Since the introduction of ChatGPT in November 2022, discussions conducted at FutureCFO and FutureCIO conferences across 6 markets in Asia continue to raise concerns around job security for workers across industries and functional roles. Among IT professionals in the region, media revelations surrounding layoffs at tech firms only fuel their fears.
Fanning this fear is the growing awareness of Agentic AI as helping businesses realise the possibilities of an autonomous business.
Gartner is warning executives against mistaking headcount cuts for AI value creation, saying autonomous business may free up budget but does not, on its own, generate returns. In a survey of 350 global business leaders conducted in the third quarter of 2025, around 80% of organisations piloting or deploying autonomous business capabilities reported workforce reductions, yet those cuts were seen across firms with both strong and weak ROI outcomes.
The message is pointed: layoffs may improve the optics of transformation, but they do not solve the harder problem of building operating models that can scale autonomous technologies.
Gartner defines autonomous business as the use of AI agents, intelligent automation, RPA, digital twins and tokenised assets to move organisations beyond simple augmentation and automation into true autonomy, where both machines and people have more latitude to act. The firm stresses that this is not “humanless business”, but human-amplified business.
“Many CEOs turn to layoffs to demonstrate quick AI returns; however, this disposition is misplaced," said Helen Poitevin, distinguished VP analyst at Gartner. "Workforce reductions may create budget room, but they do not create return."
"Organisations that improve ROI are not those that eliminate the need for people, but those that amplify them by aggressively investing more in skills, roles and operating models that allow humans to guide and scale autonomous systems.” Helen Poitevin
The broader economic case for this shift is gathering pace. Gartner forecasts AI agent software spending will rise from US$86.4 billion in 2025 to US$206.5 billion in 2026 and US$376.3 billion in 2027.
That investment trajectory suggests enterprises are moving rapidly towards more autonomous workflows, even as the business case remains uneven.
Crucially, Gartner argues the longer-term employment impact will be expansion, not contraction. As autonomy increases for both systems and people, the analyst expects autonomous business to become a net-positive job creator by 2028 to 2029, driven by new work that AI cannot absorb. That includes governance, exception handling, trust-based decision-making and oversight of machine-led processes.
Poitevin added: “Long term, autonomous business will create more work for humans, not less. Lasting structural factors such as demographic decline and high-stakes, trust-dependent consumer moments will ensure human talent remains central to running, governing and scaling autonomous business.”
For C-suites, the implication is clear: the next stage of AI adoption is less about cutting costs and more about redesigning roles, skills and control structures so people can guide autonomy safely and productively.
