88% of HR Leaders Yet to See Significant Business Value from AI
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A Gartner survey found that 88% of HR leaders had not seen significant business value from AI tools in their organisations. Another Gartner study found that only 8% of HR leaders believed their managers had the skills needed to use AI effectively, showing a gap between AI adoption and workplace readiness.
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The findings underline a challenge for HR teams: introducing AI tools is only the first step. Organisations also need employees who can identify suitable applications, use AI effectively and integrate it into everyday work.
Key Highlights
- 88%: HR leaders have not seen significant business value from AI tools, according to Gartner.
- 8%: HR leaders believe their managers have the skills needed to use AI effectively, according to Gartner.
- 39%: Organisations were using AI in their HR functions, according to SHRM’s 2026 research.
According to Gartner’s October 2025 findings, 62% of employees said AI had saved them time, while 42% said they knew how to identify where AI could improve their work.
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These results suggest that AI can help employees, but its benefits depend partly on their ability to apply it to relevant tasks.
AI Adoption in HR: What the Surveys Reveal
Research by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), published in March 2026, found that 39% of organisations were using AI in their HR functions.
Recruitment was the leading application, with 27% of organisations using AI in talent acquisition. AI was also being used in HR technology and learning and development.
Separately, the Conference Board reported in March 2026 that 60% of surveyed organisations were experimenting with AI but had not yet put it into operation at scale. Its research covered more than 250 HR leaders.
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These findings point to three areas HR professionals need to understand: where AI can help, how to apply it to work processes and how to measure its results.
How Can HR Professionals Apply AI?
AI tools can support routine activities across the employee lifecycle, helping HR teams save time and prepare information more efficiently.
Practical applications include:
- Talent acquisition: Drafting job descriptions, preparing interview questions and creating candidate communication.
- Learning and development: Developing training materials, assessments and personalised learning plans.
- HR analytics: Summarising workforce reports, analysing data and identifying patterns for further review.
- Employee services: Drafting responses to routine queries and explaining HR policies in simple language.
- HR operations: Preparing presentations, reports, process documents and initial policy drafts.
AI-generated information can be inaccurate or biased. HR professionals must verify outputs, protect confidential employee information and retain human oversight, particularly in hiring and performance-related decisions.
From AI Tools to AI Agents
Beyond individual tasks, AI agents can help carry out multiple connected steps within a defined workflow. For example, an AI-supported recruitment process could assist with drafting a job description, preparing interview questions and organising candidate communication for review.
Such workflows require clear instructions, appropriate permissions, testing and monitoring. HR professionals therefore need to understand not only how to use AI tools but also how to assess their outputs and apply suitable safeguards.
SightsIn Plus Announces Applied AI Certification Course
To help HR professionals develop practical AI skills, SightsIn Plus and Adrenalin Academy organise the Applied AI for HR Professionals – 2-Day Certification Course
The upcoming online classes are scheduled for October 31 and November 1, 2026. The programme will run from 9:00 AM to 2:00 PM IST on both days.
Harjeet Khanduja, SVP-HR at Reliance Jio, will lead sessions on Generative AI, prompt writing and applications across talent acquisition, HR analytics and learning and development.
Karthick Subramaniam, Global Head – Learning & Enablement at Adrenalin, will cover AI agents, workflow integration, prompt engineering and responsible AI adoption.
Participants will explore tools including ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, NotebookLM, Julius, Gamma and Napkin. The programme will include practical exercises, live demonstrations and HR-specific learning resources.
The course is intended for HR professionals across Talent Acquisition, Learning and Development, Rewards, HR Business Partnering and HR strategy, as well as people managers and Centre of Excellence leaders.
Course details
Interested participants can explore the details, register, and enroll today. Benefits vary by plan and include learning materials, session recordings, and post-course support.
- Visit: https://hr.sightsinplus.com/
- Contact [email protected] or +91 96507 39733