DOL Releases AI Literacy Framework for the U.S. Workforce

The Department of Labor released a comprehensive AI Literacy Framework providing employers with a roadmap for training workers to use artificial intelligence technology responsibly and effectively. The framework marks the Trump administration’s latest effort to prepare American workers for an AI-driven economy, emphasizing that “every worker will need baseline AI literacy skills to succeed, regardless of industry or occupation.” While the framework doesn’t create any new legal requirements, it signals DOL’s expectations for how employers should approach AI training – and offers practical guidance for organizations looking to upskill their workforce. Here’s an overview and steps you should take.

DOL’s AI Literacy Plan

The framework builds on the Trump Administration’s AI Action Plan released in July 2025. Both prioritize worker training and upskilling. It defines AI literacy as “a foundational set of competencies that enable individuals to use and evaluate AI technologies responsibly, with a primary focus on generative AI.”

Absent from this framework is any discussion of worker protections, discrimination safeguards, or new regulatory requirements. This marks a departure from the Biden administration’s approach, which emphasized AI guardrails alongside worker training.

Foundational Concepts

The DOL framework starts by identifying five core competencies it believes every worker should develop.

1. Understand AI Principles

Workers need to understand how AI operates, not technical mastery, but enough to use AI confidently. This includes understanding that AI identifies statistical patterns (not “thinking”), can produce incorrect outputs (“hallucinations”), and reflects human design decisions.

2. Explore AI Uses

Workers should understand practical applications across workplace settings: using AI to draft documents, analyze reports, answer questions, generate creative assets, or support decision-making. DOL emphasizes that AI use varies by industry and context.

3. Direct AI Effectively

Because AI depends heavily on user input, workers must learn how to provide clear instructions, include necessary context, and iterate to improve results. This includes prompt techniques, supplying relevant data, and avoiding vague requests.

4. Evaluate AI Outputs

Workers need skills to assess whether AI-generated outputs are accurate, complete, and appropriate. This includes verifying facts, spotting logical errors, and applying human judgment rather than treating AI as a final authority.

5. Use AI Responsibly

Workers must understand the boundaries of appropriate use: protecting sensitive information, following workplace policies, avoiding misuse, and maintaining accountability for AI-assisted work.

The 7 Delivery Principles for Employers

The framework also offers seven principles for how employers should deliver AI training.

1. Enable Experiential Learning

Training works best through hands-on use, not abstract reading. Employers should embed AI tools into real work tasks, provide interactive exercises, and allow trial-and-error learning.

2. Embed Learning in Context

Training should be relevant to workers’ jobs and industries. The training should also use industry-specific examples, align with actual workflows, and integrate AI literacy into existing training programs rather than creating standalone courses.

3. Build Complementary Human Skills

The guidance notes that AI amplifies human capabilities, it doesn’t replace them. Training should demonstrate how AI enhances critical thinking, creativity, and communication, emphasizing that AI’s value depends on human judgment.

4. Address Prerequisites to AI Literacy

Some workers may lack digital literacy, device access, or broadband connectivity. Employers should identify and address these barriers, ensuring all employees can engage with training.

5. Create Pathways for Continued Learning

Foundational AI literacy is just the starting point. Employers will want to provide clear routes for workers to deepen skills, pursue specialized training, or transition into AI-related roles.

6. Prepare Leadership to Lead

Train managers, coaches, and team leaders separately. Each leadership position will need skills to guide others, integrate AI into operations, and support workplace adoption.

7. Design for Agility

AI evolves rapidly. Companies should build training systems that can be updated regularly, use modular content that can be refreshed, and incorporate feedback to stay current.

What Employers Should Do Now

Interested in adopting the DOL’s new framework? Here’s where to begin:

Assess Current State of AI Use– Identify where workers are already using AI tools (officially or unofficially). Survey employees about AI adoption, review workflows where AI could add value, and determine which roles need AI literacy most urgently.

Recognize and Address Employee Relations Hurdles to AI Use– Recognize and address any emotional resistance that employees may experience in the face of integration in the workplace linked to fear of job loss, loss of identity, or diminished value. Provide clear communication about how AI is intended to enhance productivity, reduce administrative burden, and support (not replace) human judgment.

