AI is transforming the CHRO role: Bridging talent, technology and business strategy

AI is changing the way companies hire, develop, and coach, and expanding the role of chief human resources officers in the process.

Today’s top HR leaders are becoming AI strategists, helping their organizations navigate the next wave of workplace transformation.

“The old model of human resources was one side, the employee, the other side, the technology,'' says Thomas Hutzscherreuter, a professor at the Technical University of Munich (TUM). “But the new work model is collaboration between humans and AI.”

AI is now a colleague, he says, which means “HR has a bigger mission. It doesn't just have to understand people and culture, it has to have a deeper understanding of strategy, business and technology itself.”

To understand how companies are navigating this change, Business Insider spoke to HR leaders at Citizens Bank, one of the largest banks in the Northeast. Boston Consulting Group, a global consulting firm. UiPath is an automated software testing company.

All interviews have been edited for brevity.

Susan RamoNika, Chief Human Resources Officer at Citiesanse bank

CHROs are becoming architects of the future of work, bridging talent, technology, and data.

Many of the questions we face today are germane to how we move forward as an organization. For example, “What will the entry-level role look like?” What kind of roles are emerging? And how can we reskill people to make thoughtful shifts?

We need people who can learn, adapt and change quickly. Our technologists need to develop business acumen and our business people need to develop digital and technical fluency. The lines are blurred.

My HR team is developing a baseline of skills and competencies. We are in discussions with our consulting partners and clients. There will be an openness to collaborative learning as everyone is trying to understand the same things: what an AI-driven workforce will look like, how jobs will be divided into AI and human tasks, and what AI agents can handle compared to humans.

Our industry is subject to a lot of regulatory oversight. While it's great that people can develop their own AI agents, there is a movement to decentralize these capabilities, but we need to be mindful of risk and governance and how to do this in a safe and ethical manner.

Alicia Pittman, Chief Human Resources Officer, Boston Consulting Group

AI is changing how The work is completed; what Work is finished. Business models are evolving, and so are the ways companies serve their customers. The CHRO role must adapt to both at the same time. That's a tall order.

In consulting, being able to add value means constantly evolving our approach to human capital. Problems arise constantly. The difference is the pace. Today, a quarter of our business is related to AI, which wasn't even two years ago.

We need our employees to be AI-savvy. Approximately 90% of our employees use AI regularly, and more than half use it every day. To get there, we built a multi-layered support system: an enablement network of 1,400 people who serve as evangelists and coaches.

We have upskilled over 100 team coaches to provide practical support. We place experts directly into teams to help them rethink workflows, run innovation competitions, and maintain momentum.

Our HR team is in the driver's seat. We started with recruiting, consolidating six IT systems into one, and integrating AI across our platforms and across performance management and development.

We are also experimenting with voice tools, chat interfaces, and AI avatars for real-time coaching. These tools give employees confidence, learning opportunities, and instant feedback. Rather than replacing managers, they free up managers for higher-level thinking and relationship building.

Agi Garaba, Chief Human Resources Officer, UiPath

Our business is automation, so that power is very powerful for my team. But the next frontier for agentic AI is coordination.

We're using these AI agents, but we're also creating them. One agent, mostly in production, helps with performance reviews, which is a time-consuming and sometimes scary task. Our agents help employees create self-assessments, collect feedback, and compile it faster. It also assists managers by integrating feedback from multiple resources.

Although it will not make rating decisions on behalf of the manager, it will help the end of the year go more smoothly. Instead of spending time on management, managers can focus on the feedback itself and my team on the right framework for career development.

There are many unknowns at this time, and it is natural to feel anxious. But it should encourage curiosity and development. It's time to seriously think about career development.

We believe that AI will only impact entry-level or lower-level jobs. The truth is that technology is replacing skills that were performed by highly skilled people.

If you look at healthcare and aviation, areas where we always thought technology wouldn't have an impact, that's no longer the case. It doesn't happen overnight. You have time to prepare. But it's relevant to anyone in any profession.