When it comes to using AI in HR-related decisions, the accountability remains human. Regulators are unlikely to accept “the software did it” as a defense, said Marc Rodriguez, co-founder and CEO of Green Leaf Business Solutions, in a recent piece for HR Executive. However, when HR and IT are working together on tech rollouts, which human is accountable? The CHRO or the CIO?
This confusion is likely to increase. Gartner predicts that by 2029, 30% of organizations will form blended HR-IT teams to accelerate AI enablement.
CHRO and CIO, sharing responsibilities
Mark Whittle, Gartner
Mark Whittle, VP Analyst in Gartner’s HR practice, says that the CHRO and CIO should “jointly help shape the capabilities, standards and guardrails needed to support the human-machine workplace.”
This does not mean most organizations need to restructure or merge HR and IT, according to Whittle. He believes that most orgs will continue operating with separate HR and IT functions, but those functions will increasingly partner on areas where “work, talent and technology overlap.”
HR Executive has documented early experiments in bringing HR and IT under common leadership as well as reports that some organizations have merged the functions outright. But, largely, experts suggest the more realistic model may be one with shared governance, joint accountability and common metrics around workforce impact. This preserves HR’s expertise in culture and change management and IT’s expertise in systems and scale.
Avoiding silos
Whittle suggests that CHRO and the CIO must “intentionally share ownership” of the following areas:
- AI ethics and governance
- Skills-based talent management
- Total cost of work analysis
- Human-agent work and job redesign
- Human-AI performance management
“As agentic AI moves more work into the space between HR and IT, capabilities such as skills-based talent management, human-AI performance management and human-AI capacity planning no longer fit neatly within either function,” says Whittle. He finds that this can lead to silos and disconnected oversight, accountability and business alignment.
HR leaders should be aware that organizations can experience “role confusion,” says Whittle. “CHROs may be left managing workforce consequences from AI deployments they did not help shape, while CIOs may become accidental owners of workforce challenges created by AI.”
Whittle calls this “one-sided transformation” with HR and IT each focused on their own priorities, leaving shared opportunities and responsibilities on the table. “These challenges can leave organizations stuck between AI experimentation and enterprise-scale impact,” he says.
The CHRO’s job is expanding into AI governance and enterprise tech strategy. At the HR Executive Strategy Summit at HR Tech, Valerie Workman (CHRO, Empower Pharmacy) will share a practical framework for owning AI risk, ethics and workforce outcomes, drawn from her work at Empower Pharmacy and Tesla. Register now.
