The Judgment Tax: How AI Agents Are Rewriting UI Process Automation

Article excerpt

Robotic process automation (RPA) has long been confined to predictable, rule-based tasks, think filling out forms or moving data between systems. AI agents, however, are pushing into messier territory: decisions requiring judgment, handling unstructured information, and adapting to unexpected situations. The shift marks a fundamental expansion of what machines can automate, moving beyond the rigid workflows RPA was built for. But this expansion carries costs, in infrastructure, training, and organizational change, that the article frames as the "judgment tax." For companies betting on AI-driven automation, understanding when (and when not) to deploy these agents matters as much as the technology itself.