According to Business Insider, corporate AI investment reached a massive $252.3 billion in 2024, based on Stanford research. Despite this spending, a Pew Research survey from earlier this year found nearly a third of workers believe AI will lead to fewer job opportunities for them. Furthermore, a University of Melbourne and KPMG survey of over 48,000 people across 47 countries found only 46% are willing to trust AI systems. Experts like Ted F. Tschang of Singapore Management University warn that without proper setup, employees won’t adopt the technology, creating a major ROI problem. This trust and adoption gap has become one of HR’s most urgent challenges, forcing HR professionals to fundamentally reinvent their roles and develop AI fluency to guide their workforces.
The Credibility Problem
Here’s the thing: HR has never been the tech-savvy department. It’s known for benefits, compliance, and talent strategy—not for being on the cutting edge of software. But that’s exactly the problem. As Heather Conklin, CEO of coaching firm Torch, puts it, AI is “forcing HR people to reinvent themselves.” And the ones who will succeed are the ones going first, using their own departments as testing grounds. They need to get hands-on, even if they’re not technical. Why? Because you can’t credibly drive AI adoption across a company if you haven’t lived it yourself. Telling a skeptical foreman to use a new AI tool is useless. But, as Dexter Bachelder of Propel People notes, having another foreman explain it? That’s what drives real adoption. HR’s new job is to earn that peer-level credibility, and it starts by solving their own problems first.
Solving Real Problems, Not Selling AI
So how does HR build this trust? It’s not by being a cheerleader for the technology. Bachelder hits the nail on the head: it’s about answering the employee’s real questions. How can AI do my paperwork so I can get home to my family faster? How can it automate the boring, manual parts of my job? When workers see AI making their daily grind easier, they’ll use it. It’s purpose-driven. This is a massive shift for HR, which often communicates policy and process. Now, they need to become facilitators of practical, work-life-improving solutions. This also means understanding what’s broken in the organization—like yearly engagement surveys that are too slow, or performance reviews out of sync with quarterly goals—and figuring out if AI can fix it. There’s a real opportunity here for HR to finally have a voice in the technology they use, moving beyond tools that were just tied to financial systems.
The Trust Challenge Goes Deeper
But let’s be real. Upgrading an HR system or automating paperwork doesn’t solve the core fear: job security. Or the worry about algorithmic bias. These are huge, valid concerns that no software update will magically fix. HR leaders now have to answer incredibly tough questions about transparency, fairness, and accountability for AI’s decisions. That’s a heavy lift for a department more accustomed to administering benefits than auditing algorithms. Conklin says it plainly: “It’s challenging to do this right now. But if HR leaders aren’t able to figure this out, they’re going to be left behind.” The stakes are that high. The Pew Research and KPMG surveys show the skepticism is deep and widespread. You can’t just train your way out of it.
A Fundamental Reinvention
Basically, we’re watching the complete transformation of a corporate function. HR can’t just be a partner to the business anymore; it has to be a tech translator, an internal consultant, and an ethics guide, all rolled into one. They need the fluency to identify where AI solves real problems, as outlined in the broader Stanford AI Index data, and the empathy to bring a wary workforce along. The paradox is intense: companies are spending a quarter of a trillion dollars on a technology their employees don’t trust. The bridge between that investment and actual return is being built by HR, of all people. It’s a fascinating, messy, and absolutely critical shift. And the HR pros who lean into it—who get their hands dirty with the tools and focus on human problems—won’t just survive the AI era. They might finally get a seat at the real strategy table.
