The Josh Bersin Company, have announced the dawn of a new era for AI in the enterprise – one that will redefine how HR operates in an AI-powered future.
The Company is predicting that this year HR teams will restructure, coordinate with IT, and rapidly accelerate AI adoption. This move will see “superagents” automate many core HR processes. Indeed it appears that AI tools will evolve from assistants to workflow automation systems, requiring up to 30% fewer HR staff, while delivering dramatic improvements in employee services.
The research firm describes this move as nothing short of a revolution – one that will sweep aside lingering reservations about whether teams should deploy AI. In 2026, they say, AI will be everywhere: in our phones, computers, vehicles, and wearable devices. As a result, business leaders and professionals alike must understand its imperfections, architecture, and the quality of the underlying data.
For CHROs, the implication is clear: the next few months must commence with a redefinition of HR’s corporate mission. This should include: training teams to use and build with AI, identifying high-value AI assistant, agent, and increasingly “superagent” use cases, and finally executing AI deployment strategies to drive growth.
These findings are explored in depth in a new report from The Josh Bersin Company, The Superworker Organization: AI Goes Enterprise—HR and Leadership Imperatives for 2026, which details multiple real-world organisational case studies and vendor roadmaps.
We believe agents and superagents will eliminate up to 30% of traditional HR roles, enabling HR professionals to spend time on hiring, coaching, and managing the AI infrastructure.
The thrust of the imperatives – the practical “to-do” list for HR leaders – can be understood by comparing AI’s rapid development to the evolution of the automobile. As with driving, that is roughly where we are with AI in HR today. But we are moving quickly toward “self-driving” systems that will take over many of the mechanical and administrative aspects of HR.
The study has identified no fewer than 100 agent applications across HR, which can be grouped into fewer core superagent families. In L&D alone, the study proves that 60–70% of the work currently being done by training and development teams can be automated.
11 Imperatives for the AI-Aware CHRO
- Build a unified AI architecture
No organisation wants to manage 100 agents from 100 vendors. Design a coherent, scalable AI ecosystem, use superagents to collect and consolidate agents. - Embrace the era of the corporate citizen developer
AI will be built not just by coders, but by everyone, enabling the whole organisation to build apps, without waiting for vendors. - Plan for job transformation, not job destruction
Some roles will disappear, many more will emerge. More than 30 new job titles have already appeared within HR and IT. - Put employee care at the centre
As AI’s impact intensifies, employee trust, wellbeing, and fairness become critically important. Refocus on mission, purpose, and internal development. - Move beyond yesterday’s talent management
Retire outdated models and usher in true talent density across the organisation, slow hiring and improve internal upskilling and performance. - Prepare for AI-powered digital leadership
Virtual “digital twins” will coach, guide, and scale leadership in radical new ways, AI-driven leadership built from your own leaders. - Start an AI-driven learning revolution
Continuous, personalised, AI-powered learning will be standard: move away from courseware toward dynamically generated learning and knowledge. - Integrate your recruitment AI investments
Consolidate tools and fully connect the talent acquisition tech stack. - Expect major HR vendor disruption in 2026
The market will reshuffle – be ready to identify and back the new winners. Some incumbents will vanish and many will be acquired. - Invest in LLM quality, not just access
Large Language Models vary widely in value; invest in data labelling, quality, external validation, and internal data governance. - Lead the AI transformation
Step beyond HR. Become the CHRO who drives AI adoption for the organisation’s broader success.
“In 2026 we will see the most dramatic transformation of HR in my career, with hundreds of traditional processes automated,” said CEO Josh Bersin. “Ultimately, HR exists to make the rest of the company work better, and AI brings scale and value like no HR technology before.
“We believe agents and superagents will eliminate up to 30% of traditional HR roles, enabling HR professionals to spend time on hiring, coaching, and managing the AI infrastructure,” Bersin continues, “And many HR teams will become application developers, building and managing their own people management agents.
“For CHROs and HR leaders, this is the year to build a sound architecture, invest in skills, and learn how to operationalise this enormous new toolset for process improvement and autonomy. For HR Tech vendors, this is a disruptive time to think big and reinvent your products,” he concludes. “We will exit 2026 with higher performing companies, more engaged employees, and superworker businesses that generate even higher levels of revenue and profit per employee.”
- The report from The Josh Bersin Company marks a new way to interact with the company’s findings: AI Goes Enterprise – HR and Leadership Imperatives for 2026 is best accessed through the firm’s Galileo AI agent.
- This development creates the first-ever interactive and live research, continually refreshed within the Galileo platform. Unlike a conventional static PDF, organisations can now interact with embedded Galileo prompts – pausing, interrogating, and customising the findings – so the analysis is fully aligned with their unique, specific, time-sensitive HR initiatives in 2026.
Learn more about the 2026 imperatives at joshbersin.com/imperatives and access the research through Galileo Suite at getgalileo.ai.
