Pablo Sanchez Martin  •  Steinbeis University  •  2026

The Agentic Paradox

Business tensions in outsourcing human cognition.

As companies make agentic AI a core part of their business, a set of recurring tensions emerges. They all appear to force a hard decision: pick a side and pay the price. This thesis tests whether they are dilemmas at all. A dilemma can be settled by choosing one pole. A paradox cannot. It has to be managed by holding both.

5
recurring tensions in outsourcing human cognition
62
evidence entries, each tied to one primary source
7
steps in the Dichotomy Probe that sorts each tension
61/62
evidence instances classifying as paradoxes