Develop or Update AI Training Programs– Use DOL’s framework as a starting point to build training that fits your industry and workforce. Focus on hands-on practice with tools workers will actually use, not abstract AI concepts. Integrate training into existing onboarding and upskilling programs rather than creating standalone courses.

Create Clear AI Use Policies– If you haven’t already, establish guidelines for appropriate AI use in your workplace. Address data protection, output verification requirements, prohibited uses, and accountability standards. Make sure workers understand the boundaries before they encounter problems.

Train Managers and Team Leaders First– Equip leadership with AI literacy before rolling out broader training. They need to understand AI capabilities, guide team adoption, address worker concerns, and model appropriate use. Managers who resist or misunderstand AI will undermine workforce training efforts.

Build Pathways Beyond Basic Literacy– Think about progression: Who needs advanced AI skills? Which roles might evolve significantly due to AI? How can high performers develop deeper AI proficiency? Create clear next steps for workers who master foundational skills.

Partner with External Resources– Consider leveraging state workforce development programs, community colleges, or industry associations for AI training. Many organizations signed the White House pledge to provide free AI education resources. DOL intends to help connect employers with these offerings.

10 Workplace Predictions for 2026: Key Trends for Employers to Track

We won’t pretend to have a crystal ball when it comes to what will happen in the labor and employment legal landscape in the new year, especially given the nature of modern-day politics. But despite the uncertainty, Fisher & Phillips’ developed their best predictions to help you plan for 2026. You can read the entire FP Workplace Law 2026 Forecast here, or you can dive into this Insight for the top 10 predictions pulled from our report.

Government Relations: DC Will Be Full Speed Ahead Once Again

The second Trump administration has been operating at a breakneck pace and there are no signs of that changing in 2026, especially with control of Congress on the line. The White House is aware that its agenda would face additional roadblocks if Republicans were to lose control of either the House or the Senate, so there will be concerted effort to move forward with the president’s priorities as soon as possible in the new year. This includes confirming judges to benches across the country (and potentially the Supreme Court if Justices Thomas or Alito retires), continued deportation efforts (especially given ICE’s boosted budget), and reducing the size of the federal government.

Immigration: An H-1B Lottery Overhaul is Coming

A growing series of pressures on the H-1B system in 2025 already brought heightened investigations, new fee requirements, intensified employer scrutiny, and a sweeping new social media vetting requirement for H-1B workers and their families.

In 2026, it is predicted that DHS will replace the current random H-1B cap lottery with a weighted selection system that gives higher-wage positions better odds of being chosen, potentially as soon as the March 2026 cap season. Even if litigation slows implementation this coming year, it’s likely to take effect during this administration. The change will heavily favor employers able to offer Level III–IV wages, making it harder for startups, non-profits, and entry-level roles to secure visas. This will force many organizations to rethink compensation strategies and diversify their global talent pipelines.

Artificial Intelligence: Bias Audits Will Become a Must-Have for Employers

Despite a recent executive order targeting “onerous” state AI laws, employers will continue to face a growing patchwork of state and local laws focused on combating AI bias in hiring and the workplace. And an AI bias audit is one of the most effective ways to identify and mitigate risk given the evolving state of AI-related laws springing up around the country. Indeed, plaintiffs’ attorneys are already using the absence of an audit as evidence of negligence or discriminatory design. 

Wage and Hour/Pay Equity: State Enforcement to Step Up

States with robust wage and hour and wage payment laws (such as CA, IL, NJ, NY, WA) will continue to aggressively enforce their laws during a period when DOL enforcement activities may decline (in part, due to a reduction in the number of investigators). On the other hand, expect federal enforcement to continue to take a business-friendly approach, and expand the multiple compliance assistance programs it rolled out in 2025.

Fisher & Phillip’s also anticipates a noticeable uptick in pay equity litigation, fueled by well-publicized gender pay settlements and pro-plaintiff decisions in states with robust pay equity statutes. Use the F&P Pay Equity and Transparency Map to track state developments on pay discrimination laws.

