In May, Colorado became the first state to pass legislation governing the use of AI and protecting consumers against algorithmic discrimination. The Colorado AI Act, SB 24-205, governs how AI can be used in the workplace, but also in settings such as education, financial services, and healthcare. It is set to take effect on February 1, 2026.

“HR is right in the center of the bullseye for this law,” said John Rood, founder and president of Proceptual, an AI compliance consultancy. “If your company is using AI-powered software to help make decisions about job candidates for promotion or dismissal, all the things that we use it for now, within our ATS, within our HRIS, that’s right in the center of the law.”

Any employer doing business in the state of Colorado with more than 50 employees will have specific obligations when AI is a factor in the decision-making processes that affect personnel, according to Philip L. Gordon, a shareholder with the labor and employment firm Littler Mendelson. Gordon co-chairs the privacy and data security practice group.

What’s HR to do? As more companies leverage AI-powered technologies in the workplace, navigating a fluid regulatory landscape can be difficult, but Rood said there are a few steps HR pros can take to be prepared for compliance.

Keep reading here.—AD

Winning and keeping top talent is a never-ending cycle, so why not make it a little bit easier? With AI (and the right accompanying tools) on your side, optimizing your HR and recruiting processes can be a breeze. That’s where ClearCompany comes in.

ClearCompany’s AI prompt templates are designed to lighten your workload, whether you’re a seasoned AI pro or just getting started.

After all, asking better questions helps you get better answers from your AI tools. Customize ClearCompany’s prompts to:

• write comprehensive job descriptions
• strategize recruitment campaigns
• improve communication with candidates
• streamline the interview processes

And a whooole lot more. Check out the templates here.

We know we’re preaching to the choir when we say that the job of an HR professional hasn’t gotten any easier. Skills shortages, low employee engagement, and a deficit of workers have created headaches for most HR professionals in recent years—and they’ve had to get creative to address these challenges.

That rings particularly true for Kat Gerig, vice president of human resources at Indiana-based telecommunications company Telamon. She leads an HR team of eight, serving hundreds of employees in the US, India, and Europe.

Currently, Gerig said her biggest challenge is managing all of the demands of the HR function, like keeping employees engaged, minimizing turnover, and staying on top of workforce development planning. She has launched several initiatives to tackle that, including an apprenticeship training program for high-turnover roles and employee career development benefits.

“What I try to do is make sure that we’re moving things forward, and that we are not just supporting the business,” she told HR Brew. “I don’t want to just be a support, I want to enable our business to grow, and to hit its goals. That’s really what I charge our HR team to do.”

Keep reading here.—PM

In a sharing mood, security platform KnowBe4’s CEO revealed the company’s encounter with a remote hire who turned out to be a fake-ID-giving, malware-loading insider threat. A blunt blog post from KnowBe4’s CEO Stu Sjouwerman (titled “How a North Korean Fake IT Work Tried to Infiltrate Us”) reminded IT pros of important verification checks against a remote fraudforce.

In the July 23 blog post, KnowBe4’s CEO shared how a newly hired internal software developer used an image modified with AI tools and passed an interview ID check. Later, the company’s IT team discovered the user manipulating session-history files and executing unauthorized software.

KnowBe4’s HR team conducted four video-conference-based interviews, according to Sjouwerman’s post, and confirmed that the individual matched the photo provided on their application. Brian Jack, CISO at KnowBe4, emphasized the need, post-incident, for additional verifications, including closer examinations of references, verification of phone numbers, and even surprise interview questions to help confirm the location on a résumé.

Tim Rawlins, senior advisor and director, security, at cyber-consultancy NCC Group, also recommends some local questions.

Keep reading on IT Brew.—BH

Rise above the deluge. Feeling swamped by administrative requests from employees? Paylocity says it’s time to invest in an employee self-service (ESS) portal. Their new blog post has all the info on how ESS portals can streamline your HR game and boost employee engagement. Give it a read.