CHRO Survey: AI is transforming how people leaders build winning teams

In human resource departments across the globe, AI has moved from experiment to infrastructure. Test cases have become embedded processes. CHROs themselves have started using AI — often on a daily basis. And those who haven’t are likely to do so soon, as AI fluency is quickly becoming essential to the job, according to our fourth annual CHRO survey.

Here’s a closer look at how AI is impacting CHROs.

Today, AI tools are impacting virtually every aspect of the HR department. CHROs are putting AI to work across core strategic functions: 61% are using it in recruiting, 56% in administration, and 46% in employee engagement. And CHROs themselves are also finding value: 48% told us they use AI tools every day. 

HR departments and executives are turning to AI because it provides measurable gains in speed and efficiency.

Clikalia, a PropTech company based in Spain, is a case in point. Cristina Navarro García, the company’s head of HR, says her team uses AI on a daily basis and across a wide range of functions.

“In recruiting, AI helps us with the entire process of identifying and onboarding talent,” she says. “We use it to identify profiles efficiently, zero in on candidates, filter by experience and skills, and assess for fit. It really accelerates the whole process.”

For its part, Trela, an online food and grocery delivery service in Brazil, has been turning to AI for its operational benefits in recruiting and beyond, says Ananda Armani, the company’s head of people. “I need to automate some processes we have in hiring — not only the interviewing parts, but also the operational parts,” Armani says. “Those take a lot of time for us.” 

One of the biggest concerns around AI is its impact on jobs. A plurality of CEOs recently told us that it’s too early to tell whether that impact will be positive or negative. CHROs, who have a front-row seat to the dynamics around employment, are also seeing mixed signals. 

For example, only 21% of CHROs said the use of AI has allowed them to reduce the planned size of their departments. But when they look more broadly across their companies, 68% of CHROs said AI is opening up new employee opportunities, not replacing them. 

“Through the use of AI, we can be better professionals, use our time more strategically, and see better results with it,” Armani says.

CHROs understand the technology does favor the agile. As AI changes what roles require, 64% have addressed the issue by updating job descriptions accordingly and 44% by expanding access to upskilling programs. 

“Adaptability is key,” says Michelle Aylott, CHRO of SoftBank Investment Advisers. “As AI takes on more of the operational workload and drives efficiencies, people leaders need to be proactive in building teams for the future by tapping into new skills and creating the right opportunities.” 

Ravin Jesuthasan, a future-of-work author who teaches at Caltech and the University of Chicago, says caution is warranted even in light of AI’s measurable benefits: “You need to take a work-backwards view. Start with the work to be done, and then figure out how the technology can either substitute, augment, or transform the work.”

Recruiting is not only the top use case for CHROs. It’s also the one where they are seeing the greatest returns: 44% said AI delivers the highest ROI in recruiting.

Jesuthasan suggests the outsize impact may stem from the growing sophistication of AI use in recruiting over time. “There's a great case study from a large consumer goods company about using AI to broaden the talent pool,” he says. “The AI tool put more people into the pipeline by removing what might have been traditional markers of bias.”

But in tasks ranging from resume screening to interview scoring, concerns have grown that AI tools could introduce bias or create a false sense of objectivity if left unchecked. And as adoption grows, so does the pressure to ensure fairness, accountability, and transparency.

Trela’s Armani agrees that blindly applying data can lead to bias. “We need to take care of our diversity,” she says. Armani emphasizes that fairness in AI-augmented hiring requires more than standardized tools or scoring systems. It also means recognizing the complexity of human experience that data can’t always reflect.

“As more companies integrate AI into their hiring processes, and in order for it to be truly embedded, it’s essential to do so responsibly — to ensure fairness for candidates, and stay aligned with evolving regulation in this space,” Aylott says.

CHROs appear to be aware of a need for policies and guardrails to ensure safety, fairness, and compliance. That said, the rollout of those policies has been relatively slow: just 11% said they already have policies, 18% said they are in the process of developing them, and 53% said they plan to do so in the future. As is often the case with new technologies, governance is lagging adoption.

Clikalia is among those that have already put guardrails on the use of AI in hiring. “We have internal policies and protocols, and we follow best practices,” says Navarro García. All hiring decisions go through human review, she says. In particular, that includes interviews, assessment of fit into group dynamics, and final judgments about a candidate’s suitability, she adds. 

“This human intervention isn't just a formality: It's during these stages that we are most vigilant against reproducing invisible biases that the algorithm may have overlooked,” Navarro García says. “We ensure a realistic approach, taking into account factors such as the candidate's motivation, cultural adaptability, and development potential — aspects that AI cannot yet assess with sufficient depth or sensitivity. For us, AI is a tool that improves efficiency, but it never replaces the critical and ethical judgment of the HR team.”

In HR, AI is not the CHRO’s top priority — and may never be. CHROs still rank recruiting and retention (26%) and organizational design (23%) as their primary focus areas. Only 6% said that integrating AI is their biggest challenge this year.

“We need to leverage AI for what it’s great at, but there are times we need to put it away and bring in the human,” says Erica Keswin, author of three influential books on people leadership, including The Retention Revolution.

Meanwhile, uncertainty — whether triggered by AI, economic upheaval, or political change — is the top worry for CHROs. At 32%, it ranks higher than all other challenges, including retention (15%), employee morale (13%), and recruiting (11%).

Explore the full survey results, segmented by region, sector, and stage, on Sōzō Pulse.