I started this article by asking Chat GPT to analyze the impact of AI in the workplace. Here is what it created for me, in under a minute.
1. Skill Gaps & Workforce Reskilling
AI is changing job requirements faster than many employees can adapt.
HR challenge:
- Identifying which skills are becoming obsolete
- Designing effective reskilling/upskilling programs
- Convincing employees to adopt new tools and workflows
2. Ethical Use of AI in Hiring
AI-powered recruiting tools can unintentionally introduce bias if they’re trained on skewed data.
HR challenge:
- Ensuring fairness and transparency
- Auditing AI-driven hiring algorithms
- Complying with emerging regulations (e.g., AI Bias Audits, transparency laws)
3. Employee Anxiety About Job Security
AI raises fears about job loss or decreased value, which can hurt morale and productivity.
HR challenge:
- Communicating clearly about AI’s role
- Supporting employees through change
- Preventing disengagement and turnover
4. Managing Organizational Change
AI adoption often requires restructuring workflows or redefining roles.
HR challenge:
- Leading change management across teams
- Aligning leadership, employees, and IT
- Ensuring smooth transitions without burning people out
5. Data Privacy & Legal Compliance
HR already handles sensitive data; adding AI increases the risk surface.
HR challenge:
- Protecting employee data in AI systems
- Understanding how AI tools store, process, and use data
- Complying with state, national, and international regulations
6. Monitoring Productivity Without Overstepping
AI tools can track employee behavior, keystrokes, or output.
HR challenge:
- Balancing productivity insights with privacy
- Avoiding “surveillance culture”
- Maintaining trust while using monitoring tools responsibly
7. Vendor Selection & Technology Overload
There are hundreds of AI products claiming to solve HR problems.
HR challenge:
- Evaluating which tools are actually effective
- Avoiding tech bloat and wasted budget
- Training managers and staff to use new systems correctly
8. Maintaining the Human Element
AI can streamline processes, but HR is fundamentally about people.
HR challenge:
- Keeping empathy and personal connection at the center
- Ensuring automation doesn’t erode employee experience
- Using AI to support—not replace—human judgment
9. Performance Evaluation Issues
Some companies use AI analytics to assess performance.
HR challenge:
- Ensuring fairness and accuracy in evaluations
- Avoiding over-reliance on quantitative data
- Identifying when human oversight is required
10. Preparing Leadership for an AI-Driven Workforce
Executives often don’t understand AI well enough to make consistent decisions.
HR challenge:
- Educating leaders on AI’s impact
- Aligning strategy, culture, and technology
- Preventing fragmented or conflicting adoption across departments
As you can see, it provided a fair amount of content, complete with headings and bullet points. For those of you unfamiliar with the product of ChatGPT, this is standard.
In fairness, I have only dipped my toe into the use of AI. I have friends and colleagues who use it daily. As with the Internet and tech in general, I think it will be most valuable as a tool and not a crutch. For example, the above analysis provided insights I had not considered but included points I wished to cover. In other words, it was not bad for a starting point, but it required revisions.
It’s important to understand how AI works. To respond to a query by its user, AI reviews resources and information already available in the universe of information, including the Internet, your company’s closed system, or past questions and communications by the user. And AI developers are constantly “training” AI models to access different information. But to the extent that information on the Internet can be “misinformation,” AI can generate wrong answers. It can also “hallucinate” misinformation and relay it as factual. In the legal world, there are common stories of AI products that have been specifically created for our industry generating memos and briefs citing cases and statues that don’t exist. I have crafted a few inquiries on ChatGPT, more as an experiment, and the responses I got were incomplete and sometimes flat out wrong. We have encouraged all our associates and staff to review all AI results with a critical eye.
Artificial intelligence will also be inclined to echo and perpetuate biases it learns from other sources on the Internet. The creators of AI insist they are trying to retrain their models to address these issues, but it is an imperfect process. Artificial intelligence is still a child, and young children make mistakes.
Another AI trait is its inclination to validate its user. Artificial intelligence wants to be liked. These AI platforms succeed as their use grows, and users increase their engagement when AI supports or encourages their activity. As social media becomes increasingly hostile, AI can provide a safe space for individuals exhausted from the constant attack of others. It feels good to be accepted and validated. This has led to the creation of AI dating and friend sites. What kinds of people prefer AI partners over “real” ones? Their use is more widespread than you would think, and it includes a cross-section of American and worldwide society.
The non-judgmental validation aspect is where AI is most dangerous. A slew of recent stories detail gruesome incidents where AI users were encouraged to harm themselves or others at the behest of their new AI friend. These AI tools become the ultimate echo chamber, for better or worse. Again, AI developers have responded, indicating they are attempting to reprogram. Time will tell.
So let me create my list of headings and bullet points outlining the impact of AI in the workplace. In addition to what ChatGPT created (some of which was helpful), keep the below in mind:
- Using AI as a Tool in HR Matters
- Can be valuable and helpful for busy HR professionals
- Be wary of the danger of inherited biases and misinformation
- Always double and triple check for accuracy and neutrality
- Use of AI by Employees in their Job Functions
- Introduce company sanctioned AI tools
- Establish rules for using AI tools to perform job duties (refer to the sample policies in our handbook)
- Train your workforce accordingly and enforce these rules
- Use of AI by Employees to Draft or Lodge Workplace Complaints
- Learn to recognize AI drafted employee communication
- Recognize the inherent bias to validate the user
- Check for accuracy and draft appropriate responses
- Remember that AI may be influencing employee responses and behavior
- Lean Into the Use of AI
- AI tools are here to stay
- Educate yourself, your management, and your employees
- Research reputable industry specific AI tools and vendors
- Don’t Replace Solid Legal Advice with AI Chats
- Communication with AI is NOT privileged and is subject to discovery and subpoena
- Reach out to us when needed for attorney client privileged (and accurate) advice
- As with everything, we will get through this together
Hopefully, this will be a short and easy workweek. Hope you all get a well-deserved break, including time with friends, family, football, and quality food. Maybe you can spark a discussion about AI at your dinner table and avoid the topic of politics this year.
