Among large technology firms, AI is now a leading reason cited for job cuts. As of mid-July, the sector has shed just shy of 140 000 jobs in 2026, according to Challenger, Grey & Christmas, a global outplacement, executive coaching and workforce transition firm. Cisco announced 4 000 job cuts in May, saying the move was due to AI adoption. Oracle has laid off around 21 000 in 2026 after accelerating investment in AI technologies. Thomson Reuters is set to eliminate about 500 engineering roles, around 1.8% of its workforce, as it rolls out AI in its businesses.
South Africa has not yet seen any mass corporate layoffs directly linked to AI. Here, the technology’s most immediate impact is being felt across the employee lifecycle. AI is helping HR streamline hiring, answer employee queries, summarise performance reviews, and onboard new staff. It is also enabling businesses to better forecast future skills needs by analysing workforce data. According to Sage, 86% of HR and payroll leaders see AI as transformative and believe that specialist AI tools will make their jobs easier. According to similar IBM data, the use of AI in HR is expected to increase productivity by 35%, training effectiveness by 30%, and retention by 20% by 2027.
Much of the talk about AI use for HR is focused on making the function more strategic, but in many cases, the real benefit lies in taking the grunt work out of the job – such as regulatory filings, day-today payroll and benefits management, recruitment list-building, initial candidate evaluation, repetitive training tasks, basic employee support, and monthly reporting, says Mark Walker, a director at the T4i consultancy.
It just makes sense for employees to be able to easily search for information like how many leave days they have without needing to contact the HR department.
Celiwe Ross, Old Mutual Limited
“Less time is being spent on paper-shuffling and more on actively managing the workforce,” he says. Industry benchmarks show that up to 60% of HR support time is routinely consumed by basic queries, says Merel van der Lei, CEO of Wyzetalk. “Deploying AI assistants to handle this tier-one triage allows HR teams to reclaim days of capacity,” she says. The BCG 2026 'AI at Work: Why Strategy Matters More Than Tools' report found that most HR professionals using AI save the equivalent of an eight-hour workday every week.
Genevieve Koolen, HR director at SAP Africa, says it’s seeing AI change the expectations placed on the function. “But useful productivity gains should not be mistaken for strategic transformation. The more significant opportunity is that AI can provide better workforce insights by bringing together data on skills, performance, capability, learning and organisational trends. These insights help HR make more strategic decisions.”
THE AI HIRING CONUNDRUM
Recent research from Resume Genius shows a double standard across the recruitment process. According to a survey of 1 500 US hiring managers, 87% use AI to streamline hiring. Yet almost as many (82%) expressed concern about candidates using AI during their job searches. The survey revealed that HR and people teams are using AI to screen resumes (58%), write job descriptions (46%), match candidates to positions (44%), and schedule interviews (41%), but almost 60% expressed concern after seeing AI-generated CVs or cover letters, and almost half have noticed that candidates use AI to answer interview questions. With both sides now embracing the technology, the conversation is less about whether it should be used and more about how it can be used without compromising trust and authenticity.
Celiwe Ross, group chief human capital and corporate affairs officer at Old Mutual Limited, says one area where AI is adding the most value is in streamlining the recruitment process. This is particularly true for bulk recruitment of call centre staff or financial advisors. “Because there's not a lot of stickiness in these roles, people come in and do a short stint and then leave, so HR teams are constantly screening candidates and reviewing CVs,” she says.
At redPanda Software, the human capital team is using AI to draft job descriptions, compile interview questions and personalise candidate communications.
“This used to take us so much time,” says Insaaf Daniels, group human capital director.
“Now we can compile details about the role, like required skills and level of seniority, for example, within minutes,” she says. But she draws the line at using AI to interview applicants. AI can’t, for example, assess whether someone is a good culture fit. And where humans can understand nuance and context, AI is likely to flag something like a big gap in someone’s CV as an anomaly. Similarly, traits like leadership potential and communication style are impossible to assess without talking to someone and asking follow-up questions based on their responses. “Some get candidates to record answers to pre-set questions, but this format doesn’t allow for any natural conversation, making it harder to get an in-depth idea of who someone is,” she says.
For existing employees, enabling self-service should be a consideration, says Old Mutual’s Ross. “It just makes sense for employees to be able to easily search for information like how many leave days they have without needing to contact the HR department.”
But governance, accountability, privacy, potential bias, trust and compliance are still major stumbling blocks. These concerns are amplified with the introduction of AI agents, which can be set to autonomously carry out certain HR workflows. If AI is used to automate decision-making, the logic behind how decisions are made needs to be transparent, says Walker, from T4i. HR administrators require complete visibility into the questions being asked and the answers the agent provides.
Not every AI application carries the same level of risk, says SAP’s Koolen. Supporting employees with routine HR queries or recommending learning content presents different governance considerations from using AI to inform recruitment decisions, support performance management, motivate for promotion, implement fair pay remuneration or run nuanced workforce restructuring. “The closer AI moves towards influencing decisions that materially affect people’s careers, livelihoods or legal rights, the greater the need for transparency, auditability, robust governance and meaningful human oversight. AI can inform decisions, but it should not replace accountability.”
And AI cannot replace the judgement used to navigate complex organisational dynamics, lead change or earn employee trust. “Organisations that see AI as a cost-reduction tool are unlikely to realise its full value,” says Koolen. “Those that combine AI with strong leadership, sound governance and a deep understanding of people are far more likely to strengthen the strategic contribution of HR.”
This oversight and care are important so that we don’t develop an unhealthy overreliance on the technology, Ross says. For her, there are usually two types of employees who approach the discovery of a new technology in very different ways. “Both are exposed to an AI tool and realise how powerful it is. The one employee says: I will never use it; it's going to take my job. The other says: I will always use it. I no longer need to do my job.
“Neither is good.”
* Article first published on www.itweb.co.za
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