Should Your Next Hire Be an AI Agent? A Decision Framework for Growing Businesses
You have budget for one more headcount. Do you hire a person — or deploy an AI agent?
Two years ago, this question would have sounded absurd. Today, it’s the most consequential hiring decision growing businesses face. And most are getting it wrong — not because they pick the wrong option, but because they’re framing the choice incorrectly.
The “hire vs. automate” debate assumes you’re choosing between two interchangeable alternatives. You’re not. A human and an AI agent are fundamentally different tools, suited to fundamentally different types of work. The question isn’t which one should I get? It’s which work should go where — and in what order?