Lack of expertise and knowledge of AI holding HR leaders back
Only one in five HR leaders plays an active role in an organisation's AI strategy and lack expertise about the technology within their function.
A new study from the Harvard Business Review revealed that only 21% of HR leaders are closely involved in decisions about their organisation's AI strategy.
Another 30% said they are moderately involved, while 49% said HR leadership is a little or not involved at all in terms of AI efforts.
According to the report, this may be due to overall perceptions about the HR function, which is seen as "lacking the necessary technological expertise."
It found that 52% of the respondents cited insufficient AI expertise within their function as the top challenge preventing HR from playing a role in AI strategy.
Nearly a third of HR leaders (32%) also said HR lacks a leadership role who can drive AI efforts, and that AI decision-makers don't seek HR's input at all about matters relating to the technology.
The findings come amid previous reports that HR departments will have a crucial role in an organisation's AI-driven transformation.
Phillip Brown, director of the Digital Futures of Work Research Programme, previously told HRD that HR professionals have a strategic role to play in shaping how AI is used in a responsible way that puts humans first.
"There's a very, very important role for the HR directors and executives to really understand and link business purpose to the way in which these technologies might be used, and their implications for labour," Brown previously said.
According to the HBR report, one the roles that HR leaders may play includes easing employees' fears about job security.
It noted that while HR isn't the only responsible team in allaying AI anxieties, they may also struggle to add more strategic value unless they help people embrace AI.
"Meeting employees in different states of acceptance about the technology's impact, and dispelling their worries, is something HR is uniquely positioned to tackle and should take the lead on," the report read, citing Jenn Galbraith, vice president, employee success product management, at Salesforce.
To address the lack of HR involvement in AI strategies, the report said HR leaders must overcome the perception that supporting the AI strategy is beyond their capabilities.
To support AI efforts, the HBR report noted that 54% of HR leaders are now upskilling and reskilling employees on AI.
More than a quarter also said they are encouraging employees with AI skills to work with various teams (38%) and are hiring new AI-focused talent or roles (29%).
There are also HR leaders who are working more closely with their chief information officer or chief technology officer to understand their AI strategy.
Others are training HR professionals to improve their AI knowledge, and teaching HR employees how AI can be used at work, according to the report.
"If HR doesn't have the gravity to be the central guiding force behind it all, that's what can get you into trouble," said Ben Eubanks, chief research officer at Lighthouse Research and Advisory, in the report.
