EP 143: How HR Gets a Seat at the Table on AI Decisions | AI & HR Series

PodcastDon't Waste the ChaosHR StrategyWorkplace Trends
Written By Kerri Roberts

Series: AI & HR Series · Host: Kerri Roberts · Run time: ~21 minutes

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Episode Summary

Right now, someone in your company is deciding how AI gets used. The only question is whether HR is in the room. More than half of organizations don't involve HR in their AI strategy at all, and it shows. Most HR leaders say their AI tools haven't delivered significant business value yet, and the people side (training, adoption, job descriptions, performance, policy) is usually why. In this episode of the Don't Waste the Chaos podcast, Kerri Roberts uses a phrase she has avoided for 20 years to talk about how HR earns a seat at the table on AI decisions, without a big title and without slowing anything down. Kerri walks through why leaving HR out gets expensive, what HR brings that IT can't, how to use RACI to decide where you sit, and why owning one lane beats a vague seat every time. It's practical HR for founders and small business leaders who know AI is coming whether they're ready or not. The people questions are the strategy questions.

In This Episode

  • Why 52% of organizations leave HR out of AI strategy (SHRM 2026), and why HR shares some of the blame

  • How shadow AI and unmanaged rollouts lead to 88% of HR leaders seeing no significant value from AI tools

  • Why AI has to connect to your job descriptions, job postings, performance reviews, and disciplinary process

  • The talent risk: Gartner's prediction that companies without an AI people strategy will lose top performers by 2027

  • The questions HR should bring: adoption, fairness, legality, decision ownership, and training

  • How to use RACI to decide whether you lead, get consulted, or stay informed

  • Why owning one lane (AI policy, training plan, internal comms, vendor people-risk review) beats a vague seat

  • Why admitting you're catching up is fine when 65% of HR pros feel the same way

Chapter Timestamps

0:00 AI decisions are being made right now
1:05 Welcome to Don't Waste the Chaos
2:22 The AI and HR series so far
4:41 52% of companies leave HR out of AI strategy
6:10 The expensive gap: 88% see no real value
9:25 The stakes: losing top talent by 2027
11:00 What HR brings to the table
14:06 Taking a seat without a title (RACI)
16:26 Own one lane
17:10 Be honest that you're catching up
17:55 Your move this week
18:50 Resources and wrap-up

Resources Mentioned

Episodes in the AI & HR Series

Your Action Item

This week, find out who is actually making AI decisions in your company. Ask who bought the last two AI tools and who approves the next one, then put AI on the agenda for your next leadership meeting and pick the one lane you'll own, whether that's the AI use policy, the training rollout, or internal communications.

GET THE MONDAY EMAIL

If this episode resonated, you'll like the Monday morning email. Every Monday at 5:28am, Kerri sends one practical idea for leaders who want to do this work better — including the conversations behind episodes like this one. 1,000+ leaders. 50%+ open rate.

Full Transcript

AI decisions are being made right now

Right now, somebody in your organization is actively making decisions when it comes to artificial intelligence. They are thinking about what tools are going to be used, who's going to use them, what's going to be put into them, how it's going to be rolled out, what training looks like, if these skills and these tools are needed for future positions, if they're needed for current positions, and how that's going to work. All of this is being done right now in your organization.

And if you're listening to this and you're like, no, that's not possible because I'm the senior leader or I'm the HR person, I'm telling you, these items are being thought about actively, whether they've come across your plate or not. So today we need to talk specifically. I'm going to be addressing my HR team, and I'm going to be using a phrase that I have vehemently disregarded for over 20 years, but it's applicable for today's episode. I'm going to talk about how HR gets a seat at the table when it comes to artificial intelligence.

Welcome to Don't Waste the Chaos

Welcome back to another episode of Don't Waste the Chaos. I'm your host, Kerri Roberts. I have been doing HR for over 20 years. I started out in distribution, went to finance, went to higher education, then to insurance, then to mergers and acquisitions. Three and a half years ago, I went out on my own and started focusing on human resources for small to mid-sized businesses, businesses that are underserved in this space, businesses that either can't allocate the funding or shouldn't quite yet focus on human resources, but they have needs and they have hired people. So they need an HR foundation.

