This week brought important news about how AI agents are changing the workplace around the world. AI agents are computer programs that can make decisions and do work tasks all by themselves, with very little help from people.

At a big technology conference in San Francisco, business leaders talked about what is slowing down the use of AI agents in companies. The main problem is trust and safety. Companies want to use these smart programs to work faster, but they are worried about what happens if the programs make mistakes or do something they were not supposed to do. One expert said that companies need to choose between moving fast or staying safe - and right now, they are choosing safe.

Business leaders seem very positive about AI in general. A survey of 100 big company leaders in the United States found that 78% think AI will help workers do their jobs better and come up with new ideas. Almost all of them - 85% - believe that AI is in a healthy phase of growth, not a bubble that will pop.

Small businesses are jumping into AI quickly too. A new report showed that 92% of small businesses are now using AI in some way. Most of them use AI to make work faster or to help with research and looking at information. Many small business owners think that AI will not hurt jobs in the next five years.

However, there is a concern that workers need to think about. Scientists who study how people work found that AI can make workers feel smart while their real skills actually get worse. When workers use AI to do hard thinking jobs, they might stop learning and practicing the skills they need. Teachers say this is like a student using a calculator for so long that they forget how to do math by hand. Companies should be careful about giving workers rewards just for using AI tools more often.

Good news came from a big business research company that studied how companies are using the money they save from AI. Only 17% of companies are using those savings to fire workers. Instead, most companies are using the savings to buy more AI tools, make new AI programs, keep their computers safer, or teach workers new skills. Companies that spend a lot of money on AI - over 10 million dollars - are seeing really big improvements in how much work gets done.

At the same time, some large technology companies in the United States announced job cuts. Companies like Intel, Meta, Google, Salesforce, and Oracle said they would lay off thousands of workers. But the reasons for these cuts are mixed - sometimes companies say it is because of AI, but sometimes it is because they want to change how they work or because they are having money problems.