Skills measurement is no longer just for employees; AI agents need to be under watch, too

A single view of human talent and AI agents is the new frontier for skills management. Those who capitalise on it will be the ones who win, writes Mark Onisk.

Skills measurement and performance reviews have traditionally only involved human talent. They’re an essential part of HR practitioners’ duties and ensure career progression for employees, and that the company is performing optimally across the board.

Accurate skills assessment often requires data, whether that’s profit and loss, productivity metrics, KPI tracking, or more qualitative feedback from managers and leaders, or self-assessment questionnaires. Skills tracking and performance reviews are a nuanced undertaking, which can lift careers, but also hinder them when done incorrectly, and lead to difficult conversations.

Now consider managing the performance of AI agents – non-human AI algorithms that can help with everything from drafting content, prospect sourcing, customer communications and more. That’s the reality we are now faced with. These sophisticated technologies need management, performance tracking, and regular skills assessment – just like their living, breathing human counterparts.

Managing AI agents high on the corporate agenda

This was reflected in discussions at the recent World Economic Forum “Summer Davos” event in China, where AI leaders expressed that AI agents are only as good as their training, and to leverage AI to make teams more productive, you must constantly check, iterate, and train them to get the best out of them.

There’s an interesting conversation around what this means for human talent and the skills that will rise to the top as AI proliferates. According to the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2025, this is likely to be in the form of soft skills – or “power skills” – like empathy, emotional intelligence, and crucial conversations, which AI agents are less equipped for. Organisations may look to nurture and track soft skills to a greater extent in their human employees, as they optimise and future-proof their workforce.

Skills intelligence: a unifying capability

There’s no doubt that AI is changing how work gets done. The organisations that will win today and into the future are those that create something entirely new: not just a workforce, but an intelligent workforce where people and AI agents unite around projects, breaking free from the outdated constraints of job titles and traditional employment.

Most talent systems weren’t built for this shift. They were designed to train individuals for set roles as employees, not to develop agile, skill-based teams where humans and AI learn, adapt, and perform together in flexible models.

But now, skills, not roles, are the currency of performance. In the new economy of people-AI collaboration, leaders need real-time visibility into available workforce capabilities – understanding not just what skills exist, but how effectively people and agents can work together.

Building this type of workforce isn’t a side task; it’s a core growth strategy – the key to unlocking potential, accelerating performance, and staying ready for whatever comes next.

A single pane of glass

Skills intelligence, which gives you a complete view of the skills you have across people and AI agents, allows you to know exactly who can do what, where they excel, and where they need support before your next project starts.

This can be done through connecting skills tracking, personalised learning paths, and hands-on practice – so every team gets exactly what they need, when they need it. It may also be through creating and customising immersive, in-the-moment learning experiences that fit the way teams work, or using skills intelligence to see exactly what capabilities you have across people and AI agents in real-time. Key outputs include:

• Workforce optimisation at scale: Assemble best-fit teams of people and AI agents based on real-time skills data.
• Real-time talent matching: Use live skills data to assign the right people or AI agents to the right tasks, helping teams perform better and faster.
• Save time and cost: Build the right teams quickly by matching people and AI agents to projects based on their skills.

Strong foundations are key

Developing systems where talent and AI agents can thrive together requires secure foundations. It’s important to consider that when team members move on to new projects or AI agents work without oversight, critical skills and knowledge can slip away. Your organisation’s expertise needs structure, protection, and control.

A secure system of record for tracking workforce skills helps keep core knowledge, guide AI learning, and reduce the risk of losing what makes your organisation competitive in this new project-based economy.

Remove ambiguity and focus on critical signals

Ambiguous systems and processes can be like having your hands tied behind your back. When it comes to people’s careers and company performance, clarity is fundamental. Not having it erodes trust and makes difficult conversations even harder – particularly when you throw AI agents in the mix, which are making things even more opaque. Just as important: understanding when to use AI agents and when human talent is better suited to do a task.

Modern systems can solve this problem. Employees and AI agents can work on projects that suit their skill set. They may be able to work on projects that they themselves didn’t even know they had the skills for, which can create unforeseen career growth and trajectories for individuals. The result could be a much more confident and flexible workforce.

A single view of human talent and AI agents is the new frontier for skills management. Those who capitalise on it will be the ones who win.

Mark Onisk is the senior managing director of talent strategy and transformation at Skillsoft.