UK tech leaders say AI should augment workers, not replace

Senior executives from UK and international technology firms are using World Productivity Day to argue that artificial intelligence should augment workers, not replace them. Leaders from Node4, eMaint, Aqilla and WorkJam say the biggest gains now lie in removing low-value work and improving the flow of information.

Their comments reflect a broader shift away from viewing productivity purely as output per head. Instead, they focus on cutting unnecessary tasks, smoothing operational variability and pairing automation with human judgement.

Victoria Knight, Chief People Officer at Node4, said generative and analytical AI tools are starting to reset expectations about what should sit on an employee's desk. She described the technology as a way to strip out routine activity and redirect effort towards work with greater impact.

"Productivity is no longer about how much work gets done, it is about how much unnecessary work can be removed. But this is only possible if employees are given the tools they need to work smarter and focus their time where it has the greatest impact.

"Many are still wary of AI, but it is a great productivity tool. Acting as a support for employees, it can take on low-value, time-intensive tasks such as research and data analysis, completing in minutes what would usually take hours. While human oversight remains essential, the overall process is streamlined and far less resource-intensive, freeing up employees to focus on higher-value work that requires human judgement, creativity and experience.

"AI does not just support getting work done, it can also improve how workloads are understood. By analysing workflows, it can identify where time is being lost and highlight areas for improvement. This provides a constant source of feedback, empowering employees to make smart decisions and improve their productivity over time.

"Ultimately, AI is an enabler, not a replacer. Rather than fearing what it could do to you, it is time to understand what it can do for you."

Industrial and asset-intensive sectors face similar questions about how far and how fast to automate. Paraic O'Lochlainn, Vice President of eMaint, a Fluke Corporation brand, said the focus on headcount reduction has obscured the impact of everyday friction in frontline roles.

"For too long, productivity has been framed as a maths equation: more output, lower cost, fewer people. Early AI reinforced that mindset. But it's worth recognising that the biggest losses - and gains - often start with the everyday productivity of individual workers," he said.

He highlighted unplanned downtime, information gaps and inconsistent maintenance execution as the main barriers. In his view, AI should simplify access to asset data and guidance rather than drive blanket automation programmes.

Office-based functions are facing their own wave of automation. In finance, Hugh Scantlebury, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Aqilla, said organisations are experimenting with AI for invoice processing, reconciliations and reporting.

"World Productivity Day is a good opportunity for organisations to take a closer look at how efficiently work gets done. Smart automation delivered by AI is helping finance and accounting teams process invoices faster and automate reconciliations. Tasks like month-end report generation can be completed in a fraction of the time, reducing manual effort and freeing up capacity. On paper, it looks like a clear route to improved performance," he said.

He added that speed alone does not define success and that finance productivity depends on better, earlier decisions grounded in human assessment of risk and context.

Frontline operations

On shop floors and in customer-facing environments, managers are still grappling with training, communication and staff churn. Mark Williams, Managing Director, EMEA and Global Customer Success at WorkJam, said the biggest productivity gains are often made at the point of service rather than in head office.

"Some of the biggest efficiency gains for businesses are found in the people on the frontline, and in giving those people exactly what they need, exactly when they need it," he said.

He pointed to slow onboarding, fragmented briefings and repeated training as persistent drags on performance. Digital platforms that centralise instructions and learning are seen as one route to greater consistency across shifts and locations.

Across the comments, the executives converged on a similar theme: AI and automation should remove noise from workers' days, show where time is being lost and support faster decisions, while leaving accountability and judgement with people.