On July 2, 2026, the joint academic forum entitled AI Agents and Organizational Transformation: From Tools to Colleagues – How Do AI Agents Redefine Work Boundaries? was successfully hosted at Beijing Normal University. Co-organized by BNU MBA and KNX Human Resources Co., Ltd., the event received support from the BNU MBA Human Resources Association, BNU MBA Entrepreneurship Club and BNU MBA Alumni Association. Distinguished university scholars, industrial researchers, business strategy experts and senior executives from the human resources industry were invited to deliver keynote speeches on cutting-edge themes of AI-driven organizational transformation, fostering vibrant on-site discussions.

Professor Zhou Jianghua, Associate Dean of BNU Business School (BNUBS) and Director of the MBA Education Center, delivered a presentation titled Empowerment or Hindrance: The Dual-Edge Effect of Artificial Intelligence on Corporate Innovation. Drawing on management theories, he objectively illustrated the empowering value of AI across the full spectrum of corporate innovation, while systematically identifying latent risks including algorithmic path dependence, homogenized creative outputs, the erosion of human critical thinking, and ambiguous accountability for AI-generated decisions. With typical case studies from the internet and cultural & entertainment sectors, he pointed out that algorithmic models trained on historical data tend to inadvertently stifle disruptive innovation. He further proposed governance frameworks for human-AI collaborative innovation tailored to corporate development, integrating theoretical insights with actionable industrial references.

Figure 1: Professor Zhou Jianghua of BNUBS delivered the keynote speech

Liu Qiong, Senior Expert at Tencent Research Institute, shared insights in her talk When AI Starts “Going to Work”: Industrial Restructuring and Organizational Evolution in the Age of Agents. AI is evolving from auxiliary tools into autonomous agents capable of delivering independent tasks. Within merely two years, the continuous task-execution capacity of AI has advanced from minute-level operations to workday-scale assignments, marking a critical industrial inflection point. Liu analyzed three profound transformations triggered by this wave of technological change, alongside three core barriers enterprises need to overcome in deploying AI agents. She argued that high-performing organizations of the future will not merely adopt AI technology, but translate AI capabilities into sustained organizational learning and adaptive evolution.

Figure 2: Liu Qiong, Senior Expert at Tencent Research Institute, delivered the keynote speech

Liang Ning, Product Strategy Specialist and Independent Business Scholar, captivated the audience with her practitioner-oriented perspective. She emphasized that the greatest dividend of the AI era lies in drastically lower trial-and-error costs. She put forward the concept of Silicon-based Time — AI operates in non-linear temporal logic, which necessitates a complete restructuring of collaboration paradigms. Just as the internet eliminated spatial barriers, AI is dismantling temporal constraints. She noted that the essence of corporate intelligent transformation lies in knowledge governance, and outlined a five-layer cognitive framework: Concept → Knowledge → Experience → Skills → Workflow. She also warned that the "experience bubble" poses greater risks than the information bubble.

Figure 3: Independent Business Scholar Liang Ning delivered the keynote speech

Tian Yumiao, Vice President of KNX, presented Evolution Model and Practical Exploration of Organizational AI Value. Centered on the core viewpoint that "mature established organizations are encountering the adolescent phase of AI technology", she proposed the AI-powered Organizational Transformation Model and established an assessment framework for enterprise AI organizational maturity, defining four stages of intelligent upgrading. She introduced implementable supporting tools including AI innovation workshops, human-AI collaboration competency evaluation, and practical AI coaching for managers. Drawing on real-world cases from the new energy and cultural & entertainment industries, she offered phased organizational upgrading solutions that target prominent pain points in the digital transformation of traditional enterprises.

Figure 4: Tian Yumiao, Vice President of KNX, delivered the keynote speech

This forum integrated perspectives spanning product strategy, industrial research, HR practice and frontier business studies, bridging the divide between academic theories and frontline corporate practice, and delivering systematic solutions for organizational evolution amid the AI revolution. Moreover, the event further advances the construction of BNUBS’s industry-university-research collaborative education platform, enriches industry exchange and practical resources for the BNU MBA program, and empowers management practitioners to seize development initiatives in the artificial intelligence era.

Contributed by MBA Education Center

Edited by Wang Lulu

Reviewed by Zhou Jianghua