By 2030, 30% of enterprises will see decision-making quality decline due to overreliance on AI, according to recent research from Gartner, and the biggest casualty may be organizations’ future leadership.
The issue isn’t just about AI making bad decisions today. Advisors warn that employees who rely on generative AI tools may not develop the foundational judgment needed to evaluate those outputs. This could create a talent crisis that won’t surface for years.
Gen AI-driven skills loss
“Without the chance to learn tasks on the job, gen AI inhibits the development of the very skills and judgment that early-career talent need to avoid making costly mistakes with AI,” says Kaelyn Lowmaster, director of research in Gartner’s HR practice.
The pipeline problem is already emerging. More than one in four HR leaders have redefined job roles or skills due to AI and emerging technologies, according to an August 2025 Gartner survey of HR leaders. In many cases, experienced employees using AI no longer need junior support, eliminating the traditional learning opportunities that built expertise.
The risk extends beyond individual errors. As AI automates entry-level tasks, organizations face a long-term supply shortage of specialized professionals qualified to fill advanced roles.
Balance AI efficiency with future talent needs
To prevent gen AI-driven skills loss, CHROs should focus on three tactics, Lowmaster says:
- Build peer learning channels. Partner with L&D teams to create forums where early-career employees can share challenges, AI successes and best practices with each other.
- Formalize knowledge transfer infrastructure. Ensure junior employees have ongoing access to seasoned colleagues to learn from, even if they don’t work together regularly anymore.
- Explore gen AI simulators. Use AI-powered practice environments to help early-career talent build skills and judgment quickly in risk-free, realistic scenarios.
The challenge for CHROs is balancing AI’s efficiency gains today with talent development needs tomorrow. “CHROs must accelerate learning and experience development in these early career roles to sustain performance and maintain talent pipelines,” Lowmaster says.
HR tech in the news
Talent intelligence & matching
Labor market intelligence platform Lightcast is embedding Opportunity@Work’s STARs insights into its platform. This will enable employers to identify roles that workers without four-year degrees can successfully fill.
Korn Ferry launched its Talent Suite, an SaaS platform integrating 50 years of proprietary performance data into unified talent applications for data-driven hiring and development decisions.
Workforce analytics & market data
Talent platform Beeline‘s December 2025 jobs data analysis reveals work reallocation rather than elimination, as organizations shift from traditional payroll hiring toward alternative workforce models.
Workforce management platform Hubstaff data from 140,000-plus workers shows employees average just two to three hours of daily focus time. Interruptions come from meetings, messages and tool-switching, fragmenting productivity.
Compa, a compensation intelligence platform, raised $35 million in Series B funding led by Jump Capital to replace static compensation surveys with AI-driven market intelligence drawn from real-time systems data.
AI adoption & integration
AMS research reveals 89% of companies fail to deploy AI across major talent acquisition functions despite widespread agreement on its competitive necessity, exposing alignment gaps.
Talent software provider Avature‘s 2026 report finds HR teams remain in early AI adoption stages, navigating skills gaps and trust concerns while struggling to integrate AI into core workflows.
Operational efficiency & tools
Work management platform Smartsheet‘s research of 1,550 operations leaders reveals 71% cite fragmented tools as operational drag. Additionally, 70% admit employees use unsanctioned AI to bypass lagging processes.
HubStar introduces Policy Pulse for real-time return-to-office compliance tracking. The hybrid work platform aims to address workplace leaders’ inability to measure employee adherence to hybrid work policies.
MangoApps unveils refreshed branding reflecting its decade-long evolution from intranet provider to unified workforce platform, integrating communications, operations and AI-driven employee support for frontline teams.
Payroll & financial wellness
Provider of autism and IDD Care software, CentralReach, announced a partnership with Rain to offer earned wage access to its employees. This will allow pay withdrawal between paychecks for financial flexibility.
A survey of 251 payroll leaders, conducted by global advisory firm Vistra, shows 61% are delaying projects amid regulatory uncertainty. It also found that compliance monitoring is consuming 16% of average worktime, rising to 20%-plus at large organizations.
B2B infrastructure company Entravia has gained $550K pre-seed led by M25 to modernize PEO and broker sales workflows, replacing manual spreadsheets and insecure data sharing that may slow deals in the professional employer organization market.
Benefits & employee skills
Benefits administration platform Businessolver unveils anticipatory benefits powered by enhanced Sofia AI. The tool aims to proactively guide employees and HR teams before benefits deadlines, decisions or issues create stress.
A TalentLMS survey reveals a workplace protection gap. Seventy-one percent of 1,000 employees feel protected, yet 36% witnessed incivility, 29% experienced exclusion and 25% faced retaliation for speaking up.
AI-powered voice coaching platform BoldVoice secured $21 million Series A led by Matrix, serving non-native English speakers across 150-plus countries with five million downloads and $10 million ARR.
Learning provider Go1 unveils Morgan, an intelligent agent delivering contextual learning within workflow tools like Slack and Microsoft Teams. It aims to surface relevant content aligned with role requirements, policies and business priorities.
Healthcare company Included Health introduces a health plan design centering on high-quality primary care with AI-powered engagement, transparent pricing and expert clinician support.
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