The Times Tech Podcast Forget your employees – how hard is your AI agent working?
Mar 27, 2026
Dean Forbes, CEO of Forterro, rose from a tough South London upbringing to lead a major European industrial software firm. He discusses AI as the biggest career opportunity he has seen. Short takes cover how AI changes software economics, the risk of overreaction and token-driven culture, and using AI to augment precision work while protecting people and compliance.
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Tokens Are Becoming A Productivity Currency
- Token usage is becoming a workplace currency where engineers are judged by how many AI tokens they consume.
- Danny Fortson describes engineers being ranked by tokens and Jensen Huang saying high-paid engineers should use ~$250k of tokens yearly.
Agents Increase Productivity And Paranoia Simultaneously
- Agent armies can boost output yet create paranoia as employees race to prove they're using AI.
- Danny Fortson contrasts the theoretical idea of working less with agents to the reality of people working more to avoid replacement.
Fortero Powers Mid Market Manufacturers
- Dean Forbes recounts Fortero supplying core software to European mid-market manufacturers like bespoke staircases and accounting systems.
- He highlights serving 50–100 person founder-led businesses that form the backbone of the economy.