HR’s strategic partnership with the CAIO
Chhinzer identifies agility as the cultural cornerstone for AI-driven enterprises – which is where the CHRO/CAIO relationship will find its crux; while the AWS index shows 45 per cent of respondents rating AI their top IT budget priority, HR must ensure that budgets translate into nimble teams and responsive processes.
That means fostering mindsets open to experimentation, feedback loops to capture learnings and transparent dialogue to address fears such as FOBO—fear of becoming obsolete—a concern cited by 92 per cent of firms planning AI hires.
“The role of HR in partnering with the CAIO and their team is really around talent development, so making sure that we have people who have the skills and the readiness for those skills to be used in the workplace,” Chhinzer says.
“That might include upskilling, mentoring, training – those kinds of things change readiness, which is ensuring that our employment population is ready for an unknown future that is a new direction, that maybe the CAIO is interested in taking us in, and then organizational culture.”
This expansive view of HR’s remit echoes the challenges reported by AWS: 56 per cent of organizations have launched internal AI training plans, but half still struggle to assess true skill needs. HR can lead that diagnostics process, Chhinzer says; mapping existing competencies against AI ambitions, designing tailored curricula and coordinating mentoring or rotational programs to build algorithmic literacy and systems thinking.
