To begin, I will be provocative. To all my CPO and CHRO colleagues, I suggest that, in the not-too-distant future, we will need to change our job titles from Chief People Officer/Chief Human Resources Officer to something closer to Chief People-AI Officer.
Executive Summary
How organizations adopt AI through their people strategies will determine whether AI becomes a growth accelerator—or a source of disengagement and distrust, observes Jennifer Palmieri, Chief People Officer of Westfield, who opens this article with the idea that CPOs and CHROs need to append "AI Officer" to their titles.AI is rapidly transforming HR into a strategic driver of workforce productivity and cultural resilience, requiring insurance executives to lead with clear governance, transparency and a people‑first approach to AI adoption, she writes, offering a five-step leadership playbook in which HR executives are partners rather than bystanders.
If we don’t, we risk being sidelined in the most consequential transformation of our careers—and becoming irrelevant as strategic business partners. The best CPOs/CHROs will need to be a combination of AI strategist, hybrid workforce planner, culture champion, reskilling advocate and employee counselor.
This is not only an HR transformation but also a leadership transformation. CEOs, boards and executive teams should understand that how organizations adopt AI through their people strategy will determine whether AI becomes a growth accelerator or a source of disengagement and distrust.
Stealing shamelessly from Shakespeare, “The past is prologue.” Rewind to the Industrial Revolution. That period in history brought dramatic changes in what we now call human resource management. HR, before that seismic change, focused primarily on overseeing personnel administration, maintaining time logs and handling labor regulations. Suddenly, HR professionals needed to consider the impact of automation on the workplace. As efficiency gains and productivity improvements took hold, areas such as workforce safety and employee welfare became priorities.
