How Is Generative Artificial Intelligence Used in Human Resources?

The popularity of generative artificial intelligence, or generative AI, has exploded over the last year, but it’s a hot button topic in many industries. For people who work in creative industries, the rise of generative AI feels like a threat to their passion and livelihood, and so a fair amount of controversy and negative connotations surround its use. However, generative AI, like any other AI, can have its place in aiding companies to streamline tasks and processes, especially in the human resources (HR) department.

What is the difference between AI and generative AI?

Traditional AI is programmed to perform specific tasks based on rules and patterns, whereas generative AI can “learn” from its programming to create original content based on the data it learned from.

What is generative AI in simple terms?

Some people may not realize that they have probably dabbled in generative AI or at least witnessed some form of it on social media. Generative AI is a type of AI that can be used to generate, or create, different types of content. This can include written text, images, animation, audio, 3D models, code, or other kinds of data. Generative AI is programmed using a list of instructions, or algorithms, and once these algorithms have been “trained,” they can create content similar to the data they were trained on. Although generative AI isn’t a new concept, its recent growth means that generative AI companies like Tome, Hugging Face, OpenAI, and Synthesis AI are on the rise as well.

How are AI tools used in employee management?

Both traditional and generative AI tools are increasingly being used by HR to assist with employee management tasks and processes such as recruitment and hiring, onboarding, payroll and benefits, along with employee records and performance management. There are a number of ways generative AI can be used in HR. Chatbots can be especially helpful because they can be used to write more engaging job descriptions or to analyze and improve employee performance and productivity. They can also be used to write technical information in ways that are more easily understood. Generative AI can also be used to create training modules or other personalized learning programs that enhance employee understanding and retention.

Some of the best AI recruiting tools include Paradox, for companies who do high-volume hiring; Humanly and HireVue, which are best for midsize and large companies, respectively; and eightfold, which offers coaching and skill development in addition to recruitment. Insidr.ai has a list of this year’s best free AI tools for business along with detailed reviews for many of them. There are many options for written content, image and video generators or editors, business workspace, marketing, HR and recruitment, cybersecurity, finance and accounting, legal, education/e-learning, healthcare, data visualization, analytics, customer support, and more. Many of these AI tools have both free and paid options.

Because of the growing need, several options now exist for AI courses for HR professionals to further their knowledge of AI. Many colleges, universities, and online learning platforms like Udemy offer AI literacy or applications classes for those in HR that wish to gain a more in-depth understanding of AI.