Bellasio and Giacomo Marinangeli after building Cloud Academy Inc., a cloud training platform they started in 2013. 

The duo scaled the business to over $25 million in ARR with Fortune 500 customers like Microsoft, Warner Media, and Deloitte, and, in the process, realized the majority of their enterprise customers were struggling with the same interrelated problems: employee retention and skills development. 

After exiting the business to the UK’s largest tech training provider, Stefano and Giacomo decided to focus on a completely different space with Anthropos, a solution that wants to help corporates with their constant challenges to retain and build their skills.

Anthropos helps companies centralize all their skills, employee experiences and training libraries in a modern, employee-focused platform. With Anthropos, companies can map out dedicated paths for every role inside the organization. 

As a result, employees can upskill themselves in accordance with the roles they want to advance in, and companies can constantly assess what skills are relevant for each role and verify which employees have those skills. 

This is a significant improvement from the status quo of long, convoluted employee questionnaires to ascertain skill abilities. Central to evidencing its approach, Anthropos can verify soft and technical skills at different stages of the employee lifecycle, from hiring to training and progression.

As part of the platform, Anthropos has built its own skills taxonomy, which currently covers over 60,000 skills and 18,000 job roles. The company has also created a new technology, called AI Job Simulations, to screen candidates at scale by placing them into immersive real-life scenarios with virtual customers, stakeholders, and colleagues where they can solve missions that demonstrate their soft and hard skills. 

Early customers at Anthropos have decided to customize their AI Job Simulations to screen candidates at scale and to prepare them for new roles, letting them make mistakes talking to (virtual) customers and other teams and learning from them in a safe environment.

The founders describe Anthropos as the easiest way to build a school for each organization where people can learn and evolve with the business at different stages of the employee lifecycle. 

As part of this, Anthropos is also designed to act as a network. Employees can see the skills their colleagues have, learn how they acquired them, and ultimately pinpoint potential mentors to help them grow. 

The team launched Anthropos earlier this year and their initial customer base, concentrated in the tech and tech consulting space, is already leveraging Anthropos to stay competitive and retain top talent. 

Current customers are using Anthropos to rapidly verify the skills of employees that were migrating to new roles, to easily identify the right people with the right skills for certain projects, and to screen candidates at scale by putting them in real scenarios related to their roles using the company’s AI Job Simulations. 

“It’s a great opportunity for companies. We have seen it first hand, modern generations consider growth and a clear path to learning new skills as the most important aspects of their jobs. It’s more important than your salary or bonuses. If you can’t provide this, you will see employees joining and leaving within months.” said CEO Stefano Bellasio. 

Antonia Albert, Principal at Founderful added: “We believe that every employee wants to grow and evolve, and that lack of career development and advancement is one of the key drivers of employee turnover. Using AI to democratize career paths and skills development is such a great mission. 

We are convinced that Stefano and Giacomo, after having successfully scaled and sold their previous tech company, are the right founders to give both companies and employees the transparency needed to enable clear career paths and professional as well as personal growth.”

Looking ahead, Anthropos plans to provide companies and employees access to thousands of skill paths and AI Simulations for roles and skills across multiple departments that every organization can customize. The company is also planning to publish its first batch of AI Job Simulations in the coming months. 

“Giacomo and I envision Anthropos becoming the solution for companies to manage and develop all their competencies. In a world that will be redesigned by AI in every role, we believe it’s a great opportunity to help everyone transform their careers,” added CEO Stefano Bellasio.