If AI is doing work, should HR be responsible for it?

Human Resources usually leaves tech to other functions. However, as AI’s work becomes deeply integrated with human work, all job design, process optimization, and workforce planning suddenly become tech+talent. Who should be responsible for AI resources? If it’s HR, do we need to become tech experts??

For starters, relationships to AI vary widely. It can be a boss, peer, assistant, or producing its own outputs separate from human work. Adopting AI is clearly about more than adding bots on top of our HRIS platform.?

Head of Talent Joshua Craver and I spoke a bit about how to handle this.

Where people play a role, HR should too.?

We seem to be transitioning from tech as tools to robots as resources. As this takes place, the management of machine work and relationships with machines at work will get more complicated. Along these lines, Deloitte suggests that HR take on two objectives for integrating AI into the workplace.?

1. Optimize machines for the benefit of people.?
2. Maximize the value of human-machine collaboration.

We need to ask ourselves: What work is most valuable? Is a person, machine, or a team best equipped to do it? How can we (re)design our systems and tools to support both our talent and business goals? In most cases the answer will be some sort of tech+talent team. When it is, it's not enough to select people and technology, we need to design the right kind of relationship.

As a start, here are four tech+talent relationships to consider:

Reference

Cantrell, S., et al. (2022, November 22). Strengthening the bonds of human and machine collaboration. Deloitte Insights. https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/topics/talent/human-machine-collaboration.html ?

We Are All Agents | podcast

AI is rapidly shifting how we organize and work. But we can’t just react to technology if we want a human-centred future. We Are All Agents in shaping change. Let’s help technology and talent work better together.

We’ll share new ways of thinking about and working with machines discovered in our own research and from the work of our guests. Our mission is to help talent, leadership, HR, and developers build more human-centered organizations. How we create, assign, and organize work, is all on the table for change. Let’s use this moment to make our work even more valuable for organizations and people alike.?

If you share this mission and would like to collaborate, or if you have feedback for our work, reach out . We look forward to learning about your work as well. Until then, be brave.