How HR leaders can scale AI

• Key insights: See how HR can extend employee-driven AI experimentation to company-wide capabilities.
• What’s going wrong: If roles are not redesigned to align with AI-driven change, talent gaps and strategic delays will result.
• Future outlook: The hope is that AI will move from productivity improvements to innovation and new business models.
• Source: AI-generated bullets and editorial review

As AI continues to reshape the workplace, HR leaders need to identify what’s working well and develop a plan to scale it.
Job roles across the board are changing in real time as organizations experiment with AI. According to Avature’s AI Impact Report 2026, over the past year, 57% of respondents said their adoption of AI-related skills and responsibilities has increased significantly or moderately. This data examines how current and future trends are shaping organizational strategy.

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This pace is expected to accelerate further, with 83% of respondents expecting AI-related skills to feature more prominently in job descriptions within the next 12 months.

“Professionals running HR organizations don’t have to run naked off a cliff to compete with other companies,” says Dimitri Boylan, Founder and CEO of Avature. “Do I need to be there? Absolutely. Can we do it in an organized way? That way we can increase our knowledge of artificial intelligence over time. It’s possible.”

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Avature’s report identifies three ways companies and HR professionals can get started. Expanding AI in the workplace. Many organizations already have employees experimenting with AI to drive innovation. Leaders need to identify these people and give them a platform to share what works and what doesn’t.

For example, IBM, a multinational technology company, has already developed a training plan that: Expanding beyond HR John Lester, IBM’s vice president of human resources, technology, data and artificial intelligence, said in the report.

“We’re creating what we’re calling the ‘AI Work Roadmap’ for all IBMers, starting with HR professionals,” Lester said, adding that employees will learn how to leverage AI in their daily work and become more effective. “This is very personal, but we have a 10-step process.”

Additionally, companies need to invest in adaptability as well as reskilling.

“Re-education alone will not keep pace with change,” the report says. “As roles evolve, organizations must also invest in adaptability, which means helping employees learn how to learn, experiment, and pivot as new use cases emerge. Hackathons, internal AI communities, and hands-on pilots all provide safe environments for exploration, building confidence, and accelerating commercialization.”

The report also suggests that business leaders should redesign roles before they are forced into the labor market. By linking learning, skills, and internal mobility data, AI can help HR leaders keep talent abreast of AI-driven changes and future-ready.

Currently, most of the benefits of AI in the workforce are focused on day-to-day business execution. 67% of respondents said AI improves productivity, 40% said technology improves user experience, and 36% support better decision-making.

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Only 27% of respondents said AI drives innovation Currently, only 7% of organizations report that it is helping them create entirely new business models.

But that balance is starting to change. Respondents increasingly expect the impact of AI to extend beyond operational improvements to innovation and growth. Looking 2-5 years into the future, 38% expect AI drives innovation 15% expect it to play a role in creating new business models.

“If all you get from AI is increased efficiency for individual users, then as a company you’re probably not going to be on the right side of disruption in the winner’s circle,” Boylan said.