Consider this rapid shift: In 2023, 22% of HR functions reported experimenting with or using gen AI. A year later, that figure has soared to 41%, according to research from the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp).

“Today, we’re starting to see HR catch up,” says Kevin Oakes, CEO and co-founder of i4cp, who spoke last week during HR Tech in Las Vegas.

One of the significant findings of its 2023 study, Is HR Already Behind in the AI Revolution, was that HR was not being included in strategic conversations around AI in a meaningful way at their organizations, Oakes says. “It was unfortunate because if there’s one thing AI affects, it is the workforce. And, HR should be the experts on the workforce.”

The reason HR leaders weren’t included in those discussions? C-suite executives had little confidence in HR’s capabilities around AI, Oakes says.

“HR wasn’t using AI that much, nor demonstrating knowledge around AI,” he says. “But that is starting to change. … HR still has a ways to go, but I would love to see more CEOs recognize that they’ve got to really make sure HR is involved.”

HR’s increased involvement in strategic AI discussions this year is making a difference, with 51% of employers overall using gen AI in some way, according to i4cp’s upcoming report Workforce Readiness in the Era of AI, which surveyed 930 mid-level and high-level executives across the globe who are primarily in HR.

See also: Here’s how HR can lead a ‘culture renovation’

6 HR functions using AI today

Today, a half-dozen HR functions are using gen AI, each in several ways, i4cp’s research shows. The functions are talent acquisition and mobility, talent development, total rewards, DEI, people analytics and employee experience. Here is a look at how teams in each of these functions are using the technology to improve efficiency, productivity and execution, according to the latest report.

Talent acquisition and mobility

Talent acquisition leaders have been among the early HR adopters of gen AI, Oakes says.

“They certainly thought of all the different functions in HR to use it and more so than most others,” he notes. “They’re doing some simple things like creating job descriptions, synthesizing data, both internally and externally, and using it for video or chatbot interviews.”

One company reported using gen AI to write emails to passive candidates and saw significantly more candidates responding to those emails than to a human-written email, Oakes says. In addition to the higher response rate, TA teams spent less time and effort on these candidates, he added.

Talent development

Talent development teams are using gen AI as much as talent acquisition teams, says Oakes, particularly to personalize development plans and create L&D courses. This is affecting the instructional design role for many companies, according to Oakes.

“I come from a training and development background, so we know how time-consuming some of this can be,” he says. “It’s amazing to see how quickly companies are creating content.”

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