There is much abuzz about AI these days.  I wrote about it a couple of times here on LinkedIn and with plenty of folks in Hollywood predicting the doom of the human race (ala Terminator), I continue to have a positive viewpoint of its impact.  Heck, software that is smarter and serves up critical information when you need it - that's the holy grail of technology, right?  

One area of a business that is sometimes late to the game on these changes is human resources. Too often our department is the target of budget cuts or a lack of investment in software, so we are left behind to handle a company's people business doing the same old same old with the same old. I think AI technologies embedded in human capital solutions can provide companies with unprecedented access to real-time human capital information that will allow a line leader, a manager, or CEO to make mission-critical people decisions, in the moment, not months down the line when they are presented with out of date human capital information.  

Here are my predictions on how AI will impact human capital in organizations:

• AI will help leaders identify challenges - with a strong reliance on data that is pulled from all the systems your companies uses on a daily basis, AI will learn how your company does business and surface challenges and problems based on a pre-set list of algorithms. This tech will comb through emails, calendars, project management systems, without compromising any privacy. Now, imagine getting notified in real-time when there is enough data to sense that an employee's engagement has decreased or a project is going "off the rails". 
• AI will surface hidden issues - do you REALLY know what is happening on the front lines of your company. Uncover Boss, a reality series that had CEOs and senior leaders go uncover to the front lines of their organizations, did a great job of exposing leaders to front-line employees, operations, and challenges. They were always amazed to learn about their front-line staff members, the great ideas they had, and the challenges that existed which prevented them to perform well for the company. Now you get access to the information without ever having to put on a wig or fake mustache.  
• AI will predict turnover/attrition - as I mentioned before, we look at turnover after it happens, in some cases, months or weeks after. It's a look-back. What if we can predict when engagement decreases at the moment it happens, without ever sending an employee survey. How could you use that information to make decisions on people programs, training, etc?  Powerful. 
• AI will provide insights - in most human capital reports, we get information out of our HR systems. Like most systems, bad data in equals bad data out. In some situations, the information is inaccurate and in most cases it's simply a look-back. What if a system could provide insights now, in real-time...a system that looks at the frequency of conversations across your employees, tone of communications, the connections across your global organizations, challenges, and successes.  
• AI will empower front-line managers - in a most controversial prediction, I think we will see more empowered front-line managers with AI, removing the need for onsite HR folks and transform them into true business partners. AI would help to serve the line-manager as their "HR" partner and provide them access to information typically unavailable behind a firewall.  
• AI makes leaders better by providing more data - if your front line managers get critical human capital information in real-time without barrier, you'd assume they would be better managers. When FitBit tells you that you have stepped 9,000 steps and your goal is 10,000, you walk to the bus, not drive. With information, line managers will become better leaders. They will still need the critical people business partners, but they will now be more equipped with data and critical information making that conversation REALLY powerful.  

Do you think AI can help make people better leaders?  How will AI change your job?