Why is HR not taking advantage of AI?

Recent research has revealed that HR leaders aren’t utilising generative AI, despite many saying it will shape the future of work.

According to McKinsey, generative artificial intelligence (AI) is “the next productivity frontier”, and the capabilities “could add trillions of dollars in value to the global economy”. This tech delivers on four key areas of business: customer operations, marketing and sales, software engineering, and research and development.

McKinsey believes generative AI will impact all industries and sectors and drastically shift the nature of work. So why are HR leaders not taking advantage of it?

A survey from Gartner revealed that just 5 per cent of HR leaders have implemented generative AI in their workplace. Meanwhile, only 9 per cent are currently conducting pilots for this tech, and 14 per cent have no plans to utilise generative AI.

With McKinsey and plenty of others in the workforce convinced that generative AI will shape the future of work, HR and people leaders may need to shift their attitudes and adopt these systems if they’re to survive in the future of work.

“More than half of HR leaders surveyed by Gartner said they are currently exploring how they can use generative AI with nothing in place yet. Conversely, 14 per cent of HR leaders are not planning to use generative AI in the near term,” said Dion Love, vice-president of advisory in the Gartner HR practice.

There are talks to further implement these systems, however. Sixty per cent of HR leaders are having discussions around their organisation’s use of generative AI. Meanwhile, 58 per cent said they’re in collaboration with IT leaders, and 45 per cent are working alongside legal and compliance function to explore the potential use cases.

Currently, the most common uses of generative AI for HR leaders are administrative tasks, policies, document generation, recruiting, and job descriptions.

Helen Poitevin, vice-president analyst in the Gartner HR practice, commented: “Progressive organisations will begin to broaden how they use generative AI – for instance, our survey revealed more than one-quarter of HR leaders are planning to use generative AI to develop personalised career development plans.”

“HR expects to take a leading role in the evolution of generative AI; 35 per cent of HR leaders who responded to Gartner’s survey expect to lead their organisation’s enterprise-wide AI ethics approach.”

There are expected to be some issues that generative AI implementation will bring, most notably a decrease in headcount. While 84 per cent of HR leaders believe it will make HR functions more productive, two-thirds believe it will make some processes redundant.

“Our survey revealed that most HR leaders expect a decrease in headcount within the HR function once generative AI is implemented due to the increased efficiency,” explained Mr Love.