The Deep View: Where humans still matter in the age of AI agents

Posted on April 20, 2026 by michelleclarke2015

 GOVERNANCE

Where humans still matter in the age of AI agents

A lot of forward-thinking leaders are running around right now telling people that if they don’t have AI agents working for them, then they’re falling behind. But what’s getting lost in the shuffle when it comes to agents is the phenomenon that Peter Steinberger, the founder of OpenClaw—the movement that jump-started the 2026 agent boom—has clearly talked about: the ways agents need humans. “They are spiky smart, and they’re really good at things, but if you don’t navigate them well, if you don’t have a vision of what you’re going to build, it’s still going to be slop,” said Steinberger, in an interview with Peter Yang. “If you don’t ask the right questions, it’s still going to be slop.

“I’ve been thinking about Steinberger’s words a lot lately in the midst of all the current agent-mania. A recent study found that white-collar workers are facing an explosion of AI-generated “workslop” from chatbots spitting out documents with poor direction from humans—the same issue Steinberger highlighted. This is inundating workers with piles of these docs to sort out and clean up. As a result, 92% of executives say AI is making workers more productive, while 40% of workers claim it saves them no time at all.

Meanwhile, the buzz phrase that’s been running rampant in the AI industry lately is “AI psychosis.” This isn’t the chatbot psychosis that refers to people who fall in love with chatbots or suffer a break from reality because of chatbot hallucinations. No, this type of AI psychosis was coined from a recent comment by AI pioneer Andrej Karpathy, and it’s being referred to in the AI industry in near-heroic terms. It’s a type of token-maxing mania that AI coders experience when managing a swarm of agents, which they claim hugely boosts their productivity and causes them to work 18 hours a day, as they get hooked on constantly providing feedback to their agents and on how much they believe they can accomplish. 

As I mentioned in my roundup from the HumanX conference, the people I spoke with in the AI industry at the event said the number of people running around claiming they are experiencing that kind of AI psychosis is greatly exaggerated, since it’s being paraded as a badge of honor. Still, token-maxxing is being rewarded with little regard for the quality of the output.In his April 16 TED Talk about how he created OpenClaw, Steinberger said that before OpenClaw he had been burned out and demotivated about creating software. But when he first tried coding agents in early 2025, he quickly discovered they automated “all the boring parts” of software development. “The bottleneck is no longer typing,” he said. “It’s thinking.” Despite Steinberger’s repeated emphasis on the importance of thinking and human direction of agents, the current agent mania has largely ignored this and blown through all wisdom and restraint. It would be smart for AI enthusiasts and enterprises to take note.
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About michelleclarke2015

Life event that changes all: Horse riding accident in Zimbabwe in 1993, a fractured skull et al including bipolar anxiety, chronic fatigue …. co-morbidities (Nietzche 'He who has the reason why can deal with any how' details my health history from 1993 to date). 17th 2017 August operation for breast cancer (no indications just an appointment came from BreastCheck through the Post). Trinity College Dublin Business Economics and Social Studies (but no degree) 1997-2003; UCD 1997/1998 night classes) essays, projects, writings. Trinity Horizon Programme 1997/98 (Centre for Women Studies Trinity College Dublin/St. Patrick's Foundation (Professor McKeon) EU Horizon funded: research study of 15 women (I was one of this group and it became the cornerstone of my journey to now 2017) over 9 mth period diagnosed with depression and their reintegration into society, with special emphasis on work, arts, further education; Notes from time at Trinity Horizon Project 1997/98; Articles written for Irishhealth.com 2003/2004; St Patricks Foundation monthly lecture notes for a specific period in time; Selection of Poetry including poems written by people I know; Quotations 1998-2017; other writings mainly with theme of social justice under the heading Citizen Journalism Ireland. Letters written to friends about life in Zimbabwe; Family history including Michael Comyn KC, my grandfather, my grandmother's family, the O'Donnellan ffrench Blake-Forsters; Moral wrong: An acrimonious divorce but the real injustice was the Catholic Church granting an annulment – you can read it and make your own judgment, I have mine. Topics I have written about include annual Brain Awareness week, Mashonaland Irish Associataion in Zimbabwe, Suicide (a life sentence to those left behind); Nostalgia: Tara Hill, Co. Meath.
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