AI employees and the future of work with Surojit Chatterjee

Nov 3, 2025

Surojit Chatterjee, the Founder and CEO of Ema and former Chief Product Officer at Coinbase, discusses transformative AI in the workplace. He envisions 'AI employees' as collaborators that reshape workflows, allowing humans to focus on higher-value tasks. Surojit highlights the need for organizations to adapt their legacy systems to an AI-first approach and stresses the importance of customer empathy and rapid experimentation in building effective software. He advises businesses to reskill teams, start early with AI experimentation, and maintain transparency to build trust.

Ask episode

AI Snips

Chapters

Transcript

Episode notes

INSIGHT

AI Employees Will Handle Mundane Work

Surojit Chatterjee predicts a future of human and AI employees working together, with AI taking over repetitive, soul-crushing tasks.
He envisions universal AI employees adaptable across functions, freeing humans for higher-value work.

INSIGHT

AI As A Thought Partner

Generative AI shifts technology from a tool to a thought partner that accelerates research and decision-making.
Surojit says AI acts like an advisor, offering substantive, back-and-forth assistance that amplifies human judgment.

INSIGHT

Software Must Adapt To The Enterprise

Past enterprise software forced companies to adapt to static tools; generative AI enables software to adapt to each company's processes.
Surojit argues this malleability will reduce patchwork complexity and change how software is built and sold.

Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode

Get the app

Episode web page: https://bit.ly/4qwkj8C

-----------------------

Episode summary:

In this eye-opening episode of Insights Unlocked, host Mike Mace chats with Surojit Chatterjee—former Chief Product Officer at Coinbase and current founder and CEO of Ema—about the sweeping changes generative AI is bringing to the workplace.

Surojit unpacks his vision of “AI employees”—intelligent agents that can handle complex workflows, adapt to company-specific processes, and act as true collaborators rather than just tools. Drawing on his leadership at Google, Coinbase, and now Ema, he explains why organizations must stop retrofitting AI into outdated workflows and instead embrace an “AI + human” model of work.

From transforming enterprise functions like HR, finance, and customer support to challenging legacy software models, this conversation delivers sharp insights for leaders navigating the shift to AI-driven operations. Surojit also shares advice for companies just starting their AI journey, including the importance of experimentation, transparency, and reskilling teams.

What you’ll learn in this episode:

Why the next generation of software must adapt to the enterprise—not the other way around
How AI can eliminate mundane tasks and unlock more meaningful human work
What legacy tech companies risk if they don’t embrace a new AI-first paradigm
The role of customer empathy and rapid experimentation in building
Transformative AI products
How to lead an “AI + human” business transformation, function by function
Why trust and transparency are key to successfully integrating AI into your team

Resources & Links:

Surojit Chatterjee on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/surojitchatterjee/)
Ema website (https://www.ema.co/)
UserTesting’s Mike Mace on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikemace/)
Nathan Isaacs on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathanisaacs/)
Learn more about Insights Unlocked: https://www.usertesting.com/podcast

About the show:

Insights Unlocked is the go-to podcast for marketing, UX, product, and CX leaders. Each week, we feature candid conversations with the builders and thinkers behind today’s most impactful customer experiences. Brought to you by UserTesting.