Companies are pouring billions of dollars into AI investment, and such initiatives are starting to have ripple effects across the workforce.

Amazon and Nestlé are among the companies that recently laid off workers in part due to advancement in automation. Meanwhile, corporate leaders from companies like Ford, Shopify, and Salesforce are starting to be more explicit about the fact that some workers will lose their jobs due to AI. Research suggests organizations can embrace AI without cutting workers, but doing so often requires attention to areas like upskilling, workflow redesign, and enhancing skills that can’t yet be replaced by the technology.

Given HR leaders are at the center of this workforce transformation, it’s not surprising that some companies are appointing chief people officers to oversee AI deployment internally. HR Brew reported on the rise of the “chief human and AI resources officer” in February, shortly after Moderna appointed its first chief people and digital technology officer.

ServiceNow’s chief people officer, Jacqui Canney, was promoted to a similar dual role in January. Canney and other HR leaders reflected on how the function is evolving for an AI-driven future at a recent HR Brew event in New York.

For more on how companies like ServiceNow, IBM, and Workday are deploying AI internally, keep reading here.—CV

AI may be the topic du jour, but there’s still a lot of hesitancy around adopting the rapidly changing technology. More than one in three US workers are afraid that AI could displace them, and some HR leaders are concerned about its unknown effects on their roles and employees.

HR Brew recently sat down with Steven Mills, chief AI ethics officer at Boston Consulting Group, to demystify some of the risks and opportunities associated with AI.

This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

How do you deal with workers’ AI hesitations and fears?

Once people start using the tech and realizing the value it can bring to them, they actually start using it more, and there’s a bit of a virtuous cycle. They actually report higher job satisfaction. They feel more efficient. They feel like they make better decisions.

For more from our conversation with Mills, keep reading here.—KP

The Trump administration’s attempt to change the H-1B visa now includes two proposed rules around selection and eligibility. This could alter how companies use the visa to acquire foreign professionals to work in specialty fields, and even drive some employers to build an offshoring presence to keep their IT operations going.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recently proposed a new rule to reform the H-1B program that revises eligibility for cap exemptions, scrutinizes employers that have violated the program’s requirements, and oversees third-party placements (meaning subcontracting). At the end of September, DHS began requesting comment for a proposed rule that would introduce a weighted selection process favoring “the allocation of H-1B visas to higher skilled and higher paid aliens, while maintaining the opportunity for employers to secure H-1B workers at all wage levels.”

This follows the Trump administration’s announcement that employers will need to pay a flat fee of $100,000 for new H-1B petitions, which DHS clarified only applies to new applicants who are currently living abroad.

For more on how H-1B uncertainty is affecting employers, keep reading on IT Brew.—CN

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