3 Expert Perspectives on Adopting Human-Centric AI and Navigating the Future of Work

What do a chief talent officer, a business development consultant, and a chief digital officer have in common when it comes to AI?

When I recently connected with Kathleen Pearson, Natalie Petouhoff, and Neel Adhya, I found their perspectives converged around a common theme: the human-centric adoption of AI in organizations. Empathy, collaboration, and experimentation emerged as crucial elements in ensuring successful AI integration. Each of these leaders emphasized that the true power of AI lies not just in its technological capabilities but in how it is implemented and embraced by people.

Pearson’s efforts to demystify AI for her organization, Petouhoff’s advocacy for empathy-driven AI strategies, and Adhya’s vision of reshaping industries with AI all converge on the idea that successful AI adoption hinges on human intelligence working in tandem with artificial intelligence. These leaders each illustrate that by fostering a culture of trust, collaboration, and innovation, organizations can unlock the transformative potential of AI and create a future where technology enhances, rather than diminishes, the human experience.

How a Chief Talent Officer Makes AI ‘OK for Everyone’

As the global chief talent officer of law firm McDermott Will & Emery, Kathleen Pearson understands that organizational changes can often breed anxiety. So, when talk of AI began to speed up, she was determined to stay ahead of the curve. 

As a hands-on learner, Pearson started by looking for everyday challenges she could tackle with the help of AI, from career counseling to performance reviews. Over the past few months, she’s been sharing her learnings across the organization, making sure that even the most skeptical employees have had a chance to experiment with the latest tools. 

“In order to help reduce some of the fear factor that comes along with change, you have to understand the technology,” said Pearson, whose firm has over 3,000 partners and employees. “I’m not a tech person, so if I can do it, anyone can.”

Leading her organization through AI adoption, Pearson is part of the growing movement of AI catalysts who help transform ideas into tangible results. This role, which usually transcends technical expertise, requires leaders to not only choose the right projects, but also win the trust needed to see them through to deployment. AI market research firm Emerj estimates that up to 90% of all AI projects fail, often because they lack the right catalyst. 

Fun with Jane and Max 

Pearson recently launched “Ask Jane,” an AI bot designed to resonate with Gen Z employees seeking career advice. Another model, “Max,” consolidates employee data, performance reviews, and feedback to provide a real-time view of an employee’s progress and development opportunities.

“It’s extraordinarily exciting when you start to think about how we can create this digital partner that can help us do our jobs better and add higher value to our organizations as strategic leaders,” said Pearson, noting that training an AI model is similar to hiring a new employee. 

“You have to get to know them, you have to understand their strengths and weaknesses, and you have to learn how to talk to them,” she added.

McDermott employs Microsoft Bing Copilot, ensuring that all data stays secure behind the firm’s firewalls in compliance with its stringent AI policy on data usage and security. When Pearson noticed that some employees were reluctant to use AI at work, she partnered with her CIO and IT department to organize a collaborative “Prompt-a-thon” workshop, bringing cross-functional teams together to explore use cases and learn prompt engineering. 

Many employees who were initially skeptical left with a clearer understanding of how AI could be applied effectively within their organization, recognizing its potential to save time and enhance their work.

“We’ve never seen so many light bulbs go off at once, so brightly,” Pearson said. 

Leaning into the Slide

While navigating the current technological shift can often feel like driving on ice, HR leaders need to proactively “lean into the slide” and guide their organizations through the change, said Pearson. “As HR professionals, we’re the ones that make it OK for everyone else,” she said. “Because that’s truly how you lead through change and make positive impacts for the world.”

Pearson also encourages her team to view AI as a tool to augment human capabilities rather than replace them. She approaches the technology with an 80/20 rule: AI can handle 80% of the heavy lifting, freeing up human brainpower for the remaining 20%, which requires critical thinking, refinement, and problem-solving.

Most importantly, she urges other leaders not to wait for the perfect AI opportunity, vendor, or out-of-the-box solution, but to start experimenting today.

“We really are all at the starting blocks of this,” said Pearson. “So, we have a very finite amount of time to innovate and play and learn through trial and error.”

Why a Business Development Consultant Prioritizes Empathy in AI Transformation

Natalie Petouhoff, a tech industry veteran with decades of experience overseeing digital transformations for major brands, has witnessed countless tech initiatives fall short. Now, as businesses around the world race toward AI automation, Petouhoff offers a cautionary piece of advice: Prioritize empathy.

“What I see is what I would call ‘AI-palooza,’ where we want to just jump to the implementation of technology,” she said. “But it is not a strategy to say, ‘We’re going to get people off our balance sheets.’ You have an opportunity to reskill your workforce, transform how you do business, and then leverage AI to augment those roles.”

Co-author of the book “Empathy in Action,” Petouhoff has guided some of the world’s biggest corporations, such as Salesforce, Hulu, Marriott, and DoorDash, in revamping customer and employee experiences. Today, her expertise at the intersection of empathy, CX, and AI has never been more relevant.  

As companies are navigating the challenges and opportunities of large language models, their success hinges on adopting empathy as a business strategy, said Petouhoff. By stepping into the shoes of employees and customers, understanding their perspectives, and incorporating their feedback into the deployment of AI, companies can develop innovative products and services that are distinctively competitive.

