6 days ago
Why AI Agents Are The Future Of Remote Work
Photo by Aidin Geranrekab on Unsplash
I remember the app boom. In the late aughts, the app landscape was exploding. Everyone was scrambling to release something new. Remember that 2009 Apple slogan? There's an app for that. It felt like a bubble that was bound to pop.
But it didn't. Last year alone, there were approximately 137.8 billion app and game downloads worldwide. Apps are now fully integrated into our daily lives, so much so that we barely notice them. Just imagine arriving in a new destination and trying to navigate. Looking at your phone for directions is less a choice and more a reflex.
Today, some people view AI agents as the latest tech fad. But I think they're the next logical evolution. Ece Kamar, managing director of Microsoft's AI Frontiers Lab, shares that view. She envisions a future marketplace of agents that empowers people the way apps once did—with tools that extend our capabilities in ways we've barely begun to grasp.
And just as apps transformed everyday life, AI agents are beginning to transform remote work, automating routine tasks and enabling smarter collaboration across distances. Here's how.
At Jotform, we believe in the value of working in the office. Since fully returning to the office after the pandemic, we've observed remarkable gains in learning, innovation, and all-around employee well-being. Still, some degree of remote work is inevitable, whether it's a parent spending precious time with a newborn child or colleagues collaborating across time zones. We've found that AI agents are a game-changer for remote project management.
With tools like ClickUp, AI chat agents can act as your embedded project managers—automating task assignments, highlighting performance insights, and filtering massive message streams to highlight essential updates. Unlike traditional generative AI, the interaction isn't task-by-task. Instead of giving constant prompts, you set a goal, and the agent leverages available resources to execute it autonomously.
For remote teams like ours, juggling time zones and tools, these agents reduce friction and lag time, allowing us to focus our energy on the actual work, not the work of coordination.
One of the biggest challenges of remote work is the lack of immediate technical support. There are few things more frustrating than having your workflow derailed by glitchy or confusing software.
AI agents are helping level the playing field for remote workers by streamlining back-office functions like IT and HR. They can be trained to act as first-line, always-on support. They're available 24/7 and never tired, grumpy, or burned out.
Take Microsoft 365's Employee Self-Service Agent. It's designed to simplify routine HR and IT tasks, such as resolving laptop issues or checking benefits status. These agents can troubleshoot tech problems, answer policy questions, and guide employees through internal systems—all without waiting for a human rep.
Without in-person meetings or casual watercooler chats, communication often suffers. Research shows it's one of the biggest challenges of remote work, especially for younger employees. When shifting from in-person to remote work, employees aged 18–24 and 25–34 reported receiving 10% less information from management. They also noted that both the frequency and effectiveness of communication dropped by at least 10%.
AI agents can help bridge these gaps by supporting more consistent, timely, and transparent communication among remote teams.
Zoom's AI Companion, for instance, acts as a conversational agent that enhances teamwork by offering real-time support across meetings, chats, and collaboration tools. During calls, it can generate live meeting summaries, recap action items, and answer questions like 'What did Sarah say about the deadline?' without interrupting the flow. In team chats, it can provide quick summaries of previous discussions or help draft responses, ensuring no one misses important context, even if they join late or are in a different time zone. Like an always-on assistant, this kind of support helps teams stay aligned and keeps projects moving forward.
Agents can also help team members to quickly find information they need—no new Slack thread required. AI agents built into platforms like SharePoint can act like intelligent knowledge librarians, helping employees to locate relevant files, summaries, or project updates.
Tech leaders like Sam Altman are calling 2025 the year AI-powered employees join the workforce. That might sound unsettling, understandably, but it can also be motivating. Rather than compete with virtual coworkers, we can embrace them as effort-amplifying teammates. For remote and in-office workers alike, the future can either be man-versus-machine or man-plus-machine.