Workplace Safety: New Leaders Promise a Business-Friendly Approach

New leadership will mean a new day for employers. Now that David Keeling is in place as the new head of OSHA and Wayne Palmer has been confirmed to lead MSHA, it is expected that efforts to increase outreach to industry will begin. For example, F&P predicts OSHA will issue few, if any, press releases after an employer is cited for safety violations. We also expect fewer regulations to be proposed or promulgated.

Labor Relations: The NLRB Will Begin Dismantling the Biden-Era Board’s Legacy

The Board should finally return to a legal quorum by early 2026. It will likely seek to overturn several significant Biden-era cases in the months thereafter, including rulings that addressed restrictions on workplace conduct rules, remedies available for unfair labor practices, and mandatory captive audience meetings, among other precedent-setting decisions. In response, unions are expected to abandon their reliance on the NLRB. This could mean an increase in labor grievances in union shops. Unions may also revisit recognitional picketing to pressure employers into recognizing them outside the election process.

Sports: Continued Battle Over Student-Athlete “Employee” Status

Both the DOL and NLRB were directed by President Donald Trump to clarify the status of student-athletes as part of a July executive order. While it’s unlikely the Trump administration will be willing to upend the current college sports model by deeming college athletes as employees who have collective bargaining rights and overtime protections, guidance from these agencies on the issue has yet to materialize.

Privacy and Cyber: Wiretapping Litigation Wave Will Keep Churning

In addition to continued proliferation of privacy laws at the state level, we expect the plaintiffs’ bar to continue the wave of wiretapping and related claims against businesses relating to the use of tracking technology on company websites.

While the statutes being used as ammunition in these lawsuits predate the internet, courts are allowing them to move forward across the country, exposing businesses to expensive class action litigation. This trend began primarily in California, but it has already expanded to other states. It is anticipated that it will continue to do so, unless or until state legislatures or courts directly address the application of wiretapping and other long-standing laws (that were intended for other purposes) to the use of tracking technology on websites.

International: Expanded Protections for Non-Traditional Workers

Multinational businesses should prepare for upcoming regulatory changes related to non-traditional workers, including freelancers and gig workers. For example:

• EU member states will need to adopt a new directive before the end of 2026 that seeks to curb worker misclassification, ensure algorithm transparency, and enhance working conditions and data protection for individuals engaged in platform work, including freelance, on-demand, and gig work.
• The first-ever law protecting freelancers and independent contractors in Japan came into effect in 2024. The law already requires businesses that do work in the country to review their workplace practices and adjust as necessary, and we expect regulations to be expanded and refined in 2026.
• Companies doing business in Mexico should also expect the government to advance and strengthen regulations for digital platform workers in the year ahead.

Construction: AI Claims, Immigration Enforcement to Increase

As the adoption of drones and AI-driven tools become commonplace, issues around privacy, data protection, off-the-clock work, and workplace surveillance will require contractors to develop clearer policies and disclosures. Additionally, we expect wage-theft enforcement actions to expand in more states, leading to more audits and increasing the importance of compliance and record-keeping.

Increased I-9 audits and ongoing jobsite raids will also require employers to continue to be vigilant about verification and compliance. Fisher Phillips offers a Rapid Response Team for DHS Raids to support employers when an workplace enforcement action occurs at your business.

 

A Whirlwind Start: Employers’ Recap of First 21 Days of the Trump Administration

President Donald Trump is just 21 days into his second term in office, but you might already be struggling to keep up with the number of changes and policy shifts coming from the new administration. While new presidents are typically judged based on their actions in their first 100 days, Trump’s whirlwind first three weeks warrant taking a pause to make sure you’re caught up on all the changes impacting key workplace issues. Major policy shifts have already affected immigration, DEI programs, equal employment opportunity, labor relations, and artificial intelligence. Here’s your 21-day recap:

