Building the HR–IT Coalition for AI Success

• By: Posted by HR Alliance Staff
• On: 02/02/2026 10:24:32
• In: HR Business
• Comments: 1

Artificial intelligence (AI) is being introduced into every facet of work. The goal of these implementations is to make work, and the people who do it, more efficient – utilizing the speed and processing power of computers to free up humans for more complex decision making and innovation. AI can be an enabler, not a replacement, for the workforce, but that can only happen when IT and HR work in coordination. 

AI is not just a technology issue or an HR issue. It's both. Organizations that treat AI as solely an IT implementation or an HR efficiency tool risk missteps that can undermine trust, compliance, and employee experience. Even this early in the implementation cycle, we're seeing disillusionment with AI's promise. A recent report from PwC found that only 12% of CEOs say that AI has delivered both cost savings and revenue benefits over the past year. More than half (56%) have seen neither revenue gains nor cost benefits from AI investments. 

Jason Clark, Lead Research Consultant with People Results says, “AI technology development is moving fast with huge capabilities, the barrier to realizing those is people.” Successful AI strategies must include people and technology, engaging both HR and IT to work together toward successfully operationalizing AI.  

This post dives into the need for a connection between humans and technology for successful AI implementations and provides some tips for coordinating efforts of HR and IT leaders. 

Managing AI like a digital worker
While AI should be seen as an enabler, not a replacement, viewing it as a "colleague" can help with implementations. Clark points out, “Especially with agentic AI, IT really needs to understand how the people work before building technology so that AI can mimic and improve the workflow.” 

Agentic AI gives machines the ability to make plans, reason through complex scenarios, execute multistep processes, and collaborate with other AI agents without human intervention. IT needs HR in the room when they make decisions about agentic AI to ensure that key people issues are not overlooked. For HR, the introduction of AI means revising job descriptions to accommodate new AI-driven tasks, reskilling employees to partner with and supervise AI agents, and training managers to lead hybrid AI-human work teams. 

Treating AI as a digital worker means applying HR support to the tech including developing a version of onboarding, defining clear roles, and establishing performance monitoring and governance. HR and IT must collaborate to define what the AI is allowed to do, how its outputs are reviewed, and who is accountable when things go wrong.

Safeguarding employee data
In addition to managing people, HR is also responsible for managing and safeguarding data about its workforce. AI applications use data including resumes, performance reviews, engagement surveys, and even communications metadata. HR needs to be involved to ensure the new technology is working within longstanding compliance frameworks.  

Close partnership with IT is necessary to ensure new AI systems conform to all relevant corporate policies, regulatory mandates, and industry best practices around issues like data retention, records management, and audit trails. 

Transparent policies around data use will build trust in the AI solutions, driving up adoption and hopefully realizing the desired benefits. 

Building the IT HR Coalition
Biotech firm, Moderna, recently announced it combined HR and IT under a single leader. While this is not a widespread trend, it does signal the need for increased coordination between the two groups that traditionally worked independent of one another. 

To forge a deeper connection between HR and IT consider the following practices:

1. Create a joint AI governance group that includes HR, IT, legal, and security leaders. This group sets standards for AI use, data access, and accountability.
2. Define AI roles and responsibilities as clearly as you would for an employee. Explicitly document what decisions AI can support, what requires human oversight, and how outcomes are audited.
3. Align on data stewardship early, agreeing on which employee data can be used for AI, how it is anonymized, and how long it is retained.
4. Partner on vendor selection to ensure the technology meets the skills and work done by employees. HR can also provide insight into potential ethics and/or bias issues. 
5. Share change management responsibilities with IT leading the tech implementation and HR driving the workforce communication and education. 
6. Invest in shared AI literacy with IT training HR leaders on AI fundamentals and designing training that can be rolled out to the workforce as a whole.  

Regardless of how formal the partnership between HR and IT is, the growing use of AI provides an opportunity for HR to take an even more strategic role in the organization. HR can help ensure technology investments are implemented in a way that works with the organization's cultural norms to realize promised ROI. AI is not only changing how work gets done but also how HR and IT must work together. Organizations that embrace this partnership will be better positioned to protect employee trust, unlock AI's potential, and build a future-ready workforce.

Authored by the HR Alliance Communications Team.