AI training at an energy company shows domain expertise doesn't teach agent engineering

NumbersProtocol · reddit · 2026-09-16

Numbers Protocol shares lessons from an AI training engagement with an energy tech company, where employees proposed ideas like contract tracking, health-exam reminders, and approval histories.

One employee had a detailed contract-tracker concept—reading scanned agreements, distinguishing final versions from drafts, flagging renewal deadlines—but struggled with the prompting-and-debugging loop. What she actually asked for was a basic architecture, a data structure, and working examples she could modify.

Key takeaway: giving someone an AI agent still leaves them with software-structuring, troubleshooting, and verification decisions; knowing the job well doesn't prepare them for those parts. The proposed fix is starting the next session with a small working example around her contract process, with technical support available. The authors are upfront that this workflow is still proposed, not yet proven in production.

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