imaginima ZDNET's key takeaways: Employee trust in AI agents is growing, but only for some tasks. Research found that trust increases the more people use agents. The rapid embrace of agents is rewriting some workplace norms. AI agents are becoming a common fixture in the workplace as businesses look to automate a variety of routine, time-consuming tasks. A growing body of research, however, is revealing the boundaries of the degree of control that employees are willing to hand over to these systems. Also: I tested GPT-5's coding skills, and it was so bad that I'm sticking with GPT-4o (for now) A recent survey of nearly 3,000 business leaders around the world, conducted by HR software platform Workday, found that while three-quarters of respondents said they were comfortable working with AI agents, only 30% said they'd feel comfortable taking orders from one. Fewer than one-quarter (24%) said they'd be okay with agents operating within the company without direct human oversight. The research follows a report from Stanford University, which similarly showed that a growing number of working professionals are beginning to trust agents, but only for menial tasks. The Workday survey also found that the more employees work with agents, the more they tend to trust them. "Direct experience with agents builds confidence," Workday noted in a report summarizing the survey's results. Another recent survey, however, found that heavier use of AI can increase the risk of employee burnout. Also: How AI-enabled autonomous business will change the way you work forever And while the vast majority (90%) of respondents in the Workday survey agreed that the use of agents could boost their productivity, many of them were also concerned that a growing dependence upon these systems would lead to increased demand from their bosses, an erosion of critical thinking skills, and fewer human interactions within their organizations. Echoing the Stanford research, the Workday survey found that receptivity to agents varied by job type: most respondents said they could be trusted to handle less sensitive tasks, like upskilling, but not more high-stakes tasks, like hiring and overseeing legal matters. Tension and opportunity The results of the Workday survey highlight a mounting tension across many workplaces: business leaders are keen to embrace agents and other AI systems -- primarily to boost productivity but also, in many cases, to signal to customers that they're keeping up with the ongoing AI boom -- even while their employees are having to come to terms with the benefits and drawbacks of sharing a portion of their job responsibilities with faceless algorithms. In this environment, where workplace norms are actively being rewritten, Workplace and other companies have sought to position themselves in an advisory role, helping employers understand and navigate the changes that are being wrought thanks to AI. Also: Gen AI disillusionment looms, according to Gartner's 2025 Hype Cycle report Workday has also capitalized on the broad-scale rush to adopt AI agents: at its annual developer conference earlier this year, the company unveiled a "developer toolset" to help enterprise customers organize and oversee their internal use of various agents. This is part of a much broader trend among software companies to establish a niche in what's become a major area of investment in Silicon Valley. Amazon Web Services (AWS), for example, recently launched a virtual marketplace where customers can shop for and buy agents.