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Everyone is talking about AI. But what are the questions you should be asking?
Everyone is talking about AI. Your employees are talking about it. Your leadership team is talking about it. Technology providers are talking about it. And increasingly, HR is being asked to work out what it actually means for people, work and the future of organisations.
But amongst all the noise, there is still a lot of uncertainty. What should we actually be doing with AI? Where should we start? How do we know when it is delivering value? And how do we make sure that bringing AI into the workplace does not mean losing the human judgement and experience that make our organisations work?
Through more than 250 conversations with HR leaders across 100+ organisations, we have heard many different questions about AI. But one thing comes through consistently: there is no single answer, and there is no one-size-fits-all approach. Instead, there are some principles worth keeping in mind.
Start with the problem, not the technology
With new AI tools appearing all the time, it is easy to start with the technology. But having access to a tool does not necessarily mean you have identified the right problem to solve.
A better starting point is to understand where AI could genuinely improve the way people work. Where is there repetitive work that could be reduced? Where are people spending time searching for information? Where could AI help people explore ideas, analyse information or work more effectively?
The question is not simply, “What can AI do?” It is, “Where could AI make a meaningful difference to our organisation and our people?”
Keep people and judgement at the centre
There is a temptation to expect AI to make everything quicker and easier from the moment we start using it. We ask a question, receive an answer and move on. In reality, it does not always work like that.
Sometimes the answer is not quite right. Sometimes AI misses the context. Sometimes getting the result you need takes more time than expected. And sometimes the most useful part of using AI is not the answer it gives you, but the way it challenges your own thinking.
There are two easy traps to fall into. You can rely on AI too much and let it do all the thinking, or you can try it once, dislike the result and decide it is not useful. There is a third option: keep experimenting, learning and evolving.
Think about AI in the same way you might think about a new starter. You would give them context. You would explain what you need. You would provide examples and feedback. You would not expect them to get everything right first time.
Working with AI can be similar. The more we learn how to provide the right context, challenge the output and explain what good looks like, the more useful it can become. The goal is not for AI to think instead of us. It is for AI to help us think better.
Think about what happens to the capacity you create
The conversation around AI often focuses on productivity. Of course, saving time matters. But what happens with the time and capacity that AI creates?
Can people focus on more valuable work? Can teams spend more time with customers? Can HR professionals spend less time searching for information and more time supporting people? Can AI help us improve the quality of our work, rather than simply produce more of it?
These questions make the conversation much more interesting. The opportunity is not simply about doing more with fewer people. It is about understanding how people and technology can work together to achieve more.
That means thinking about AI not just as a technology decision, but as something that can change how work gets done, what people need to succeed and how organisations create value.
Accept that you will not have all the answers
AI is developing quickly, and organisations are still learning what effective adoption looks like. Some approaches will work. Others will not. Some experiments will create immediate value, while others will simply show you what needs to change. That is part of the journey.
The organisations making progress will not necessarily be the ones that have all the answers today. They may be the ones willing to ask better questions, experiment responsibly and keep learning.
For HR leaders, that means looking beyond the latest tool or prediction and thinking about the bigger picture. What does AI mean for our people? How might work change? What skills will we need? What risks do we need to manage? And how do we make sure that experimentation leads to meaningful value?
There is no perfect starting point. But asking the right questions can make the next step much clearer.
What questions should leaders be asking about AI in HR?
There is no shortage of information about AI. There are new tools, new predictions and new opinions appearing every day. The challenge is cutting through the noise and focusing on the questions that actually matter for your organisation.
That is why we have brought together what we are hearing from HR leaders across more than 250 conversations with leaders in 100+ organisations.
Our latest whitepaper, The Five Questions: Defining Workforce Transformation in the Age of AI, explores five connected areas: Governance, People, Technology, Value and Skills. It is designed to help HR leaders think through what AI means for their organisation, whether they are just starting to explore AI, already experimenting with different tools, or trying to turn that experimentation into practical action. Because sometimes the best place to start with AI is not with another tool. It is with the right questions.
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