Factory’s platform is building autonomous coding agents and is already used by clients like EY, Nvidia, and Adobe, signaling a broader shift toward AI-native operating models.

Industry observers foresee a flatter, horizontally oriented org chart as digital workers become more commonplace.

McKinsey senior partner Alexis Krivkovich argues that AI can give leaders a broader, faster capacity to manage across larger scopes, facilitating flatter structures and quicker decisions.

Consulting firms have historically layered management between the CEO and frontline staff, which raises costs and slows decisions; AI can streamline this by enabling faster decisions and better connections.

McKinsey has a leadership playbook for the AI era that advocates trimming excess management layers to accelerate decision-making.

There will be industry variations in how organizations change; for example, life sciences could see AI-driven innovation from agents, while HR, finance, and legal will see automation and resource reallocation.

The trend is being described as the ‘Great Flattening,’ with IBM and others exploring new systems to manage AI tools alongside human workers and to establish guardrails.

Industry leaders from Factory and IBM envision a shift toward AI-driven management structures where human managers oversee systems and guardrails rather than directly managing every AI-enabled process.

IBM’s Mohamed Ali expects new management structures to emerge to supervise digital workers alongside human consultants, with systems and guardrails in place to govern AI-enabled activities.

AI can automate and streamline functions across departments such as human resources, finance, and legal, enabling better resource reallocation throughout the business.