CHRO Survey: AI is reshaping work, not replacing workers

For CHROs, the stakes have never been higher. To understand why, look no further than AI.

A year ago, most HR leaders were focused on deploying AI within their HR departments — using it to streamline recruiting, benefits administration, and employee engagement. Today, as adoption spreads across entire organizations, they’re responsible for navigating company-wide reinventions whose endpoints remain unknown.

“As AI transforms the way we work, it is also reshaping the role of the CHRO,” says Michelle Aylott, managing partner and CHRO of SoftBank Investment Advisers. “People leaders have an important opportunity — and responsibility — to help organizations navigate that change thoughtfully. That means reimagining roles, creating new pathways for talent, identifying where AI can unlock greater efficiency, and helping employees build the skills they need to grow alongside these technologies.”

Here's what that looks like on the ground. Explore the full survey results, segmented by region, sector, and stage on Sōzō Pulse.

One in three CHROs (33%) say AI has become their No. 1 challenge, a more than five-fold increase from a year ago. Grappling with AI now ranks above other typical CHRO challenges like retention, recruiting, and operating in an uncertain economic environment. 

The swift shift reflects just how rapidly AI is moving through organizations, disrupting roles and redefining how work gets done, and reshaping the workforce in ways no one can fully predict.

"The pace of this technology is changing very fast," says Livia Martini, chief people officer at Wellhub, a corporate wellness platform. "Nobody knows exactly what the end state will be."

Using AI to teach about AI 

At Wellhub, most employees have already begun integrating AI into their daily work, some through grassroots experimentation, others through company-wide initiatives around specific tools. The message from Wellhub’s leadership is consistent: AI is a growth enabler, not a threat. "We want to grow faster as a company, and AI can help by allowing people to save time and be more productive," says Martini.

Surveys done at Leyden Labs, a biotech company based in the Netherlands, help quantify that productivity. Kristian Bolk, Leyden Labs’ director of people and organization, says that employees consistently report AI tools have made them 10-25% more productive. 

In some cases, Wellhub is using AI to teach employees about AI. Using a tool built internally by a company executive, employees input their job description and responsibilities, then ask AI to identify where it can add the most value in their specific role. "It gives pretty amazing results," Martini says.

Upskilling demand becomes ubiquitous

That kind of role-specific guidance is increasingly important. In just 12 months, company-wide demand for upskilling has nearly doubled to 47%, from 28% last year.  

For now, CHROs are focusing AI retraining efforts on just a subset of their workforce. Still, the scale is significant: 91% of CHROs say at least 10% of their workforce needs training to use AI effectively; 65% say more than a quarter of employees require upskilling; and 30% say the need extends to more than half their workforce.

Wellhub is addressing retraining through a structured, personalized approach. Employees completed a self-reported assessment covering their AI usage, prompting methods, and satisfaction with the results. Based on their responses, they were assigned a proficiency level and matched with a tailored learning path.

Despite widespread anxiety about AI-driven job losses, CHROs say the reality — at least for now — is more measured. Among companies that reported layoffs in the past 12 months, only 12% identified AI as the primary cause. Far more common drivers were restructuring (50%) and economic conditions (35%).

Bolk, at Leyden Labs, says that while AI allows employees to work more efficiently, it’s not yet driving the big leaps in innovation or automation that would transform the way a company operates. And the technology, he says, is having little to no impact on Leyden Labs’ hiring. “It’s not like you can suddenly run a biotech company with 25 people instead of 75 people. You still have challenges with hallucinations and difficulty truly embedding it into workflows,” Bolk says.  

Similarly at Wellhub, Martini says she and her fellow executives have been deliberate about communicating the message that there are no plans for layoffs or hiring freezes. While AI is changing the nature of many roles, she argues it hasn’t diminished the value of employees.

"You really want to make sure you're not treating people as a replaceable resource," she says. “We want our employees to see themselves as an important part of how the company operates, and to feel like they are valued and genuinely cared for.”

A more selective approach to hiring

Overall, 62% of CHROs confirm that AI has not reduced their headcount. Hiring, however, has become more selective: Just 25% say they are hiring broadly across their organizations, down from 29% a year ago, while 48% say they are only hiring for specific roles, essentially unchanged from 2025.  

The impact on entry-level roles has also been more contained than many feared. Only 16% of CHROs report that AI has led to the elimination of entry-level positions.

And in a few organizations, AI has generated new opportunities: 7% of CHROs say its adoption has created demand for new executive roles.