- AI’s moonshot moment is here — and it has the potential to be as life-changing as the U.S. landing on the moon.
- Coming down to earth, HR’s current reality is that they are still struggling with too many single-function systems and manual tasks. They need simplicity.
- AI-powered talent intelligence has the potential to be that moon-landing moment for HR. The right technology, applied ethically and responsible, has the potential to help HR leaders completely reimagine how they hire and manage talent.
In September 1962, President John F. Kennedy stood in front of the world and declared that the United States was going to the moon — not because it was easy, but because it was the hard thing to do. Just seven years later, in 1969, the U.S. made what seemed impossible into a reality.
In his keynote at Cultivate, Co-CEO and Co-Founder Ashutosh Garg said we’re at that pivotal moment with AI today. It has moved from a research topic to an everyday tool that’s quickly advancing in capabilities. AI is having its moment — and a growing movement — around the world.
How will we know when we’ve landed on the moon as it relates to AI? Here’s a quick recap of a few highlights from the keynote.
Related content: No longer just a moonshot, but a must — see how talent intelligence is changing the future of HR.
Today’s HR reality
HR is drowning in a sea of disparate systems. There are many tools out there for HR professionals to perform specific functions, but how these integrate and share data are unnecessarily complex.
This creates a world where efficiency is low, costs are high, and talent professionals are frustrated.
“I don’t think anyone joined HR because [they] were excited to manage these systems,” Garg said. “[They] joined because they wanted to make organizations better, so they can have the right data, grow to achieve their [business] objectives, and help employees grow and succeed indefinitely.”
How do we get there? We simplify.
Ashutosh Garg, Co-CEO and Co-Founder, kicks off our keynote at Cultivate.
How we simplify HR
In addition to the HR tech-stack challenges, many of us are still basing hiring decisions and managing talent based on filling jobs. It’s time for a new approach.
Modern HR leaders need to focus on skills — and the agility and flexibility that comes from this granular approach to breaking down the work at hand.
AI-powered talent intelligence helps make this a reality.
Imagine a future where instead of manually tracking multiple candidates for multiple roles, you can move each person to the next step in their interview or onboarding process with a few simple commands. That’s the power of AI.
By automating talent processes and bringing everything into one system, it makes the data and recruiting experiences consistent and reliable. It makes things simple.
It gets us to the landing on the moon moment. And when that happens, talent leaders can “focus on what matters most,” Garg said.
Co-CEO Chano Fernandez explains responsible AI by design in the Cultivate keynote.
Responsible AI is essential
To get there, not only do we need to employ talent intelligence, but we also need to ensure that our AI platforms are built responsibly, act consistently, and present reliable data. These three initiatives have been our focus since the beginning, said Co-CEO Chano Fernandez.
“What is truly unique about Eightfold is it was built from the ground up with responsible AI by design,” Fernandez said. “It was designed to mitigate bias about any individual and protected classes, such as gender and race.”
Responsible AI design includes the use of robust, encrypted data with high-level security protocols in place. The platform is compliant with all AI regulation and regularly audited by independent parties.
Ready for change
Of course, any new technology will only work well if it’s used correctly. The real challenge in adopting AI for HR is changing people’s mindsets and behaviors.
According to our recent buyer survey, 91% of organizations are interested in a skills-based approach to talent using AI, but 65% said they lack the foundational data they need to start the journey.
“[We often hear from customers that] ‘we don’t think we understand our job architecture or know the skills in our roles in our company today, so we don’t think we’re ready to take advantage of the talent intelligence power,’ ” Fernandez said. “But the good news is we’re seeing this [isn’t true] time and time again.”
As more organizations see the potential for talent intelligence — and how they can start realizing results right away — it’s becoming increasingly clear that everyone can benefit from this moment.
Morgan Stanley is a great example of an enterprise organization making the most of talent intelligence. In 2022, the financial firm brought all its talent functions under one umbrella.
Since then, Morgan Stanley has seen results like reducing time to interview by 40% and increasing recruiter productivity by 25%. The company even created an internal AI council to assist with the governance of tools.
“The use case that we get super excited about is mobility,” said Mandell Crawley, Chief Human Resources Officer at Morgan Stanley. “We do well in the constant mobility of those who join the organization at the beginning of the funnel, but senior staff in the middle had too much variability. Eightfold gave us a platform to greatly enhance the UX of our employees.”
Our moonshot is just the beginning…
We’re only at the beginning stages of this journey with AI in HR. As our technology improves, including adding more GenAI functions, we’ll continue to grow our platform’s capabilities for our customers. That includes focusing on four key areas: customer success, product evolution, solid communication, and visibility into what’s next to make each and every one of our customers successful.
“I believe we are the most innovative [company] in AI in the HR category, but becoming a trusted partner means much more,” Fernandez said. “It means that we deliver on every promise we make.”
Did you miss our Cultivate Talent Summit in the U.S.? Don’t worry, you can catch our leaders’ keynote in London, streaming live on June 11.