Real Applications of AI in HR (That I've seen in Practice)

I’ve given a dozen talks on AI in the workplace, and I always get the exact same question at the end: “What are some practical applications of AI in HR?”

I know they're looking to learn something new and fun that they might be able to test easily, but it’s not that simple. And honestly, I’m not a fan of adopting tools just because they’re shiny and new. When it comes to AI (or any new tech), the approach should never be "find a problem for this tool to solve." It should be the opposite: start with a real problem, then explore whether AI is the best way to solve it. That’s how you avoid launching something that no one adopts because they don't need it.

But if you're an HR or People leader curious how others have leveraged AI to be more efficient, here are a few applications I've personally seen work well:

1. Low-Lift Wins: Easy Applications of AI You Can Start Today. These are tools that don’t require a long learning curve and can supplement your day-to-day right now:

• 📝 AI Notetakers like Fireflies.ai or Otter.ai to transcribe and summarize meetings so you can focus on the conversation, not your keyboard. This is especially helpful for conversations with long follow-up action items, such as interviews, employee relations, and performance conversations.

• 💬 Chat tools like ChatGPT or Perplexity.ai to help you write job descriptions, summarize survey results, draft internal comms, or prep for performance reviews.

• 📅 Email assistants and scheduling tools like Superhuman or Reclaim.ai to draft outreach emails, follow-ups, calendar management, automation workflows, or reminders with a click.

These tools are plug-and-play; they make the workday smoother and your team more efficient without requiring massive change management and training.

2. Mid-Level Moves: Tools That Take a Bit More Effort. These require some upfront learning, a few process changes, or internal training, but the payoff is worth it:

• 🧠 AI-Powered Survey Analysis like Peakon or Qualtrics XM analyze employee engagement surveys in real time, pulling themes and sentiment without manual sorting.

• 📊 Talent analytics Tools like Gloat or Eightfold.ai identify flight risk, development gaps, or high-potential employees with predictive models.

• 🧩 AI-based Learning Platforms like Degreed or Learn Amp, personalized learning tools that suggest content based on role, goals, and skill gaps.

These tools work best when paired with thoughtful implementation and a clear change management plan.

3. High-Impact Custom Solutions: Built Just for You. This is where things get powerful. Custom AI solutions can be embedded directly into your systems and workflows. They take more effort (and budget), but can solve your real business problems at scale:

• 🔄 AI embedded in Slack or Teams to pull continuous feedback from real conversations, turning passive chats into actionable insights for continuous performance conversations.

• 📈 Custom dashboards that combine AI + people data to give leadership live snapshots of team health, engagement, or goal progress.

• 👩🏾‍💻 Custom recruitment process that allows you to easily search your candidate database and then have them interview with an AI as a first level of screening.

This route isn’t for everyone, but if you’re scaling fast and want to stay ahead, it can be a game-changer.

This is by no means a comprehensive list. AI applications are evolving every day, and the possibilities really are endless. As a reminder, just because you can use AI for something doesn’t mean you should.

Before jumping in, take a beat. Start by identifying the real problem you're trying to solve, then evaluate whether AI is the right (and best) tool for the job.

Start small. Stay focused. And remember that tools don’t transform teams, how you use them does.

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Looking to implement AI but not sure where to start? Let's chat. Hello@almeshaan.co