Survey: Expertise tops concerns for HR teams implementing AI
While HR teams are interested in adopting AI tools to boost productivity, there is still a long way to go.
Nearly all talent acquisition organizations surveyed are embracing AI, with 88% expecting to increase their investment, according to AI-powered platform for strategic recruiting and talent management Avature’s AI Impact Report 2026. Despite this, more than half (51%) of organizations are still in the exploratory or piloting phase.
Only 9% of respondents note they have strong, organization-wide AI expertise, while 70% say they are still building AI capabilities or have only isolated pockets of talent, Avature found that AI-related skills shortages are the top-cited HR challenge, ahead of technology or software limitations.
More than a quarter (28%) of HR leaders cite legacy software limitations as a top barrier, while only 11% have integrated AI into core HR processes. Just 5% are using AI as a “strategic advantage,” according to the survey.
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The survey also found that only 11% of HR leaders feel "very confident" predicting skills needs 12 months out, with confidence falling further over a two-to-five year horizon, according to the survey.
"AI is influencing how organizations think about talent, but the real opportunity is in how it is applied," said Dimitri Boylan, founder and CEO of Avature. "The next phase depends on HR's ability to use AI to understand skills, anticipate change and make better workforce decisions. If AI only makes individual employees more efficient, companies risk ending up on the wrong side of disruption. The real advantage comes from using AI to drive smarter, organization-wide decisions."
Additional insights from the Avature survey include the following:
- Three-quarters (76%) of respondents are concerned about AI's impact on early-career positions and believe it will “significantly reduce” hiring. Despite this, only 19% expect job losses this year, and 27% say it is too soon to tell.
- The overwhelming majority of hiring professionals (98%) do not completely trust generative AI to make workforce decisions. More than a quarter (26%) do not trust it at all, while most have only slight or moderate confidence. The majority (62%) of those surveyed trust AI to schedule interviews, but only 8% trust it to make hiring decisions without human oversight.
- Respondents are most comfortable assigning AI repetitive, low-risk tasks such as answering candidate FAQs (70%) and matching candidates to roles (64%).
"HR is at an inflection point," added Boylan. "If organizations want to see real ROI, AI has to move beyond supporting individual tasks and become context-aware, embedded into workflows and fully integrated into how the organization operates."
Methodology
Avature’s report is based on a survey conducted between September and November 2025 with more than 180 HR, talent acquisition and talent technology professionals across industries worldwide. The respondent base reflects large, complex enterprises, with 61% working at organizations with more than 30,000 employees. The most common primary responsibilities among participants include HR technology and systems (61%) and talent acquisition and recruitment (57%).
