21, September 2026

Suprise Fakude

21 September 2026 , AI is moving beyond answering questions and generating content. Agentic AI can increasingly take action, use tools and complete multi-step tasks with less human involvement. As these systems become more autonomous, a new workplace skill is becoming increasingly important: knowing when humans need to stay in control.

For the past few years, AI skills have largely focused on prompting. Professionals learned how to ask better questions, generate content, analyse information and use tools such as ChatGPT more effectively. Agentic AI changes that relationship.

Instead of simply responding to a request, an AI agent can work towards an objective, interact with connected systems and carry out multiple steps to complete a task. That creates significant opportunities for businesses, but it also raises questions about oversight, accountability and how much decision-making should be delegated to AI.

A recent EY survey found that while organisations are rapidly adopting Agentic AI, governance is not always keeping pace. Among organisations using Agentic AI, 26% of respondents said they could not detect unauthorised AI agents operating within their organisation.

From AI That Answers to AI That Acts

The ability to act is what makes AI agents different. If generative AI produces an incorrect report, an employee can review it before using it. But an AI agent connected to business systems could potentially perform actions based on the information it receives.

Consider a finance team. An AI agent could collect transaction data, identify unusual activity and prepare a report. But should it also be allowed to approve a payment or make a financial decision without human review?

That is where human judgement becomes critical. Recent guidance from ISACA on securing AI agents highlights risks including excessive permissions, tool misuse and prompt injection. It recommends controls such as clear ownership, restricted access, monitoring and human oversight.

For employees, this means AI fluency is moving beyond simply knowing how to prompt. Professionals increasingly need to understand what to automate, what to verify and when to intervene.

Human Judgement Is Becoming an AI Skill

As AI agents take on more workplace tasks, employees may spend less time completing every step themselves and more time setting objectives, reviewing outcomes, managing exceptions and deciding when human involvement is required.

This makes critical thinking, business understanding and judgement increasingly valuable alongside technical AI skills. For organisations, Agentic AI adoption therefore cannot be separated from workforce development. Giving employees advanced AI tools without developing their ability to use and supervise them responsibly could create a new skills gap.

For more on this shift, read iFundi’s AI Agents in the Workplace: The Future of Work, which explores how AI agents could change workplace responsibilities and the skills employees will need. You can also read Shifting Paradigms: How HR Can Lead the Charge in the Age of Agentic AI for more on preparing employees and organisations for AI-driven workplace change.

The next stage of AI fluency will not simply be about knowing how to use AI. It will be knowing what to automate, what to question and when a human needs to remain in control.

Ready to Move Beyond Prompting?

iFundi’s Agentic AI for Business Professionals course is designed to help working professionals develop practical Agentic AI skills and apply AI agents to real business workflows.

Explore iFundi’s Agentic AI course for Business Professionals and build the skills to work confidently in an increasingly AI-driven workplace.

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