Microsoft's Puneet Chandok used the stage at TechHR India 2026 to deliver one clear message to people leaders: AI agents are becoming "digital colleagues," and HR — not IT alone — must learn to manage them. The session, reported by People Matters, puts a vendor executive at the center of a question many employers have not yet assigned to any department.

The framing matters because it touches real people-process decisions. If software agents count as colleagues, then questions of onboarding, performance measurement, accountability and co-worker interaction move from procurement into HR's remit. Chandok's argument, as summarized by People Matters, is that HR must build the practices to manage this new category of worker.

What does the claim actually change?

For now, nothing on paper. No regulation names AI agents as employees, and no compliance deadline follows from a conference talk. What shifted at TechHR India 2026 is the vocabulary: "digital colleague" positions AI systems inside the workforce conversation rather than the technology budget.

That vocabulary carries weight when it comes from Microsoft, whose productivity software sits inside most large employers' daily operations. A vendor argument is not a policy, but it often precedes product roadmaps. HR teams should ask which capability gaps — in measurement, in oversight, in workflow design — the framing quietly assumes they will fill.

The questions HR will face

If employers accept the premise, several obligations follow:

• Who owns the performance review of an AI agent that handles recruiting screens or payroll queries?
• Which manager answers when a digital colleague makes a biased or wrong decision?
• How do human employees raise concerns about an automated co-worker, and to whom?

People Matters' report does not detail Chandok's answers to these questions. The gap between the headline claim and the operational detail is where HR leaders should apply pressure before reallocating responsibilities.

There is also a commercial interest to weigh. Microsoft sells the AI systems that would become these digital colleagues. A call for HR to manage AI agents is, at the same time, a call to institutionalize their adoption. Skepticism here is not cynicism; it is due diligence.

Why the timing matters

The setting, TechHR India 2026, points to a market where AI adoption in HR functions is accelerating and where employers are deciding governance on the fly. Conference themes often track what vendors plan to ship next. HR teams that wait for formal policy may find the operating model already built around them.

The practical step for people leaders is narrower than the rhetoric: identify which AI systems already perform workforce-like tasks, name an accountable owner for each, and document how human staff can escalate issues with them.

The takeaway is simple. Whether or not AI agents deserve the title of colleague, somebody in the organization must manage them, and Chandok's message suggests Microsoft expects that somebody to be HR.