Agency, Agentic, and the Human

In the age of agentic AI, “talent is not enough” must be drummed into the hearts and minds of the worker. We hear the “work smart, not hard” advice to the bedevilment of hard work. But the equation is complex.

No matter how you look at the human situation, being able to look at a given scenario or event, analyse it and make an informed decision towards what to do about it – even if that resolution is to do nothing- is a core part of what makes humans truly unique. With 2025 being the year of Agentic AI, the line between human and machine keeps getting blurred.

It is worth noting that a being with agency also has the ability to experience itself, to feel itself, and to have a feel of itself as the author of such actions and inactions as it performs. Most successful people have a high level of agency, being able to take control of a considerable aspect of their lives and turning them into results they deem desirable. In my previous post, I mentioned that such people are driven by an almost insane sense of meaning towards achieving the goals set by themselves, no matter what. When a human believes in their autonomy to act, broken down into 3 main things: their agency, how much agency they believe they have, and how much of that agency they are “allowed” to exercise. Let’s break this down.

The human condition is driven by a rational agency. This means that we have the choice to act, or not, based on our assessment of the situation. And our actions could be virtuous where such agency is only exercised freely and not coerced in any way. But even in constraints, the human still has the ability to decide what their actions will be. Humans are condemned to choose, and denying the existence of agency is denying a fundamental nature of man; it is bad faith. In all of this, true agency only exists where the agent has a choice and can control what they say and do. Therefore, a human life without agency collapses into reliance on fate, dependence on entrenched habit, or simplistic obedience. A meaningful existence does not come from comfort, but from chosen commitment.

When one believes that their actions have no relevance, especially where they experience repeated powerlessness as with citizens of certain types of governments, the human is likely to develop a learned helplessness. But it isn’t limited to such extremes, as anyone could get to the state of learned helplessness given some conditions. There is a story of a prisoner who was given the chance to escape through a door, but was not told what would be at the other end of the door. Through consistent disappointment, the prisoner preferred to stay imprisoned than to go out the door. It turned out there was “freedom” out the door. It takes one to understand or have at least an idea of the kind of result they might achieve/obtain from taking certain actions to even try. If one perceives no result at all, it is rational for such a person to restrain themselves from taking any form of action. However, there is serendipity, something we cannot plan for. When we look at what drives humans to take actions, we think about what a person considers to be in their locus of control. We have the internal and external controls. Some you can control, while others you cannot, respectively. For a perfectionist or a person who wants everything to go according to a set plan, they may actually never start, or finish if they start because the conditions are “never right”. Yet again, no serendipity. In any way you look at it, your own mind and predisposition plays a key role in determining what you should/could do with your life. A low perceived agency, leads to a lackadaisical way of living which feeds anxiety and in dire situations, depression. People who tend to believe in the power of their actions, and what they have control over, tend to be more “sparky”. Agency isn’t just a thing about the capacity to initiate action, make choices, and shape outcomes rather than merely react to forces around us. It is also about the mind, the perception of agency, or our level of control, of our actions. Agency covers the internal locus of control, but it is invariably supported by the perception of the responsiveness of external conditions to our actions.

Truly, agency is a mental condition. As the brain constructs a sense of authorship over your actions, so shall you exercise your agency. When your actions tend to align with your intentions, your motivation rises, your stress reduces, and you experience a coherent life. You are more at ease, and when you inevitably face hardship, you know you can sail through relatively unscathed or without sustaining catastrophic damage.

A few weeks ago, I saw a tweet, along with a reply that got me thinking. I posted it on my WhatsApp status and got a couple of reactions. @Proofofmaro tweeted (or x’ed?), “I don’t think people realise how much their location can affect their life” to which @ricjsongocrazy quoted “This might be controversial, but your future is shaped more by the government of your country than by God”. I do not claim to know the full powers of God in a person’s life, but I do see the import of both inferences. Society and governments tend to play a key role in distributing “power”, and by so doing affecting the relative perception of agency by each and every one. Unfortunately, this distribution is not equal. George Orwell’s 1945 satirical novel Animal Farm put it plainly, “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others”. The systems of class, governmental institutions, bureaucracy, and colonial systems have a dent of impact on the perception of agency, control and outcomes. Hannah Arendt warned us of the banality of evil where the most dangerous systems are those where no one feels responsible, because no one feels agentic.

Modern work prioritizes security. Benefits and rewards are designed towards security for employees. By prioritizing security, agency is a key tradeoff. Knowledgework and entrepreneurship reward agency but are less secure. The new kid in the block, gig work (from the gig economy), seems to provide some agency, but if you have tried uber, fiverr or Upwork, you can tell how fast some of these options can quickly dry up leaving you with no security and little reward to show for it. People feel responsible enough, but feel less empowered to take on the future. With technology increasingly determining what we see and feel, and algorithms determine what is visible, which opportunities we see, and the kind of attention we get, humans optimize for systems, they look for metrics and they outsource judgment to…AI? That would be when humans resign from active into passive.

Being an agentic human involves interpreting before reacting, choosing value consciously, accepting responsibility knowing that not everything is in your control, being able to act under uncertainty and standing against narrative determinism.

One can flex their agentic muscles and develop higher levels of agency as they grow as a person. Most people do not suffer from a lack of knowledge or even intelligence, talent or even opportunity. Rather, they suffer from a lack of agency. I believe in the statement that “talent is evenly distributed but opportunity isn’t”. However, that also exists within a framework where agency is what is fast becoming the factor that makes you stand out in a world of AI.

When AI is able to do everything, what to do becomes a real, even existential, question.