I love serving that group of people because there's a gap there, but they're not quite ready to fill it. I wouldn't recommend filling it with a full-time person. The data shows that for every 100 employees, the benchmark is 1.04 HR staff members. So you're probably premature to hire, but you need the foundation, you need the framework. That's why I started Salt & Light Advisors. That's why I'm going through these podcast episodes. And every single week, every single Tuesday, I release an episode that focuses on building your HR foundation.

The AI and HR series so far

You're catching me in the middle of my AI and HR series. So if you haven't listened, I think I'm about 10 or so episodes deep in this series. Prior to that, I went through the entire HR foundation, the 13 foundational areas that you need to have in your organization to build your HR business infrastructure. So lots of meat and potatoes out there when it comes to podcast episodes, not to mention all of my old episodes. I've got interviews out there, and I've covered everything from pay negotiation to all kinds of different things.

So I highly recommend you subscribe to my channel if you haven't already. I'm telling you, you're going to get value out of it. I've got a YouTube channel under Kerri Roberts, and then my show is called, of course, Don't Waste the Chaos. It's on Spotify and Apple. So wherever you're catching this, please go in and subscribe so you never miss anything. I'm not going to spam you. You're just going to be on the subscription list.

And speaking of spamming you, if you want something to show up in your email inbox, I do have a weekly email that comes out that goes deeper on these topics and gives you some of my free tools and resources on top of that. So make sure you go to saltandlightadvisors.com/contact to get signed up for my weekly email. That thing is chock full of value. It just shows up in your email inbox and asks nothing else of you other than, if you have five minutes, read it, or delete it and move on to the next week.

52% of companies leave HR out of AI strategy

But let's get into the subject matter at hand today: getting that seat at the table when you are an HR person, or anybody in your organization who needs to be a part of these decisions that are actively, actively right now being made when it comes to artificial intelligence. Your company is making these decisions right now. What tools to buy, what data they touch, who gets to use them. And at most companies, these calls are being made by maybe an IT pro if you have one, maybe the leadership team. HR is nowhere in the room based on the data that I'm seeing.

And that's exactly how you end up with an expensive AI tool that doesn't deliver and quietly creates a people risk. That's what I'm seeing these days. HR belongs at that table. You don't need a big title to earn a seat at it. You need to show up with the numbers, though. And this is what I always preach when it comes to HR. You need to show up with the numbers or the questions that nobody else in the room is asking, and be a part of the solution.

So the first thing we need to think about is why this is a problem. AI is getting rolled out whether HR is involved or not, and the data is showing that HR is not involved. Here's what I saw: more than half of organizations, 52%, don't involve HR in their AI strategy or in their AI vision at all.

And I've got to be honest, a lot of HR pros that I know and that I've come to meet in my network over the last 20 years wouldn't even try to be a part of these conversations. And that's their fault too. I would say that's their fault too. A lot of HR pros do not understand how the sausage is made in business. They're focused on just the people aspect. If they do not have any understanding of what's going on in the P&L, then how can they truly make a big impact on your business?

And if you're listening to this right now and you're like, yeah, my HR person has no clue, you probably have the wrong HR person, or you've given them an admin-style role and you haven't really empowered them, or maybe they don't understand that function truly. Send them my way. I can get them mentored. But more than half of organizations, that 52%, are not involving HR in the strategy at all. That is according to SHRM, the Society for Human Resource Management, State of AI survey that just took place here in 2026.

IT is usually driving it, with HR in a supporting role or cut out entirely. That's not neutral, right? It's the same age-old problem over and over again with human resources: people decisions getting made without the people expert on board. And that just makes the problems happen faster and the problems get larger. So we need to make sure we've got a seat at the table. But if you show up at that table, what are you going to bring?

