The HRO Today Forum North America and the HRO Today CHRO of the Year Awards Gala were held earlier this month in Philadelphia. I want to again congratulate the Leaders of Distinction and the CHRO of the Year category award winners. We had some great presentations and incredibly intense think tank discussions. And everywhere we went in the HR landscape, there was a conversation about artificial intelligence. I will give you my sense of where the HR leadership community was—and was not—in that ongoing dialogue.

As with any widespread technology advancement, there are people who want to be on the bleeding edge, people who want to be on the leading edge, and those who want to cautiously watch for others’ outcomes. However, I think the general consensus was that AI is here, it is valuable, and it is not going away. Ironically, based on the comments that I heard, most do not believe that it is going to cost many jobs—if any. The nature of some jobs will change and some will go away. Few CHROs pointed to any significant workforce changes or reductions anticipated. Most attendees seemed excited by the productivity opportunity. Within the function, there is an exciting anticipation of AI allowing HR leaders to be more strategic and more productive. There is also some relief that AI tools may offer technological bridges to all the disparate software systems that house HR data, eliminating the need to build and analyze spreadsheets pulled from multiple data sources.

However, there were also grave concerns. Employees do not like the AI phenomenon as much as board members, and HR feels pressure from operating leaders and the board. During the town hall held by Dr. Peter Cappelli of the Wharton School, which I hosted, I commented that when you say the acronym “AI,” the board hears profit, executives hear productivity, and employees hear layoffs. I think we, as an HR community, need to recognize that—and I think we do.

The other issue about AI that was painfully omnipresent is the recognition that the capability has been grievously oversold. Juxtaposed with the excitement about the possible benefit of AI is justifiable skepticism about the way some vendors have made irresponsible claims about the systems. AI is misnamed, as I have said before. It is not “intelligent.” It cannot interpret, improvise, or learn the way a human brain learns. It can observe and digest information at speeds that vastly exceed the capability of biological organisms. But it cannot create—it can only replicate based on prompts. It can recommend actions based on algorithms and probability theory-driven outcome analyses, but it has no judgment. It cannot reason or improvise. However, it can be a powerful tool to those of us who have to improvise, judge, and decide.

One of the more interesting aspects of the events was the discussion of the role of HR in the enablement of AI within organizations. Several companies have already announced that HR is leading that effort or is partnered with the CIO on AI enablement. This signals that CEOs recognize this as a workforce issue that requires HR oversight. Most of the CHROs and other senior executives present seemed to coalesce around a future of humans with AI versus human replacement. In addition, there was some discussion that all of this focus on AI should not distract from our focus on the human workforce and should not allow us to devalue the human workforce.

AI is a complex topic, and it is evolving. Our next CHRO event is in Atlanta on Sept. 16, 2026, and then in Chicago on Oct. 5, 2026. Our next HRO Today Forum is in Barcelona, Spain, on Nov. 4 and 5, 2026. I am sure this topic will continue to be discussed, and you are welcome to join the conversation.

Elliot H. Clark

CEO