What is the role of AI in HR?

I have yet to see someone in the HR space who “gets” AI. 

I have yet to see someone in the AI space who “gets” HR.

The the HR discourse is all:

“Ack! AI can’t do HR. You need a human touch.”

“Ack! AI resume screeners are breaking recruiting.”

“Woohoo! I asked AI read this policy document and it answered a question for me! I’ll never have to work again!”

Meanwhile, the AI discourse is all:

“HR is unnecessary. In 2 months, all HR will be bots.”

“Our AI resume reader can screen a bazillionty resumes and recommend the ones that are probably bots, too...”

 “Small print giving you a headache? Get more done by letting our AI read for you! Now with 35% accuracy!”

What all of these point solutions are missing: Human Resources and People Operations are complex jobs that require a nuanced understanding of a variety of different subjects. 

The AI opportunities aren’t in replacing the humans in Human Resources. They’re enhancing human judgement. 

The most pain-in-the-ass parts of the job are when you have to synthesize a ton of information to make a call when there’s no right answer. 

The skill is in making the call. The drudgery is in finding the information you need to make the right one.

AI is good at surfacing the information you don’t know to look for. 

It sucks at dynamically prioritizing that information and recognizing when what’s left unsaid is more important than what is. 

That’s judgment. You can’t program that.

The successful HR AI agents of the future won’t be like a user manual walking you through a process step-by-step. 

They’ll be like a 'Choose Your Own Adventure' book, telling you the story in a way that helps you clarify options to make more informed decisions.

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