The expensive gap: 88% see no real value

First of all, that gap is very expensive. I always like to tie my impact back to the bottom line, and missing out on the people aspect when you're making your AI decisions can be very expensive. Based on what I read from a Gartner survey, 88% of HR leaders say their organization has not gotten significant business value out of its AI tools thus far.

So if you've listened to this series at all, a lot of us are using it. Most of us aren't using it effectively. The ones that are using it are usually using what I call shadow AI, which means we don't have a policy, we're not really explaining what we're using it for, and we're not including it in our standard operating procedures. And then you've got HR leaders saying they're not seeing significant business value out of the AI tools.

To me, if I'm reading between the lines, significant business value would probably mean a big reduction in headcount or a big change in job skills or focus or scope for a role. However, all of the data that I've read so far shows that that is coming. LinkedIn said 70% of all skills will shift by 2030. So instead of doing the task ourselves, we'll essentially be managing AI while it does the tasks. Our skill set is going to have to shift and evolve, and we should be seeing some meaningful impact on the bottom line of the business.

With AI decisions getting made without HR, you'll probably have poor adoption and likely misaligned expectations. It's surely not going to be aligned with our job descriptions, if you have those. And that means it probably wouldn't be aligned with job postings, so those aren't going to be clear and accurate. Which means it's probably not going to be aligned to performance management and our performance review process, if you've got that. And then it likely wouldn't be aligned to disciplinary actions, employee performance improvement plans, or terminations, because none of this data is actually being captured.

Do you see the problem here? We've got that business foundation built. If we're not attaching AI to the people-related decisions, we've got a real gap. That means the company spent real money on AI that people either don't use or are using wrong. And that's the case with a lot of technology. A lot of people think AI is unique in this way. It's not. You've got HR and payroll technologies, you've got CRMs, you've got all kinds of tech out there that most of us are paying for and not fully utilizing at its capabilities and capacity. And that is usually because the wrong people had seats at the table when those decisions were made, and we didn't incorporate training, development, change management, or any of those things.

So let's do it different. HR metrics are finance metrics. That's what I always say. And "we bought an AI that didn't work" is going to negatively impact a line item on your P&L. So the seat at the table is not a vanity thing here, folks. It's how the company can stop wasting money in this case.

The stakes: losing top talent by 2027

The stakes on this are really about to go up. This isn't a nice-to-have. That Gartner survey I was reading predicts that by 2027, half of enterprises without a real AI people strategy are going to lose their top talent to competitors. We're going to get left behind here. Competitors are actually enabling their workforce with AI, and we're going to lose our hard chargers, our drivers, our type A's, the people who want to move into the future and scale. We're going to lose them to our competitors.

Right now, only about a quarter of executives, 27% from what I saw, have a comprehensive AI strategy at all. And I'm shocked. 27% is actually higher than a lot of the other data that I'm seeing. But every single week as I'm recording these episodes, this data is growing that fast. Like I said, this is the 10th or 11th episode in this series, and I've already seen the data grow that fast, week by week by week, as I record. I'm having to draft my thoughts and my bullets every single week, live, right before the episode, because things are changing so quickly. Do not get left behind here.

So 27% have a comprehensive AI strategy. The gap is the opening. That's where you need to be focusing if you're an HR person right now. Somebody has to own the people side of AI, and that somebody is you if you're in HR. And if you don't have somebody in HR, it's you if you're in leadership. If you're not there, the strategy gets built without the one function that should understand adoption, trust, training, and risk. And if you're listening thinking my HR person doesn't know that, you've got a weak HR person. Or if your leader or your office manager doesn't know that, maybe you need to pull another card, or maybe you need to reallocate.

What HR brings to the table

So what should you actually bring to the table when you're having these conversations? What do you need to contribute, and what part needs to stay human? I think that's very important. Every single episode in this series, I've made sure to focus on what needs to stay human. You belong in this conversation, not as a courtesy, but because the people questions are the strategy questions. If we can't figure out how to deploy people and utilize this technology, that's the whole strategy, right? So that part's very, very important.

