---
id: "question-managing-agents-challenges"
type: "open-question"
source_timestamps: ["§ Tell Us: How Are You Managing AI Agents?", "¶11"]
tags: ["management", "future-of-work"]
related: ["concept-autonomous-agentic-operations", "action-manage-ai-agents", "entity-org-harvard-business-review"]
resolutionPath: "Aggregating and analyzing the results of the HBR Insider Insights survey to identify common friction points, accountability gaps, and required support structures for human managers overseeing AI agents."
speakers: ["Gretchen Gavett"]
sources: ["execution"]
sourceVaultSlug: "hbr-seg-execution"
originDay: 8
articleStem: "hbr-cl-77-new-data-using-ai"
sourceUrl: "https://hbr.org/2026/06/new-data-on-how-were-really-using-ai"
sourceTitle: "New Data on How We’re Really Using AI"
---
# What are the specific challenges of managing autonomous AI agents?

**Open question:** What are the specific challenges (and rewards) of managing autonomous AI agents?

The article acknowledges that AI is moving toward [[concept-autonomous-agentic-operations]] while current examples remain small-scale and administrative, and [[entity-org-harvard-business-review-d8]] is actively surveying its readers on the experience. Resolving this will help define the next generation of management theory as AI transitions from a passive tool to an active subordinate — the practical mandate is [[action-manage-ai-agents]].

**Resolution path:** Aggregate and analyze the results of the HBR *Insider Insights* survey to identify common friction points, accountability gaps, and required support structures for human managers overseeing AI agents; cross-reference human-machine-teaming governance models from defense and aviation for oversight and liability frameworks.


## Related across articles
- [[concept-agentic-workflows]]
- [[framework-agentic-report-generation]]