Building a Smarter Workforce: The Strategic Role of HR in AI Adoption

• By: Posted by HR Alliance Staff
• On: 05/28/2025 10:11:40
• In: Artificial Intelligence
• Comments: 0

HR Alliance's May program featured a panel of AI experts sharing insights and discussing questions about AI use in today's workforce. I moderated the discussion among an esteemed panel of: 
 

• Marvin Harris, Founder, Compound Leverage and Al Advisor, Stewards Al; 
• Richard Mendis, Chief Marketing Officer, HireLogic; and
• Sam Nazari, DARPA Research and Development, ES&T, Amentum. 

In this blog we'll share the key insights of the discussion. 

HR manages a lot of data, creating opportunities to apply AI across the entire employee lifecycle from application and interviews to onboarding, daily work, and exiting. HR teams can use AI tools for: 
 

• Listening to interviews and conversations to create summaries. One specific application is creating job descriptions based on discussion with the hiring manager. 
• Providing career paths for employees based on their background and employee data.
• Analyzing work patterns to find when groups are most productive and when they need additional support. 
• Matching mentors with mentees.
• Reviewing interviews to identify instances where discussion veered into prohibited territory like age, race, etc…You can use this information to train interviewers or to inform how the interview conversation is evaluated. 
• Conducting screening interviews using chat bots or agentic AI .

Even with all these great use cases it is important not to rush into AI use without fully understanding the technology and risks. HR data is incredibly sensitive and the work of HR directly impacts people's lives. Additionally, it is critical to view AI as decision support NOT decision making. Humans need to be in the loop reviewing all AI outputs and using it in a way that makes sense for their organization – keeping the human in human relations. 

Panelists discussed the risks and opportunities associated with AI use in the modern workplace, providing advice for moving AI usage forward in any organization. 

Understand the Tech Behind the Tech
AI is powered by Large Language Models (LLMs), algorithms trained on public data to predict outcomes. Because of AI's dependency on data it is critical to understand the origins of that data and examine it for any biases that may impact its outputs. There will always be bias in a model because it is based on data from humans who are inherently biased. This does not mean outputs are useless, it just requires diligence in checking sources and facts. 

LLMs can also “hallucinate,” meaning they generate incorrect, nonsensical, or irrelevant information, often presented with high confidence. This happens because LLMs generate responses based on patterns learned from vast datasets without the needed context to make accurate connections. Organizations can help provide context by supplementing public data with proprietary knowledge bases to ensure that results are tailored to their organization.  

Even if an output looks correct, it should be double checked as it may just be confirming your bias. You can use AI to locate its own bias, asking  models to look for biases in their outputs or ask for the source of certain facts. 

Get Smart on Prompting
Humans have a huge role in the success of AI by being able to ask it the right questions. Prompting is a key skill the modern workforce needs to develop. To improve outputs, start with concentrating on the prompt.  

Think of prompts as a dialogue. Start with a general question or request and then refine it for more precision. Get specific in your instruction, telling the tool the role you want it to have, “Imagine you are a training analyst and you have to present this data to a group of executives who are not familiar with the topic” or “I am an HR manager and I need to…..” 

Since conversational style works so well with prompts, consider dictating them into AI tools using voice mode or cut and paste a dictated phrase from another voice to text tool. Talk to AI  like you would an assistant. Narrow down the data the model will use by directing it to “only look at trusted sources.”
 
AI can also help guide you with prompts. You can ask a tool to write a prompt for what you are looking for. Then you can refine that language and present it back to the tool to get your answer. Also consider running your prompt against multiple models (Chat GPT, Claude, Co-pilot, etc) to see where answers differ. There are even tools that will do this for you. 

Don't Wait on Policy
Technology moves fast, policy does not. Do not count on federal guidance on AI use. Instead, look to create your own guardrails that fit the needs of your organization. This is a great opportunity for HR to take a strategic role. The use of AI is a huge workforce change. HR can become a corporate leader in defining use and leading education of an AI-enabled workforce. 

AI is not replacing humans, it is empowering them. With that said, a person well-versed in AI use may replace another human who cannot/will not use AI. HR teams can help their workforce adapt to AI by developing AI academies. Courses are likely offered by existing training partners. Additional general cyber hygiene training also supports safe and ethical AI use.

HR should work closely with the CIO and CTO to make sure AI training is consistent across the company, whether it is within the technology staff or the operational staff. How you use AI in your products should be consistent with how you use it internally. Finally, collaborate with security teams that may push back on AI use. Explain to them what you want to do with AI and have them suggest tools and processes that would work within corporate security policies and needs.   

Getting Started
As AI becomes an integral part of the workplace, HR stands at a critical crossroads—not just as a user of technology, but as a strategic leader shaping its implementation and impact. The only way to learn how it will make an impact is to begin using it. Find a use case with a defined goal. Look for tasks that you do repetitively that take 20 minutes or more and see how you could apply AI.

To build a smarter workforce, HR professionals must deepen their understanding of how AI works, develop prompting and data literacy, and partner across departments to ensure consistent, secure, and human-centered use of these tools. The goal is not to replace people, but to empower them—enhancing decision-making, streamlining workflows, and enabling a more responsive and personalized employee experience.

By taking the lead on AI strategy, training, and governance, HR can help shape a future where technology supports better outcomes for employees, organizations, and the broader world of work.

Make sure you don't miss out on insights like this from future events. Check out our list of upcoming programs! 

Contributor: Cari Bohley, Vice President Talent Management at Peraton