Why CHROs are the key to unlocking the potential of AI for the workforce 

It’s
no
longer
a
question
of
whether
AI
will
transform
business
and
the
workforce,
but
how
it
will
happen.
A

study
by
the
IBM®
Institute
for
Business
Value
revealed
that
up
to
three-quarters
of
CEOs
believe
that
competitive
advantage
will
depend
on
who
has
the
most
advanced
generative
AI. 

With
so
many
leaders
now
embracing
the
technology
for
business
transformation,
some
wonder
which
C-Suite
leader
will
be
in
the
driver’s
seat
to
orchestrate
and
accelerate
that
change. 

CHROs
today
are
perfectly
positioned
to
take
the
lead
on
both
people
skills
and
AI
skills,
ushering
the
workforce
into
the
future.
Here’s
how
top
CHROs
are
already
seizing
the
opportunity. 

Orchestrating
the
new
human
+
AI
workforce 

Today,
businesses
are
no
longer
only
focused
on
finding
the
human
talent
they
need
to
execute
their
business
strategy.
They’re
thinking
more
broadly
about
how
to
build,
buy,
borrow
or
“bot”
the
skills
needed
for
the
present
and
future.  

The
CHRO’s
primary
challenge
is
to
orchestrate
the
new
human
plus
AI
workforce.
Top
CHROs
are
already
at
work
on
this
challenge,
using
their
comprehensive
understanding
of
the
workforce
and
how
to
design
roles
and
skills
within
an
operating
model
to
best
leverage
the
strengths
of
both
humans
and
AI.  

In
the
past,
that
meant
analyzing
the
roles
that
the
business
needs
to
execute
its
strategy,
breaking
those
roles
down
into
their
component
skills
and
tasks
and
creating
the
skilling
and
hiring
strategy
to
fill
gaps.
Going
forward,
that
means
assessing
job
descriptions,
identifying
the
tasks
best
suited
to
technology
and
the
tasks
best
suited
to
people
and
redesigning
the
roles
and
the
work
itself.
 

Training
the
AI
as
well
as
the
people 

As
top
CHROs
partner
with
their
C-Suite
peers
to
reinvent
roles
and
change
how
tasks
get
done
with
AI
and
automation,
they
are
also
thinking
about
the
technology
roadmap
for
skills.
With
the
skills
roadmap
established,
they
can
play
a
key
role
in
building
AI-powered
solutions
that
fit
the
business’
needs.
 

HR
leaders
have
the
deep
expertise
in
training
best
practices
that
can
inform
not
only
how
people
are
trained
for
skills,
but
how
the
AI
solutions
themselves
are
trained.  

To
train
a
generative
AI
assistant
to
learn
project
management,
for
example,
you
need
a
strong
set
of
unstructured
data
about
the
work
and
tasks
required.
HR
leaders
know
the
right
steps
to
take
around
sourcing
and
evaluating
content
for
training,
collaborating
with
the
functional
subject
matter
experts
for
that
area.  

That’s
only
the
beginning.
Going
forward,
business
leaders
will
also
need
to
consider
how
to
validate,
test
and
certify
these
AI
skills.  

Imagine
an
AI
solution
trained
to
support
accountants
with
key
accounting
tasks.
How
will
businesses
test
and
certify
those
skills
and
maintain
compliance,
as
rigorously
as
is
done
for
a
human
accountant
getting
an
accounting
license?
What
about
certifications
like
CPP
or
Six
Sigma?
HR
leaders
have
the
experience
and
knowledge
of
leading
practices
around
training,
certification
and
more
that
businesses
will
need
to
answer
these
questions
and
truly
implement
this
new
operating
model.  

Creating
a
culture
focused
on
growth
mindset
and
learning 

Successfully
implementing
technology
depends
on
having
the
right
operating
model
and
talent
to
power
it.
Employees
need
to
understand
how
to
use
the
technology
and
buy
in
to
adopting
it.
It
is
fundamentally
a
leadership
and
change
journey,
not
a
technology
journey.  

Every
organization
will
need
to
increase
the
overall
technical
acumen
of
their
workforce
and
make
sure
that
they
have
a
basic
understanding
of
AI
so
they
can
be
both
critical
thinkers
and
users
of
the
technology.
Here,
CHROs
will
lean
into
their
expertise
and
play
a
critical
role
moving
forward—up-skilling
people,
creating
cultures
of
growth
mindset
and
learning
and
driving
sustained
organizational
change.
 

For
employees
to
get
the
most
out
of
AI,
they
need
to
understand
how
to
prompt
it,
evaluate
its
outputs
and
then
refine
and
modify.
For
example,
when
you
engage
with
a
generative
AI-powered
assistant,
you
will
get
very
different
responses
if
you
ask
it
to
“describe
it
to
an
executive”
versus
“describe
it
to
a
fifth-grader.”
Employees
also
need
to
be
educated
and
empowered
to
ask
the
right
questions
about
AI’s
outputs
and
source
data
and
analyze
them
for
accuracy,
bias
and
more.
 

While
we’re
still
in
the
early
phases
of
the
age
of
AI,
leading
CHROs
have
a
pulse
on
the
anticipated
impact
of
these
powerful
technologies.
Those
who
can
seize
the
moment
to
build
a
workforce
and
skills
strategy
that
makes
the
most
of
human
talent
plus
responsibly
trained
AI
will
be
poised
to
succeed. 

Unlock
employee
and
work
potential