Not a smarter chatbot. But something fundamentally different.

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Peter van Hees, Innovation Manger & Keynote Speaker, joined Digital Excellence Connect 2026 (AE’s annual flagship client and partner event) to make a distinction most organisations are still missing: the difference between AI as a tool and AI as an agent. And what that gap means for how you work, lead and compete.

Everyone is calling everything agents right now. Most of it is not.

Peter draws the line clearly. A chatbot tells you what to do. An assistant can act on your behalf when you ask. An agent acts proactively without being asked, based on context, data and the guardrails you have defined. That is not a subtle upgrade. It is a different paradigm entirely.

And most companies have not grasped the scale of what that means. The technology, Peter argues, is actually the easy part. The harder challenge is people and the way organisations operate. Silicon brains and carbon brains working together requires more than new tools. It requires rethinking identity, responsibility and how teams are structured.

His warning is direct: if you delegate everything to AI without developing the reflex to know when not to, you stop thinking. And that is a downward spiral.

Watch the full interview to hear Peter on agent washing, guardrails, the future of agile and why every person in your organisation is about to become a manager.