Will anyone actually use these tools? I saw that 65% of employees say they're excited about using AI at work. I love that. I'm an AI enthusiast myself. I see a lot of ways to bring value to the table. Of course, I would be remiss if I didn't say that if you don't have a good strategy or structure in the first place, piling AI on top of that is not going to help you a ton. So we need to make sure that we have a good business foundation. But your employees are excited about it. The appetite's there.

But excitement without training or without any clear rules is going to create what I call shadow AI. People are going to use it and not tell you they're using it, or they're not going to use it and they're going to dig their heels in and make things even harder for you. You want to know: Is the system fair? Is it legal? Who owns the decision when the tool gets it wrong? When we give a prompt to AI and it gives us something weird, who's owning that decision? Where's the training, so people aren't winging it?

If nobody is in the room from a people perspective, we're just missing these aspects. We're thinking about the money. How much does it cost? How many tokens is it going to burn? How do we make people use this? That's really the crux of what I'm hearing people say. I want everyone to be using AI. How do I get everyone to use AI? And what tool should we be using?

And the answer is not that simple. I personally think you need multiple tools. And I would also argue you're already using AI in a number of places in your business. You just haven't thought of it that way. Machine learning is not a new concept. The way tools like Claude, Cowork, ChatGPT and OpenAI, Manus, and a number of other ones are bringing it to the table is unique, but machine learning is not new. This has been going on for a long time. These are just new tools to adopt and deploy in your organization.

The human layer can't supply what IT can supply, and vice versa. When I'm bringing my human perspective to the table, it's important, but that's not all there is to the conversation. I need to understand your governance aspects. I need to understand your legal aspect, your IT aspect. That's all very, very important. The human aspect's very important as well: judgment, fairness, adoption, trust. We're not here to slow AI down. I personally want to see you accelerate when it comes to your AI utilization at your company. I am here, or an HR pro should be here, to make sure that it actually works and that we're integrating it into your job descriptions, your hiring posts, your performance management, and your disciplinary actions. We want to have clarity on all of that, and on learning and development. We want to integrate all of these together.

Taking a seat without a title (RACI)

So how do you take a seat when you're a one-person team, or maybe you're the office manager? There's no title required when I'm thinking through this. You need to bring some numbers to the conversation. Personally, when I am talking to, let's say, IT or general business operations, I'm not coming in and saying, hey, I'm concerned about your AI. I'm saying, here's our cost per hire and here's where I think the screening tools could make an impact. Or here's our turnover cost, and here's the adoption risk if we aren't paying attention to this. I'm bringing my HR side of the data to the table and how AI is going to impact it. And that's going to validate why I need to be involved, right?

I want to be CC'd. I don't have to lead the charge. Maybe I'm the HR pro, or maybe I'm a senior leader listening to this conversation, and I'm thinking, I don't want to own this, I just want to make sure that I'm consulted. First of all, if you've never heard of RACI (responsible, accountable, consulted, and informed), maybe you should look it up. You need to figure out what seat you're sitting in and then communicate that.

From an HR perspective, I don't want to be the one leading the charge on all of this, but I do want to be consulted. I don't want to run the AI committee. I need to be the name on the email before the tool gets bought. And then I'm thinking about the people risk. How are we going to roll this out? How are we going to communicate it? Internal communications is a big aspect of it. How are we going to hold people accountable to it? Are we going to? What are the potential timelines? Is this realistic on top of people's current workloads? On and on and on. I just want to be consulted on it.

Own one lane

But I do recommend that you own one thing and own it really well. If you're the HR pro and you're sitting at the table on this, be the person who owns writing the AI use policy. Be the person who owns the training rollout plan, the internal comms plan, or the vendor people-risk review. One owned lane beats a vague seat any day of the week, because it's going to be easy to cut you out if there's no clear reason why you're there and you're not bringing any value. Same for me. I'm always like, why is that person in this meeting? That's a waste of time. Moving on.

