Research Team Leads - AI Agents Reshaping Research Workflows

Agents might be the technology story of 2026. Everyone's watching engineering and design. But Anthropic's newly released “State of AI Agents Report” has a line we can't stop thinking about: among 500 technical leaders, research and reporting was the highest target for agent deployment for the next 12 months — ahead of supply chain, product development, and financial planning. Why is “research” a top priority for agentic workflows? The report thinks leaders are making a bet. Research spans every function and level of an organization, making it a “high-leverage starting point.” Research and reporting might also demonstrate ROI, including from AI initiatives. In our broader literature review, we haven’t found great explanations for when and why organizations are investing in agents for UX research. We think there’s a lot to learn about how agents are doing research inside teams day to day, and how research-as-a-function is changing as companies integrate agents and personas. Velocity Ave is partnering with Booking to explore how agents, skills, and AI-driven workflows are actually reshaping research. If you're leading a team and have thoughts about this early research puzzle, we'd like to hear from you. You can comment here, DM me, or write to us: [email redacted]