---
id: "prereq-agentic-ai-understanding-d16"
type: "prereq"
source_timestamps: ["§ AI Employees Enter the Workforce"]
tags: ["ai-literacy"]
related: ["concept-agentic-unit", "entity-scout"]
reason: "The premise relies on understanding that agentic AI operates autonomously within workflows, rather than acting as a passive chatbot that requires constant prompting."
sources: ["agentic"]
sourceVaultSlug: "hbr-seg-agentic"
originDay: 6
articleStem: "hbr-ext-16-dont-treat-agents-like-employees"
sourceUrl: "https://hbr.org/2026/05/research-why-you-shouldnt-treat-ai-agents-like-employees"
sourceTitle: "Research: Why You Shouldn’t Treat AI Agents Like Employees"
---
# Understanding of Agentic AI vs. Conversational AI

**Prerequisite:** A working understanding of **agentic AI** versus **conversational AI**.

**Why it's needed:** The entire premise of this source relies on the reader understanding that agentic AI operates **autonomously within workflows** — like [[entity-scout]], the HR agent that screens applications and runs first-round interviews on its own — rather than acting as a passive chatbot that requires constant prompting.

Without this distinction, the risks (autonomy → [[concept-accountability-blurring]]) and the opportunities (the scalable [[concept-agentic-unit]]) of the analysis do not land. This literacy is also what the managerial toolkit in [[action-build-managerial-toolkit]] must build.