How AI in the Workforce Will Impact Talent Strategies

Executive leaders face the question of how their investments in generative AI will impact jobs — including their own. Hype about generative AI has exploded: 1 in 2 HR leaders have now deployed GenAI in their HR function. The decision is often about how quickly to put it in place, not about whether to invest in it at all. Accelerated investment cycles in generative AI, combined with preexisting labor market shifts, have renewed anxiety about the future workforce — which jobs and roles are at risk and what to do about it. During the late 2010s, few executives would claim that layoffs were due to investments in AI or automation. They would say they upskilled and shifted impacted staff to other roles. Today, attitudes have shifted, and executives are willing to explicitly call out AI as one of the reasons that positions will go away — whether AI is truly the culprit or not.

Generative AI will significantly impact jobs and workers, but the impact will vary greatly based on how transformative the organization decides to be and how much growth the organization expects. Executive leaders must consider their enterprise’s unique situation as they anticipate the effects of this technology (and AI more broadly) on the workforce, and should structure and adapt their strategies to future-proof their workforce. 

HR Leaders can work with their partners to set realistic expectations for generative AI’s impact on their workforce. At a minimum, executive leaders should assess their organization’s initial investments in generative AI, regularly incorporate the impact of these investments into their workforce strategy and work toward developing the skills that all organizational roles will require.