Be honest that you're catching up

I also want to say that once you get to be a part of the conversation, you need to be honest that you're catching up. Everyone is catching up right now. When I look at the data, it says 65% of HR pros say they don't feel ready to work with AI. 65%. That probably includes you. That's the majority of people. Just be clear about that. You're not behind. You're in the exact same spot that most people are in, which means the seat is wide open. You get to figure out what this looks like. Show up ready to learn out loud and ready to ask the questions. Don't be afraid to show up and not know, but also be ready to contribute meaningfully to the conversation.

Your move this week

So, you need to think through what you can do this week to make an impact. I would say find out who's actually making the AI decisions in your company. If you have leadership team meetings, bring it up. And if it hasn't been brought up, I would be kind of surprised. It probably got brought up in another conversation that you haven't been in, but make sure that this is getting discussed at your leadership team meetings. Who bought the last two tools? If AI is being utilized, which it is, who approves the next ones? Just find the room, find where those conversations are happening, and make sure that you're taking a seat.

You can't take a seat that you can't locate, and you need to be really intentional about it. Don't shy away from this just so later you can say, well, they didn't bring me in. I hear this all the time from HR people. They didn't bring me in, or I would have recommended X, Y, or Z. Well, in hindsight, you know what you would have brought to the table. Why don't you show up with everyone else? We're all in progress right now, trying to figure this out. Show up with everyone else and make a meaningful contribution along the way.

Resources and wrap-up

If you want to go deeper on this and you're thinking, I already have to run payroll and a number of other things, I certainly can't figure out how to implement this in my business, specifically when it comes to HR, that's what I'm here for. Just reach out at saltandlightadvisors.com/contact. Or if you're not quite ready for that, but you want to make sure your foundation is built out, go to saltandlightadvisors.com/resources. I've got coursework available for you there, and I've got free downloadable tools and resources. You can also sign up for my newsletter there. And of course, you know I've got my HR Easy Button book. You can pick that up on Amazon.

There is also a free HR audit out there. It's my condensed version. I do, of course, a larger version that takes me about a month with a client. But if you want to start with the free version of my HR audit, go to saltandlightadvisors.com/hraudit. It'll take you about 10 minutes. It'll spit out a score at the end and let you know if you're in a risky area when it comes to your HR, if you need attention, or if you're thriving when it comes to your HR foundation. It'll put numbers to it. And once you get that score, if you decide you want to connect with me, it will absolutely let you get on my schedule. It'll send you my scheduling link right after that.

I understand that adding a new technology and layering it over top of everything, every single function, every department, is a lot. When I'm talking to clients and I ask where they want to start with this, most of my clients say, gosh, I think everywhere. And I do think that's the right answer. Utilizing AI in my business has transformed it as well. I'm making better top-line revenue, I'm making better bottom-line revenue, and my growth has been exponential. AI has been a huge part of that. So jumping on this bandwagon, I think, is important. I don't think it's going away. I understand that it's hard. But don't waste the chaos. Embrace it. We'll see you next Tuesday.

Resources To Keep Building

If AI is rolling out in your business and you're not sure your people systems are ready for it, take the free HR Audit to see where your foundation stands. → saltandlightadvisors.com/hraudit

🎙️ Listen to Don't Waste the Chaos — This episode: EP 143 on kerrimroberts.com. More at the show feed. 👉 kerrimroberts.com/dontwastethechaos

📚 Explore the HR coursework — Self-paced courses, tools, and resources to build your HR systems step by step. 👉 saltandlightadvisors.com/resources

✉️ Get the Monday Email — One practical idea for leaders, every Monday at 5:28am. 1,000+ leaders, 50%+ open rate. 👉 saltandlight.myflodesk.com/saltandlightadvisors

Need fractional HR support or want to talk through a specific challenge? 👉 saltandlightadvisors.com/contact

Kerri Roberts https://saltandlightadvisors.com
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