There is no shortage of headlines about AI.
Depending on who you listen to, it is either about to transform work beyond recognition, or create a whole new set of risks and challenges.
But what is actually happening inside organisations right now?
That was the focus of our recent webinar, Behind the Curtain: How Leading IC Teams Are Using AI, where Emma Bridger was joined by Sarah Meurer from Elsevier and Erik Sebok to explore how AI is being used in practice, what is working, and where human judgement still matters most.
If you missed the session, you can watch the full recording here:
🎥 https://youtu.be/JMJMtpRZO6E
The reality is less dramatic – and more interesting
One of the strongest themes from the discussion was that the reality of AI adoption looks very different from many of the headlines.
Rather than replacing people, most organisations are using AI to help with tasks that are repetitive, time-consuming, or difficult to scale. This includes activities such as:
- Drafting content and communications
- Summarising information
- Research and insight gathering
- Analysing feedback and data
- Supporting planning and decision-making
What emerged clearly from the conversation was that AI works best when it acts as a partner rather than a replacement.
As Sarah explained, the value often comes from freeing people up to spend more time on the work that requires empathy, judgement, creativity, and relationship building.
AI doesn’t replace strategy
Another key insight was that AI can help accelerate execution, but it cannot replace strategic thinking.
Several examples highlighted how AI can produce content quickly, but if the brief, objective, or strategy behind that content is weak, the outputs will be too.
In many ways, AI is exposing the importance of foundational communication and experience design skills. The ability to ask good questions, define objectives, understand audiences, and create meaningful experiences is becoming even more valuable.
As Erik put it, prompting is often just another form of briefing. The quality of the output depends heavily on the quality of the thinking that goes into it.
Human judgement remains the differentiator
The discussion also explored where humans continue to add the greatest value.
AI can process huge amounts of information. It can identify patterns, draft content, and surface insights. But what it cannot do is understand organisational culture, navigate complexity, build trust, or make ethical decisions in context.
Those are fundamentally human skills.
This echoes a message we’ve been exploring through our Human + AI work: the future isn’t about choosing between people and technology. It’s about learning how to combine the strengths of both.
AI gives us speed, scale, and efficiency.
Humans bring empathy, curiosity, influence, context, and judgement.
The most effective practitioners will learn how to work with both.
What are you learning about AI?
The webinar reinforced something we’ve been hearing repeatedly over the past year: people professionals are no longer asking whether AI matters.
They’re asking how to use it well.
That’s why we’ve launched the Human + AI Knowledge Exchange – a community-driven project designed to capture practical experiences, lessons learned, and real-world examples from practitioners working across employee experience, employee engagement, internal communication, HR, and learning and development.
We’d love to hear from you.
Four questions we’re asking:
- Where has AI made the biggest difference to the way you work?
- What’s one lesson you’ve learned about using AI effectively?
- What’s something AI still can’t do as well as humans?
- What advice would you give to someone just getting started?
You can find out more and contribute your experiences here:
👉 https://peoplelab.co.uk/the-human-ai-exchange/
Download the Human + AI for EX Toolkit
If you’re looking for practical ways to start experimenting with AI across the employee lifecycle, we’ve also created a free Human + AI for EX Toolkit. The guide explores how AI can support everything from attraction and onboarding through to learning, wellbeing, employee voice, recognition, and exit experiences, while keeping human-centred design at the heart of the process.
Download your free copy here:
👉 https://mailchi.mp/60357eaff1d0/humanaiex
The organisations that thrive in the years ahead won’t be those that simply adopt AI the fastest. They’ll be the ones that learn how to combine technology with the uniquely human skills that create trust, connection, meaning, and great experiences.
We’re looking forward to learning from you.
