AI Agents are not teammates

AI Musings - AI Agents are not teammates. AI agents are powerful tools — but they’re not teammates. You can build efficiently with them, but real growth, momentum, and accountability still come from working with people. In an AI-first world, the stack may scale your output, but it’s the human connection that sustains your journey.

You can build with tools. But you grow with teammates.

We need to stop confusing AI agents with actual collaborators.

And the sooner we stop pretending they are our co-workers, the clearer our thinking gets.

There’s a growing narrative online: “You don’t need a team — just the right AI stack.”

You’ll see screenshots of solo dashboards powered by ChatGPT, Cursor, Gamma, and a dozen agents running in the background. It looks impressive. Efficient. Scalable.

But here’s the thing:

Tools don’t cheer you on. They don’t challenge your thinking. They don’t hold you accountable. They don’t high-five you on a win.

Last week, our team picked up momentum and a got a few things go in our favor. And no — I didn’t turn to my AI agent to celebrate. I turned to the team.

Because even in an AI-first world, human connection still matters.

This isn’t a knock on AI. I’m a firm believer in an AI-first workforce — delegate to agents, automate what you can, use the stack.

But let’s not get confused:

Agents help you work. Teammates help you grow.

AI is best when it amplifies human potential, not replaces it.

Here are a a few pictures with my team in Germany, Turkey and here in Atlanta.

Excerpts: 1. Shopify’s AI-first company principle — tools do the work first, but the people still drive the mission 2. Harvard Business Review on “Why Teams Still Matter in the Age of AI” 3. Paul Graham Y Combinator Essays on startup teams: “Startups rarely work when it’s just one founder.”

#AIMusings #AIAgents #FutureOfWork