The people function is more important than ever as artificial intelligence (AI) transforms how work gets done. As skill requirements and roles shift and new forms of human-machine collaboration emerge, HR leaders and CHROs are well-positioned to lead the transformation and ensure AI enhances the culture, skills, and potential that make your organisation thrive.
AI is reshaping how and where skills are applied in organisations as work evolves into a partnership between people and agents, requiring you to combine human judgment with the power of automation. This makes HR critical for your organisation’s AI strategy since it’s as much about empowering people as it is about deploying new technology.
According to IBM’s 2026 Rewriting the C-Suite study, 59% of CEOs say the CHRO’s influence will increase over the next few years, noting that integrated people management is necessary for AI success across the enterprise. The CIPD also emphasises that AI must align with your organisation’s people, culture, structure, and tasks to achieve the desired return on investment.
HR Can Give You Clarity on Where Humans and Technology Excel
Knowing how work is done in your organisation, which skills are shifting, and where people and technology generate the most value is crucial for preparing your workforce for AI. Without this insight, your AI strategy can misfire, and you risk leaving competitive advantage and profits on the table.
Research by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) found that not identifying a use for AI is a top barrier preventing 71% of organisations in the UK from adopting AI. Lack of data and unstructured data also prevents 21% of businesses from getting an accurate picture of what’s going on in their companies and how they can meaningfully apply AI to day-to-day operations.
Involving HR can help clarify these issues. They can give you accurate data on which tasks to target for AI and offer reliable analysis of how the AI strategy will impact reskilling needs, roles, and redeployment opportunities. You’ll get to know what your employees actually do day by day and where AI can elevate talent, accelerate growth and innovation, and strengthen the business’s competitive position.
HR Can Help Improve Employee Acceptance of AI
Gaining employee trust and effectively navigating pushback is necessary for successfully implementing your AI strategy. Despite its benefits, AI can have significant detrimental effects on employees due to heightened perceptions of unemployment and job loss.
A survey by the World Economic Forum shows that 54% of employers expect AI to displace existing jobs, with workers getting displaced faster than the education and reskilling system can respond. This outpaces the workforce’s capacity to adapt and heightens concerns about job insecurity, leading to negative consequences as you try to implement your AI strategy.
Involving HR in designing the AI strategy can ensure they’re better positioned to ease employees’ fears and gain their buy-in. The organisation is more likely to consider workforce implications early when HR is involved from the start. They can communicate objectives clearly to help your workers view AI as a support for their skills rather than a threat and offer practical guidance to increase adoption.
What Involving HR in AI Strategy Can Look Like
The biotech and pharmaceutical company Moderna is an excellent example of how to align AI deployment with human capital strategy. The company merged its HR and IT functions in 2025 and appointed its former CHRO to the new executive role of chief people and digital technology officer.
With this move, the company was able to align AI deployment and workforce strategy under a single operating model. The goal is to build an agile, AI-first company where human capital strategy and digital innovation are no longer siloed.
Novo’s Perspective
Shifting the HR in your enterprise from an implementation or support role to a strategic design role can help ensure clarity, employee acceptance, and the effectiveness of your AI strategy.
HR’s role is to promote the strategy across the workforce and turn ambition into practical adoption. It can connect employee insight, skills planning, job design, and leadership communication.
At Novo Executive, we believe that when HR joins early and stays close to the process, AI becomes easier to understand, safer to use, and more relevant to everyday work.
