A recent CHRO Association webinar featured Nickle LaMoreaux, CHRO of IBM and Chair of the Association’s new Center on Workplace AI, in conversation with Laszlo Bock, former CHRO at Google, founder of Berkeley Transformative CHRO Leadership Academy, and AI pioneer. The discussion explored the key role CHROs can play in the ongoing integration of AI into the workplace.
AI is already restructuring society and how work is done: Mr. Bock acknowledged that we have yet to see AI’s tangible, top-line impacts on productivity and/or profitability, and that most results are based on individual adoption rather than enterprise-wide gains. Nevertheless, he emphasized that the technology has already progressed to the point of restructuring how work is done.
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Mr. Bock cited data showing how AI augmentation (i.e., human work with AI assistance) can significantly narrow the gap between top and bottom half performers, with the latter becoming above average.
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AI has the potential to shrink several job categories, including entry level consulting and information-centric jobs and transactional hourly jobs.
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The potential economic revolution ushered in by AI integration differs from previous inflection points in that it will impact white-collar jobs as well.
The role of HR in AI integration: Both speakers emphasized how HR and CHROs are uniquely positioned to lead on the issues associated with AI integration into the workplace. “HR is uniquely suited to tackle the society-level questions [AI poses],” remarked Mr. Bock.
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“At the end of the day, it is human beings who are being impacted, and HR is best suited to figure out the implications” because of their superior knowledge on how work is done across all areas of a company, he added.
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“Think about the complexity of the task at hand and choose the model best able to handle that task and/or complexity.”
Unknowns remain: Mr. Bock acknowledged the clouds of uncertainty hovering over AI, including how much it can actually improve productivity and profitability, who will reap the benefits of any such improvements, and which tasks AI is best suited for. “Our intuition fails us when thinking about what AI can and cannot do,” he said.
CHRO considerations:
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Tie AI model selection to people impact, safety, security, and the specific job to be done.
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Use smaller or prior-generation models when sufficient to avoid new system bugs and prohibitive costs.
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Run disciplined, statistically valid pilots—define success upfront and measure accuracy, speed, quality, rework, and error cost.
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When testing AI use cases, compare human, AI, and human-in-the-loop outcomes.
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To mitigate risk, put guardrails on sensitive work and add human review whenever possible, but especially where risk is high.
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Adapt talent strategies to emphasize learning agility and recognize skill growth with AI in performance and rewards.
We encourage members to join us November 11 for Part 2 of the discussion between Nickle and Laszlo, focused on what CHROs should be doing right now to prepare their organizations and workforces for the age of AI. Register here.
View a video recording of the webinar.
Download the webinar slides.
