July 26, 2025
5 min read
Lucy Buchholz
Orby AI’s Co-Founder Will Lu explains how AI agents go beyond automation to truly understand workflows and reshape work productivity.
Orby AI: ‘AI agents don’t just do the work – they understand what you’re doing’
By Lucy Buchholz | July 25, 2025 By 2030, 60% of US workers could have 30% of their work automated, according to McKinsey research. This equates to roughly 72 billion hours of labor annually in the US alone — the equivalent of around 100,000 people’s lifetimes each year. This statistic inspired Will Lu to co-found Orby AI, an AI agent platform designed to empower enterprise employees by automating repetitive tasks and scaling their work.The reality of AI systems
Generative AI is often perceived as possessing near-PhD-level intelligence, with many anticipating Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) to be imminent. However, Will Lu highlights that despite its impressive capabilities, generative AI remains "hit or miss" in enterprise settings.“Most of the time, it does solve the problem, but there are instances where it makes silly mistakes. Even the best performance typically hovers around 90%, even for relatively simple tasks like high school-level math problems.”Lu stresses that while generative AI is useful for drafting and light editing, it requires human oversight, especially for critical enterprise tasks such as financial processes. Mistakes in these areas can lead to costly compliance fines or incorrect payments.
“That’s why we’re developing our own AI agent model at Orby, to make AI scalable and reliable for enterprises.”AI agents also face challenges in complex HR scenarios involving human judgment, like hiring or performance evaluations. For example, agents might misinterpret policy requirements, such as accepting four years of experience when five are required, or misjudge candidates from lesser-known schools or countries. Lu emphasizes the importance of clearly defined policies and efficient human review processes to ensure AI agents make reliable decisions.
“Through Orby, we provide tools to analyze large volumes of decisions, identify outliers, potential risks, and opportunities to improve efficiency.”
How AI agents will shape the future
Lu is optimistic about the transformative potential of AI agents. He believes their biggest advantage is providing employees with unparalleled agility and scalability. Using finance as an example, Lu explains how AI agents can help businesses manage unpredictable high-volume workloads during busy seasons without overburdening employees.“With AI agents, businesses can scale up quickly and handle a larger volume of tasks. Employees can manage these tasks on-demand and more efficiently.”Beyond task execution, Lu highlights that AI agents understand the work employees do, tracking completed tasks, summarizing activities, and benchmarking performance against peers.
“Agents can identify areas for optimization, highlight risks, and alert employees if policies aren’t followed correctly. This makes them powerful tools for managing daily work.”
When will your business be ready to embrace AI agents?
Originally published at UNLEASH on July 25, 2025.