Examining the Impact of AI Agents on Data Scientists' Skills
EuroMed Academy of Business Conference 2026 · Paphos, Cyprus · 23 to 25 September 2026
George Papageorgiou, George Lekakos · Athens University of Economics and Business
Existing skills frameworks for data scientists were written before AI
agents and still sort competence into technical and soft skills, so they
miss how fast the role is actually changing. This paper examines six AI
agent tools across the full data science pipeline to trace whether new
tasks emerge along the way, and to point to the skills the role now
requires. The analysis surfaces two emerging skills for data
professionals: Agent Steering and Agent Process Tracing.
Thesis
Data scientists are not replaced by AI agents; the centre of gravity
of the role shifts from executing analysis to governing and validating
autonomous execution.
Where & when
Presented at the EuroMed Academy of Business Conference 2026, Paphos,
Cyprus, 23 to 25 September 2026.
Data scientists are not replaced by AI agents; the centre of gravity of the role shifts from executing analysis to governing and validating autonomous execution.
- AI Agents
- Data Science
- Skills
- Agent Steering
- Agent Process Tracing
- Future of Work