HR leaders in the discussion emphasized that AI should work for people, not the other way around. Maxine Carrington, Chief People Officer at Northwell Health, framed the core question as: “Are we working for AI at this point or is AI working for us?” The consensus was that organizations should treat AI as an enabler, not as something to chase for its own sake. The focus should be on how AI helps teams achieve business and people goals, rather than on adopting the latest tools just because they are available. Gareth Lewis from Lewis People Culture Advisory argued that the real challenge is organizational and transformational, not purely technological. Today, many conversations still center on tools, efficiencies, and headcount reductions, instead of on how roles and workflows should be redesigned around AI. In practice, this means: - Starting with business and workforce outcomes, then selecting AI tools that support those outcomes. - Redesigning roles and processes so AI removes friction and frees people to do higher-value work. - Encouraging leaders and teams to see AI as a partner that augments their capabilities, not as a system they must serve. When companies adopt this mindset, AI becomes a way to reimagine work rather than another layer of tools that employees feel obligated to keep up with.

The HR leaders in the roundtable stressed that real impact from AI comes from rethinking roles and workflows, not just adding more tools. Agnes Garaba, Chief People Officer at UiPath, described a deliberate exercise: asking every functional leader to imagine their function from scratch in an AI-enabled future. She even framed it as, “If I could blow up my entire HR team and reimagine it from scratch, what would that look like?” The challenge she highlighted is that imagination itself can be a barrier; people often struggle to picture truly different ways of working. Several practical themes emerged: 1. **Start with role redesign, not tool selection** - Ask: If we were designing this team today with AI from day one, what work would humans do and what would agents or automation handle? - Identify tasks that are repetitive, rules-based, or data-heavy as candidates for AI, while reserving judgment, relationship-building, and complex problem-solving for people. 2. **Involve leaders directly in building and experimenting** Katie Burke, COO at Harvey, noted that transformation happens when senior leaders are “in on the work” — for example, helping build AI agents or joining hackathons — not just sponsoring projects from a distance. This hands-on involvement helps leaders see where roles should shift. 3. **Tap unexpected talent pools for AI use cases** Maggie Hulce, Chief Revenue Officer at Indeed, shared that their monthly internal contest for AI agents and use cases is being led by sales teams, not just technical teams. Salespeople are proposing and building agents, revealing that employees can wear “five functional hats” when given the chance. This kind of bottom-up innovation can inform how roles are redefined. 4. **Balance ambition with realistic expectations** While some leaders, like Dickie Steele of McKinsey, push for dramatic productivity gains (e.g., thinking in terms of someone running a thousand clinical trials instead of one), others like Liz Dente, Chief People Officer at Priceline, emphasize the value of “incremental, relentless forward progress.” Both perspectives suggest that role redesign should aim for meaningful improvement, whether through step changes or steady, compounding gains. Overall, the recommendation is to treat AI as a catalyst to reimagine how work is structured, who does what, and how teams create value, rather than as a set of add-on tools to existing job descriptions.

The executives agreed that HR has a central role in how AI is adopted, how culture evolves, and how value is measured. 1. **Be a lighthouse for AI deployment** Dickie Steele from McKinsey argued that HR should act as a “lighthouse” for deploying AI agents. That means HR should: - Model how AI can be used in people processes (recruiting, learning, performance, workforce planning). - Push the business to start with a clear value-creation thesis, not just “making employees marginally more productive.” - Encourage teams to think about significant productivity improvements, while still grounded in the realities of their industry. 2. **Create a culture of experimentation, not fear** Katie Burke emphasized that transformation cannot be driven “just with a stick.” HR should help design: - Incentives, recognition, and rewards for employees who experiment with AI and share learnings. - Programs like hackathons or internal contests that make AI experimentation accessible and engaging. - Communication that reduces fear and focuses on skill growth and opportunity. 3. **Hold vendors accountable for real impact** Roz Harris, VP of Talent at Zillow, highlighted the importance of putting pressure on product partners and vendors to justify their AI roadmaps and spend. HR and business leaders should: - Clearly articulate their needs and expected outcomes to vendors. - Ask how a tool will unlock teams and move the business forward, not just automate a task. - Evaluate tools based on measurable impact, not marketing claims. 4. **Balance big bets with incremental progress** There was a healthy tension between aiming for large-scale productivity gains and recognizing the value of steady improvement. Liz Dente from Priceline cautioned against buying into hype that AI will always deliver massive returns, such as selling “a thousand times more plane tickets.” Instead, she supports “incremental, relentless forward progress every day.” In practice, HR’s role is to: - Champion AI literacy and experimentation across the workforce. - Partner with business leaders to reimagine roles and processes. - Set expectations with vendors and internal stakeholders about realistic outcomes. - Track and communicate both the big wins and the smaller, compounding improvements that AI enables. By doing this, HR helps ensure AI is integrated in a way that reshapes work constructively, supports employees, and delivers tangible business value over time.