“AI and empathy are like peanut butter and chocolate—you’re not really sure that they go together, but once you try them, you know this is the best combination ever,” she explained.

The Economics of Empathy 

Consider one of Petouhoff’s recent clients, a call center operator that committed to zero layoffs during its AI implementation to drive efficiencies. Instead of merely using these gains for cost savings, the company invested time and resources in understanding the pain points of employees and customers, upskilling, and developing cutting-edge products and services that leapfrogged the competition.

“The economics of empathy is really looking at what happens when we focus on human potential,” said Petouhoff. “When you start to really do the things that your customers are asking you to do, that’s when you get the cost reductions.” 

With this paradigm shift, chief HR officers today find themselves at a critical junction, said Petouhoff. They must assume the responsibilities of AI catalysts who can identify opportunities for AI implementation, build the business case, educate stakeholders, and guide the organization toward AI maturity. 

Start by mapping out each role to determine what tasks are currently being performed, identifying what is inefficient or uninteresting, and figuring out what could be better handled by AI, said Petouhoff. This approach helps companies reimagine roles and responsibilities so employees can focus more on the creative and rewarding aspects of their jobs. It also addresses the challenges of “quiet quitting,” boosting employee engagement. 

“CHROs, your day has come. There has never been a more important role for you in this new world of AI,” said Petouhoff. “You are the catalyst that will make it or break it for any company.” 

How a Chief Digital Officer Envisions Reshaping Industries and Functions with AI

The rapid advancement of generative AI (GenAI) technologies such as ChatGPT has ushered in a seismic shift, poised to disrupt industries and redefine the future of work. Neel Adhya, chief digital officer at international technology provider and asset manager BlackRock, shared insights on navigating this new territory and unlocking AI’s transformative potential.

Adhya highlighted the unprecedented pace of AI adoption, noting that ChatGPT reached a staggering 1 million users in just five days—a record-setting pace for any technology, far surpassing the years it took for smartphones to achieve similar adoption rates.

The progress of GenAI extends beyond user numbers. Adhya discussed the growth in learning capacity of GPT models, from GPT-1’s 117 million parameters—i.e. the variables a model learns during its “training process”—in 2018 to GPT-4’s 1.76 trillion parameters. This leap has enabled significant improvements in tasks such as scoring over 90% on the Uniform Bar Exam, previously unimaginable for machines.

So, which industries are set to experience the most disruptive impact from this AI wave? Adhya identified financial services as being particularly likely to experience significant disruption from AI, due to its reliance on data and insights—areas where AI can automate decision-making and enhance efficiency.

Despite technological advances, Adhya emphasized that the main barriers to AI adoption are organizational and human-centric. Challenges include a lack of skilled personnel, cross-functional collaboration, and robust governance models—hurdles that only about one-third of organizations have begun to effectively address.

To lead in the AI revolution, Adhya proposed several strategies:

• Develop robust data and content infrastructure, treating content management with the same rigor as data management to feed high-quality inputs to AI models.
• Foster cross-functional collaboration by breaking down organizational silos and creating teams that bring together diverse expertise—from HR and technology to data science and beyond.
• Evolve traditional learning systems to emphasize hands-on, continuous learning approaches that can keep pace with rapid AI advancements, as passive learning is insufficient.
• Cultivate a new breed of cross-functional leaders who not only understand technology but are also proficient in human interactions and the ethics of AI.
• Shift from siloed, 20th-century organizational models to AI-centric operating structures that place this horizontal technology at the core and organize teams around extracting maximum value from it.

The Critical Role of HR

Adhya also highlighted HR’s critical role in this transformation, from enhancing collaboration to developing leaders ready for an AI-driven workplace.

Notably, he highlighted the pivotal role that HR professionals can play in facilitating this transformative journey. From fostering cross-functional collaboration and continuous learning to developing future-ready leaders equipped for the AI-powered world of work, HR’s expertise in talent management and organizational development is crucial.

As Adhya stated, “The companies that are really pulling away have really figured out a mechanism to organize around the technology. Put AI at the center of your business model and then organize your teams to take full advantage of that.”

The GenAI revolution is upon us, and organizations that embrace this mindset—by aligning their operating models, talent strategies, and collaborative approaches around AI—will be best positioned to stay ahead of the curve and unlock the transformative potential of this game-changing technology.

The Promise of AI+HI: A Human-Centered Approach

At SHRM, we believe in a future where artificial intelligence (AI) and human intelligence (HI) complement each other. This AI+HI approach aims to create opportunities for individuals and drive value for organizations beyond mere efficiency gains.

As AI reshapes industries, a human-centric approach becomes crucial. The insights from Pearson, Petouhoff, and Adhya underscore that while AI offers significant potential for innovation, its true value emerges when it is integrated thoughtfully with human empathy, collaboration, and experimentation.

By aligning human and artificial intelligence, organizations can create an environment where technology not only improves processes but also enhances the human experience. This balanced approach can lead to sustainable progress and meaningful transformation.

The way forward involves embracing AI as a tool for innovation, guided by human values. By doing so, we can work toward a future where both people and technology thrive together, fostering growth, creativity, and shared success in our evolving digital landscape.