Agentic AI Set To Reshape Workplace Decisions, HR Operations, UAE Expert Says

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Artificial intelligence is moving beyond generating content and answering questions to systems that can analyze workforce data, make decisions and carry out tasks across an organization, according to a Darwinbox executive speaking at the Future Workforce Summit.

Eslam Yousri, Senior Director, MENA, Darwinbox, said the evolution of AI is moving from generative tools that provide information to agentic systems capable of acting on an organization's behalf.

“Wave one is actually generative AI,” Yousri said, explaining that such systems can answer questions, generate documents and summarize information but do not make decisions.

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The next stage, he said, is agentic AI, where systems can automate specific tasks and support particular users. However, these systems can still operate as separate agents serving different functions, such as recruitment, performance management and analytics.

Darwinbox is now developing what it describes as an AI-native approach through its Cortex AI platform, designed to bring these functions together through a unified system.

The platform can connect different areas of human resources and, beyond HR, integrate with other business systems, allowing employees to interact with one AI system rather than separate agents for individual tasks.

Yousri said the system can understand a user's role and permissions and provide information relevant to their responsibilities.

“It understands the roles and permissions and understands your job and gives you the relative information that you need,” he said.

During the session, Yousri demonstrated how the system could assist an HR leader investigating a rise in employee attrition.

In the example, the AI identified the departments with the highest attrition and highlighted product management, where the attrition rate stood at 53 per cent.

The system was then asked to investigate the reasons behind the trend. It conducted a deeper analysis using parameters including attrition trends, compensation data, employee equity programs and career progression.

The analysis found that 40 of the 94 employees who had exited cited issues with their managers.

The AI then generated recommendations and action items for stakeholders, demonstrating how the technology could move from identifying a workforce problem to suggesting possible responses.

Yousri said the system could also support HR teams by conducting deeper research, analyzing information and recommending actions based on the data available to it.

The demonstration also showed how the same AI system could move between different HR functions.

After identifying a potential need to recruit product managers, the system could assist recruiters by identifying suitable applicants and providing AI-generated job-match scores.

The platform can also explain why a candidate has been identified as a strong match, based on factors such as years of experience, skills and industry background.

The AI can then support the initial screening process by conducting interviews with candidates.

In the demonstration, the system screened 20 candidates and produced results for the recruiter, who could then ask it to progress the top candidates to the hiring manager.

The process, Yousri explained, illustrates how a unified AI system could support different people across an organization from an HR leader analyzing workforce trends to a recruiter screening candidates and, later, a hiring manager.

Yousri described Cortex AI as having several layers, with the HR management system forming the foundation and a“context graph” acting as the platform's brain.

The context graph holds the knowledge required by the AI system, including information about the capabilities of the HR system, an organization's internal policies, rules and regulations, as well as HR business-domain knowledge and best practices.

The system can use this information to analyse problems, recommend actions, make decisions and carry out tasks.

“It can recommend, it can take decision, it can analyze, do a deep research, get best practice from the market and so on,” Yousri said.

The AI can also be accessed through different interfaces, including Microsoft Teams, WhatsApp, mobile applications and the HR system itself.

Yousri said the aim is to create a unified experience in which the same AI system can support employees across different functions while adapting its responses to their roles and responsibilities.

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