We are at the forefront of the AI revolution, a revolution that some have called the biggest since the development of electricity.1
At first, the new electric power was a novelty, viewed with scepticism and doubt. Companies even had to produce full-page newspaper adverts just to convince people of the usefulness of electricity.2
Better efficiency, reducing the “‘burden’ of the job without eliminating the job itself”, was one perk these adverts touted. Sound familiar? Echoes of this ring down through the centuries as we confront the realities of AI.
Some people worry about AI replacing their jobs by making them obsolete, but there’s also a big appetite for AI to free people up from the less rewarding aspects of work by using it as “a strategic time saver”.3
What does this mean for HR professionals? In our organisations, how can we juxtapose the ‘Human’ in HR with the ‘Artificial’ in AI? And what can HR do to overcome doubt and scepticism about AI?
Education is paramount
While many are excited about AI’s potential to simplify tasks, fears of job displacement are very real. A lack of knowledge will seed uncertainty and worry throughout your organisation. Currently, two in five employees don’t feel confident about having the right skills to use AI in their organisation.5
But there’s good news – exposure to AI breeds confidence. To build it, start with clear, honest communication and training that highlights how AI can enhance employees’ capabilities rather than replace them.
HR’s role in this will be providing accessible training programs which demystify AI and empower employees. Practical experiences should take precedence, providing employees with opportunities to explore AI within the context of their role, making it real and hands-on.
Target the groups who need the most support
Who do you picture when you imagine an AI enthusiast who’s comfortable using the technology? If you think of someone who’s younger, probably highly educated and likely male, you’re not far off the mark.
Our data shows that age, gender and education are three factors influencing optimism and appetite to learn more about AI. Older employees, women and those who aren’t university educated tend to be less positive regarding AI’s potential.6 This could be because they haven’t had as much exposure or opportunities to upskill. In contrast, employees who know a ‘fair amount’ about AI feel far more comfortable with it.7
One of HR’s biggest responsibilities will be ensuring that AI doesn’t widen inequalities that already exist in wider society. As our founder Ghassan Karian says: “There is a moral imperative for employers to not only define the jobs and skills of the future, but to ensure that the entire workforce is prepared for them”.
HR can take proactive steps to mitigate this by running programmes to identify internal AI training needs while also advising externally – think colleges and universities – about essential AI skills to inform the development of future talent.
Manage the risks and biases of AI
While some are hesitant about AI, others are diving straight into it, sometimes without considering the unintended consequences. ‘Shadow AI’, using unapproved AI tools in the workplace, is increasingly commonplace as employee use outpaces organisational governance.8 But this can be dangerous – anything that gets fed into unsanctioned AI, whether it’s sensitive client data or organisational information, could lead to significant breaches in data privacy.
The AI landscape may be like the Wild West as nations struggle to regulate this new frontier of technology, but organisations need to get ahead of employees to avoid being lawless in their approach.
Ethics are at stake if AI tools are used in ways that produce unfair or biased outcomes, for example, using it to decide performance outcomes for employees or as the sole screener for candidates. Lack of standardisation, with different people using AI differently or a selection of tools across the same organisation, also presents an ethical minefield.
Key HR activities, from recruitment, strategic cross-functional oversight to performance evaluations, all require nuance, ethics and an empathic understanding of individual circumstances – all things that AI alone can’t provide.
We must remember that AI is only as good as the data it is trained on.9 So, if a company has historically hired more men than women for leadership roles, an AI system trained on this data could unfairly favour male candidates for similar roles.
Creating clear policies, ensuring compliance, and encouraging responsible AI use are three major challenges where HR can lead the charge, in collaboration with other departments across organisations.
And when it comes to policies, communications need to strike a balance between encouraging experimentation and setting clear boundaries around use. As mentioned, some employees may feel less comfortable trying out AI, so an engaging and memorable comms campaign which expresses explicit permission to engage is needed to help people feel psychologically safe to do so.
Keep HR human in an AI-powered world
HR has always been about people – their growth, wellbeing and success. AI can lighten the load of admin tasks, but it cannot truly replace human judgment. Given the sensitivity of the many aspects of the employee experience that HR oversee, some situations will always require the emotional intelligence that only humans are capable of, regardless of how advanced AI becomes.
At Ipsos, our philosophy is not to lose sight of human intelligence (HI) when utilising artificial intelligence (AI), but rather to focus on the combined power of HI x AI.10 Human expertise and empathy will remain essential, especially in HR – arguably the most human of all the functions.
We cannot ignore AI – it’s here to stay. But we can be conscious of how we decide to utilise it. Now is the time to stop asking “should we use AI?” and instead, “how can AI help us build better workplaces?”
Want to have a chat about your AI employee listening strategy or best practice in other organisations? Curious about how culture and behaviour change principles can be applied to AI rollouts, or the best ways to communicate about AI to your employees? Drop me a line: chloe.hodgkinson@ipsos.com
Writers
Chloe Hodgkinson - Senior Consultant
Myriam Day - Senior Content Writer
Footnotes/references
1BBC News. (2025, February 13). Ex-Google boss fears for AI ‘Bin Laden’ scenario. Retrieved from: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5y6eq2zxlno
2Smithsonian Magazine. (2013, August 1). People Had To Be Convinced of the Usefulness of Electricity. Retrieved from: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/people-had-to-be-convinced-of-the-usefulness-of-electricity-21221094/
3Ipsos and Google. Our life with AI: From innovation to application, 2025.
4Ipsos AI Monitor, 2024.
5Ipsos, Public Trust in AI, 2024.
6IK&B, State of Learning, 2024.
7Ipsos Public Trust in AI, 2024.
8Microsoft. (2024, May 8). 2024 Work Trend Index Annual Report. Retrieved from Microsoft: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/worklab/work-trend-index/ai-at-work-is-here-now-comes-the-hard-part
9IBM. (2023, October 16). Shedding light on AI bias with real world examples. Retrieved from IBM: https://www.ibm.com/think/topics/shedding-light-on-ai-bias-with-real-world-examples
10Ipsos, Blending Human Intelligence and Artificial Intelligence, 2024.
