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50 AI agents get their first annual performance review - 6 lessons learned


For one year, a McKinsey team observed these digital employees on the job. Here's their progress report.

"Agentic AI efforts that focus on fundamentally reimagining entire workflows -- that is, the steps that involve people, processes, and technology -- are more likely to deliver a positive outcome," according to the review. One of the most common issues observed by the McKinsey team is "agentic systems that seem impressive in demos but frustrate users who are actually responsible for the work" -- with "AI slop or low-quality outputs." "Building monitoring and evaluation into the workflow can enable teams to catch mistakes early, refine the logic, and continually improve performance, even after the agents are deployed."

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