From co-pilot to cognitive backbone: Kristel Moedt on preparing for autonomous AI in the workplace

Most organizations are currently focused on AI's immediate benefits: streamlining operations, automating repetitive tasks, and boosting productivity across functions like customer support and content creation. But according to Kristel Moedt, Co-Founder & Chief People Officer at People masterminds, what we're experiencing now is only the first layer of a much deeper transformation.

The real shift, the one that will fundamentally reshape how organizations are designed, hasn't arrived yet. It will come when AI evolves from a supportive tool to an autonomous agent, capable of making decisions and taking actions within defined boundaries. At that point, the question won't be how to fit AI into existing team structures. It will be how to organize people around AI as the cognitive backbone of the enterprise.

In this conversation, Kristel explores what lies beyond the co-pilot phase, why new governance roles will become essential, and how organizations can build trust during a transformation where no one knows exactly what comes next.

What are the key ways AI is making companies rethink their organizational structures or team design?

Right now, I mostly see AI taking over operational tasks that can easily be automated, like note-taking, customer support automation, and candidate pre-screening. In areas like tech and marketing, the shift is more fundamental, with AI taking over tasks like coding, design, and copywriting, and directly impacting people’s functions. The focus now is still very much on efficiency gains, with AI acting mainly as a co-pilot. The traditional organizational structure, which was essentially built to manage information and communication flows and decision-making, is largely still here.

But that’s just the first layer of AI. We need to look beyond the efficiency purposes. The real change comes when AI moves from being supportive to being more autonomous. That is when the balance flips: from organizing technology around people, to organizing people around technology. 

Teams will get smaller, information will be more broadly accessible, decision-making will be more decentralized, and roles will become fluid and skills-based rather than function-based. The typical departmental and functional structure as we know it will fade, and work will be organized more ad hoc and cross-functional. 

In the end, AI will become the cognitive backbone, the system that oversees, coordinates, and optimizes everything. But we have to make sure it doesn’t take over completely. People must remain in the lead, acting as the moral, cultural, and meaning-giving anchor of the organization. 

What new roles or responsibilities are you seeing emerge around human-AI collaboration?

The real shift in roles will happen once AI reaches agency level, when it can actually act on its own within agreed boundaries. Think about an AI that takes completely autonomous approaches to candidates, runs negotiations, or runs a marketing campaign. At that point, it is no longer about fitting technology around people, but about defining how people organize themselves around technology. That means new roles and responsibilities emerge, especially around ethics and governance. You will need people who think critically about the implications of AI decisions and what they mean for culture, for values, and for the way the company operates. You will also need roles that define the boundaries: what decisions will we never delegate to AI? We talk to many companies about this right now: what their future organizational design will look like when humans and AI are colleagues, and what guardrails we need to put in place to make that collaboration work.

So humans will spend less time on execution, and more time on defining the playing field: what are the constraints, what values are non-negotiable, what outcomes do we actually want? It is crucial that accountability always stays with people, even if AI does the work. Otherwise, we will end up with a hyper-efficient organization, but one without an anchor in human values, company culture, or societal norms.

Where people still add value is in setting the normative direction (what kind of world do we want to build?), in giving meaning to work and relationships (AI can execute, but it can’t create things like pride, relationships, purpose, or empathy), and in safeguarding checks and balances. AI might execute better than us, but it still needs to be embedded in governance structures that keep humans responsible.

What’s one way organizations can build trust among employees in this shift?

If you position AI only as an efficiency driver, people will see it as a threat. If you frame it as a collective partner, it becomes about redefining work together. That also requires a strong vision: being able to paint a future where the human role doesn’t disappear, but transforms. And we need to be honest: none of us knows exactly what AI will be capable of in the future. All we can do is share what we foresee right now. In times of change, leaders often talk about what will be different, but people also want to hear what stays the same. Rationally speaking, maybe humans won’t be ‘needed’ anymore if we ever reach artificial superintelligence, but the deeper question is: do we want humans to remain essential? That is a huge strategic and ethical topic.

Meanwhile, in the midst of all the AI overload, companies should double down on culture and human connection. Make it clear that the company culture and human values remain at the center. Let employees actively participate in defining the values, goals, and boundaries AI is tuned to. Give teams space to experiment, share successes and failures, and always make clear that accountability has to stay with people. 

What this means for HR and L&D

The transformation Kristel describes isn't a distant future scenario; it's already beginning to unfold in tech and marketing departments, and will soon reach every function. For HR and L&D professionals, this presents both an urgent challenge and a defining opportunity.

The challenge is that traditional approaches to organizational design, role definition, and skills development are built for a world where humans do the executing and technology provides support. That model is inverting. 

The opportunity is that HR can lead the way in designing what comes next: fluid, skill-based roles; ethics and governance frameworks; and organizational cultures that keep human values at the center even as AI handles more execution.