The AI Pulse | Making sense of AI in the world of people.

Welcome to this week’s Empowrd AI Pulse, your concise, practical read on how AI is reshaping the worlds of HR, coaching, and talent.

📌 Pulse Check: What’s New in HR + AI

• Workday acquires Sana (≈ USD 1.1 billion) Workday is doubling down on embedded AI by acquiring Sana — expect deeper “smart assistants” baked directly into HR systems. Reuters
• BCG weaves AI into performance ratings Around 90% of BCG’s 33,000 employees use AI, and AI‐leveraging is now part of their core evaluation metrics. Business Insider
• Fraudulent candidate identities on the rise A Checkr report flags a rise in candidates using AI to fake identities or credentials. Many HR teams feel ill-equipped to catch it. TechRadar
• McKinsey: Employees ready to use AI (more than leaders realize) Their “Superagency” report shows many employees are already bringing AI into their work — even without formal programs. McKinsey & Company
• L&D leaders flag skill gaps + AI adoption 58% of L&D heads call the accelerating skills gap and slow AI uptake their biggest challenge. The Times of India

🔦 Spotlight Case Study: T-Mobile + Textio

Before: T-Mobile struggled with recruitment messaging that inadvertently deterred diverse talent (just as many companies do).

After: Using Textio’s AI-powered writing tools to optimize job ad language, they saw increased application volume and better diversity outcomes (faster, more inclusive reach). VKTR.com

Takeaway: Small shifts in voice, tone and phrasing — guided by AI — can lower barriers to entry and make your recruiting funnel more inclusive.

🧰 Toolbox Tip: Prompt + Workflow to Try Monday

Prompt: “Challenge the AI’s confidence”

“For each candidate score, list what minimal change in their profile would increase it. Then show what minimal change would decrease it. Highlight whether those changes are realistic.”

This helps you surface “fragile” decisions and forces the AI (or system) to ‘defend’ rankings.

Workflow: “Side-by-side human + AI shortlist audit”

1. AI generates shortlist (say, top 10)
2. A human reviewer ranks those 10 + 2 randomly selected rejects
3. Compare overlap, review discrepancies
4. Log “surprise flips”
5. Iterate prompts, tweak thresholds

This semi-blended loop helps guard against hidden bias and over reliance.

Tool feature to test: Counterfactual explanations

If your recruitment platform offers “if candidate X had one different attribute, they’d be ranked higher” — test that carefully. It’s powerful if your human users understand it. If not, it can mislead.

📅 Event Radar: Don’t Miss These

• Gartner HR Symposium / Xpo™ — 27–29 Oct 2025 Deep dives on AI strategy, agentic assistants, and CHRO’s evolving role. TalentHR
• (On-demand) Gartner GenAI & HR webinars Useful for tactical models, benchmarks, and peer case examples. TalentHR
• Mimamsa 2025 (IIM Indore HR Conclave) — just happened Focus: ethics, leadership, AI in workplaces. Stay tuned for post-event insights. The Times of India

🔍 Insight Lens: Trust, Explanation & Human Friction

Here's a pattern I’m watching:

AI can surface decisions faster; humans must interpret them wisely.

BCG’s approach, where using AI is a performance expectation, signals a shift: AI is no longer optional — it's part of the job. Business Insider But that only works when leaders:

• provide guardrails (ethics, bias checks, escalation rules),
• ensure explainability appropriate to the audience, and
• build trust (especially when human judgment counters AI).

Too many organisations stop at “demoing an AI feature” instead of building the habits, language and culture that make it safe to use.

🌱 Next-Gen Lens: Literacy, Skepticism & the New Social Contract

• AI literacy ≠ more explanation. A recent study highlighted that users with lower AI fluency can be misled by verbose explanations. Simpler, more relatable rationale often works better.
• Workers are pushing back. In some surveys, employees question whether skill gap narratives reflect flaws in AI, or flawed assumptions in leadership. HR Dive
• The Gen Z lens: They expect tools, not permission. But they’ll judge whether AI is enabling growth — or quietly replacing agency.

Your job: design adoption paths that scale literacy and preserve autonomy.

🔥 Resource Update: Tools Worth Adding (or Watching)

Textio — KEEP An augmented writing platform proven to make recruitment messaging more inclusive. Used by brands like T-Mobile, it’s improved application volume and diversity outcomes. 👉 Read more

PerformYard — NEW Their AI Review Assist and Summary features streamline performance reviews while keeping managers in the driving seat. Great balance between tech and human insight. 👉 Explore

Agentnoon — NEW A brilliant tool for organisational design and “what-if” workforce modelling. It helps leaders visualise headcount shifts and scenario-plan reorganisations in minutes. 👉 Discover

Counterfactual explanation modules — WATCH / EVALUATE Useful for transparency and explainability in AI-driven decisions — but deploy carefully. They work best when users already have a good level of AI literacy to interpret the results accurately.

Before I close: I’m curious — which area do you want me to stretch further next week? Coaching with AI? Recruitment/anti-bias? L&D + performance? Or something else you’re wrestling with?

Enjoy the week, — Empowrd AI Pulse