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Nearly 80% of global executives see at least one way generative AI will help their employees. These leaders identify reducing time spent on mundane but necessary job tasks, increasing productivity, and freeing up employees’ time for strategic and creative thinking as the three most likely AI benefits today. It’s no surprise then that 79% of leaders agree their company needs to adopt AI to stay competitive.

But as with any technology, it’s important to properly evaluate potential AI solutions to help ensure they’ll meet your team’s unique needs. In addition to the basic evaluation questions — such as data security, integrations, and implementation — there are some questions you may want to ask about the AI itself.

1. How can your AI support our goals and processes? 

Companies that use AI are more likely to improve time to fill, applicant quality, candidate experience, cost per hire, and quality of hire. But don’t assume every AI solution is created equally. Ask vendors to provide specific examples of how their AI can support your specific goals and processes.

For example, the right AI tools can enable your team members to:

• Craft personalized candidate outreach messages that help you build a high-quality talent pipeline
• Curate a list of interview questions that can properly evaluate a job candidate’s skills
• Design onboarding checklists that build early employee engagement
• Facilitate employee goal setting for effective performance management
• Develop learning plans that encourage internal mobility and retention

See these features in action during a live demo to ensure they meet your team’s needs. Make sure to involve key stakeholders from your team to evaluate the AI from different perspectives.

2. How can your AI help us reimagine business processes and job functions?

AI doesn’t just have the potential to improve efficiency and productivity, it can reinvent work as we know it. Some 41% of AI-savvy leaders expect to redesign business processes from the ground up with AI within the next five years. 

Industry analyst Josh Bersin shares a preview of what the AI transformation might look like: 

• Level 1: Our job roles remain the same, but we now have a “super-productivity” tool to make a few specific tasks easier
• Level 2: Our job roles remain the same, but our output is much higher as we automate much more of our existing work
• Level 3: Our job roles shift as AI automates more actions and steps in work processes, with people aiding and supporting AI agents as needed
• Level 4: Autonomous intelligent agents take over work processes entirely, with people training and managing the AI

For example, level 3 would entail self-directed learning and coaching to help your team members build new skill sets with personalized employee development plans. Level 4 would analyze large team activity datasets to uncover the key differences between your highest- and lowest-performing team members and provide recommendations to better evaluate and support people.

Learn what each vendor’s AI can do now, and what’s on the roadmap for future iterations. These insights can help your team begin to think about and prepare for these changes so you can upskill your employees for reimagined roles and fully leverage AI’s potential. 

3. How can your solution be customized to fit our team’s needs?

Every team has unique needs and processes — and your AI solutions need to account for those. Ask questions that help you get an understanding of the customization options available in each AI solution to ensure that it can adapt to your specific requirements. 

For example, learn about the technology’s capability to:

• Customize workflows and approval processes
• Turn off access for specific features
• Include internal datasets for more personalized outputs
• Influence how different factors contribute to the generated output
• Adjust the style of the output
• Control user permissions

Look for solutions that strike a balance between out-of-box functionality and customization options. Each vendor should be able to explain how their system can be tailored to your needs without requiring extensive technical expertise or ongoing support.

4. What training and support resources do you offer?

Access to hiring technologies — including AI-powered tools — is the No. 1 thing global HR professionals (51%) say would make the hiring process easier, according to recent LinkedIn research. Nearly three-quarters (74%) of HR pros say AI makes it easier to find qualified candidates. To get the most out of this new technology, however, talent professionals need the right training resources and support in place. 

Training and support resources might include:

• New user training that demonstrates common workflows
• In-product tooltips that guide users through the product’s features and functionality
• A robust help center that addresses common questions and challenges
• Communications about new product features and emerging AI legislation
• A dedicated customer success manager who provides regular updates and product coaching

Training and support empowers your team members to build their AI skill sets and use the product effectively, helping your organization achieve better outcomes from your technology partnerships. 

5. How does your platform address bias?

While AI has enormous potential to expand access to opportunity, organizations must use it responsibly. It’s important to seek out a vendor who is transparent about their company’s responsible AI principles.

Ask your vendors what they do to address bias in their AI, listening for specific approaches such as:

• Using diverse and representative datasets
• Cleaning training data to mitigate systemic biases
• Testing models against different demographic groups
• Auditing system outputs to detect bias
• Using customer feedback to fine-tune AI models

Keep in mind that no AI product is entirely free of bias. It’s always important to do a human review of all AI-generated output and recommendations.

Final thoughts: AI will continue to evolve — and so should your evaluation questions

AI has great potential and many worthwhile use cases for talent professionals, but it can also come with risk. It’s important to carefully evaluate AI-powered solutions to build the right tech stack for your organization. 

Of course, your unique needs and AI technology will evolve over time, so it’s important to update your HR tech evaluation questions to account for those changes. CareerXroads maintains a helpful resource with a running list of questions you can use for inspiration when evaluating AI solutions. This type of knowledge sharing is the best way to stay current with AI best practices during a period of rapid change.

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