New research commissioned by content management platform Box reveals UK organisations increasingly expect AI to create new jobs and reshape workforces rather than reduce them.
Among UK IT decision-makers surveyed, nearly two-thirds (65%) expect their organisation’s overall headcount to increase over the next three years, compared with just 14% who expect it to decrease.
The findings suggest UK organisations are entering a new phase of AI adoption, moving beyond experimentation and beginning to build what Box describes as the ‘agentic enterprise’ where AI agents are embedded into workflows, connected to enterprise knowledge and used to automate increasingly complex tasks.
“UK organisations are moving beyond AI experimentation and into operationalisation,” said Samantha Wessels, President, EMEA, Box. “We’re entering the era of the agentic enterprise, where AI is becoming embedded into everyday business processes and workflows. The companies seeing the greatest success are not simply deploying more AI tools; they are building the foundations that allow AI to scale across the business, including trusted content, governance frameworks and the teams needed to manage agentic workflows. As organisations embrace the next phase of AI, the focus is increasingly shifting from individual productivity gains to transforming how work gets done.”
AI is reshaping workforces, not replacing them
Despite widespread concern about AI-driven job losses, only 8% of organisations currently using or experimenting with AI agents say those agents are primarily eliminating existing roles today.
Instead, organisations report growing demand for new AI-focused roles to support the rise of the ‘agentic enterprise’. Nearly half (48%) report hiring AI agent operators within IT teams, while others are adding workflow automation specialists (32%), security, risk and compliance professionals (31%), change management and AI enablement roles (31%) and AI ethics and governance specialists (26%).
The findings suggest that UK organisations increasingly view AI as a workforce transformation opportunity, creating demand for new skills and operational expertise.
UK businesses have moved beyond experimentation
The research also reveals UK organisations are rapidly advancing their AI strategies. Nearly two-thirds (63%) now describe their organisation as advanced or leading-edge in AI adoption, while 85% are already using AI agents in specific workflows or more broadly across the business.
As organisations move from pilots to production deployments, attention is shifting from experimentation to scaling AI across core business processes.
Trust remains a major AI challenge
While adoption is accelerating, many organisations are still working to connect AI systems to the information they need to deliver meaningful business outcomes.
Almost all respondents (96%) say access to company content, documents and organisational knowledge is important for deploying AI agents. However, only 32% say they have connected agents to trusted internal content across many use cases.
The findings point to a growing focus on ensuring AI can securely access the right enterprise knowledge and context.
Governance is becoming the foundation of enterprise AI
The research also suggests governance is increasingly viewed as an enabler of AI adoption rather than a barrier to innovation.
Almost all respondents (94%) agree that better governance would help their organisation move faster with agentic AI over time, while 93% say strong governance is necessary to scale agentic AI responsibly. More than nine in ten (92%) also agree that permissions and access controls are critical for trustworthy enterprise AI.
At the same time, nearly half (45%) of respondents say their organisation has experienced an AI-related data exposure incident where an AI tool surfaced content a user should not have been able to access, while only 44% report having comprehensive visibility into sanctioned and unsanctioned use of AI tools and agents.