1. Immigration

• What happened? President Trump took swift immigration action, signing 10 executive orders relating to immigration policy on day one. Among other things, those orders declared a national emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border, reinstated the “remain in Mexico” policy and terminated the asylum-related mobile app, and designated Mexican criminal cartels as terrorist organizations. Another one ended automatic birthright citizenship for children of undocumented immigrants, but this order has been blocked nationwide by federal judges in Washington and Maryland while legal challenges play out in court.
• Anything else? The Trump administration has begun carrying out its plans for mass deportations, which could have impacts on multiple key industries. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has started conducting widescale enforcement activities, including workplace raids. And K-12 schools should be prepared for ICE activity on campus and check out our school-focused Immigration Enforcement FAQs.
• What should you do? Ramp up your I-9 compliance efforts, consider using the E-Verify system, and establish a rapid response plan. Take these five steps to prepare for anticipated enforcement activities. If you are subject to a DHS raid, contact our new Employers’ Rapid Response Team at (877) 483-7781 or DHSRaid@fisherphillips.com. Work with your immigration counsel to keep up with continuing policy shifts, develop proactive compliance strategies, and consider ways to support any impacted employees.

2. Affirmative Action and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)

• What Happened? This January 21 executive order not only dismantled key affirmative action and DEI standards for federal contractors but also directed federal agencies to combat “illegal” corporate DEI programs. Days later, the Department of Labor announced it was ceasing all pending investigations and enforcement activity under the now-rescinded Executive Order 11246, which had required federal contractors to meet certain race and gender affirmative action obligations since the 1960s. A lawsuit filed February 3 alleges that Trump’s anti-DEI efforts are unconstitutional.
• What should federal contractors do? Stay tuned for more information from the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP), track legal challenges to the administration’s actions, and reach out to your attorney to develop a game plan to comply with evolving requirements. You also must continue to participate in other required compliance filings (as applicable), such as EEO-1 and VETS-4212, and state pay data reporting.
• What should employers in the private sector do? Review or assess your hiring, training, and promotion practices in light of these new federal anti-DEI initiatives.  

3. “Gender Ideology” and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

• What happened? Within hours of taking office, Trump signed a sweeping executive order requiring the federal government to recognize only two biological sexes (male and female, as determined at conception) and removing the concept of “gender identity” from federal anti-discrimination laws – a stance that seemingly runs counter to the Supreme Court’s Bostock ruling on Title VII’s definition of “sex.” The order also calls for reversals of any policies that allowed gender-identity-based access to single-sex spaces (like bathrooms), and rescinds many Biden-era actions, including 2024 EEOC workplace harassment guidance that expanded protections for pregnant and LGBTQ+ workers. And you can click here to read about how the “gender ideology” order impacts K-12 schools.
• Anything else? Trump took the unprecedented step of firing two Democrat members of the EEOC on January 27, enabling him to quickly install a majority of Republican commissioners rather than having to wait until their normal terms expire over the next two years.
• What’s next? We expect Trump to appoint at least one EEOC replacement member so that the agency can began taking action that align with his plans. You can expect to see DEI programs on the chopping block, a rescission of the 2024 Pregnant Workers Fairness Act rules, expanded rights for religious workers, restricted approaches to gender identity and worker bathroom access, stronger “reverse discrimination” principles, and overall reduced EEOC enforcement and outreach. But you can also expect uncertainty due to the likely litigation over the two EEOC Commissioner firings and the potential for a court to strike down any steps taken by the agency in the interim.

4. Labor Relations

• What happened? In a series of swift and game-changing moves, President Trump summarily dismissed two key figures at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). While the General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo’s dismissal was widely anticipated, the unprecedent firing of Board Member Gwynne Wilcox raises significant procedural and policy questions for the federal labor agency in the short term and beyond. President Trump also just appointed William Cowen as NLRB Acting General Counsel on February 3.
• What’s next? We expect that in the coming weeks and months Trump will appoint and the Senate will approve at least one more NLRB Member, though Wilcox has already launched a legal challenge to her termination. As the Board takes shape, we also expect a big shift away from its recent pro-labor stance. We expect the Board to expand employer authority over employee activities while limiting the scope of federal labor law to exclude gig workers and independent contractors. Here’s everything you need to know about the current state of the NLRB and your best practices moving forward.

5. Artificial Intelligence

• What happened? The White House enacted a sweeping shift in AI policy by rescinding President Biden’s executive order on artificial intelligence and announcing a massive private-sector-led AI infrastructure investment. The moves signal a sharp departure from the prior administration’s regulatory approach, replacing AI oversight with a focus on economic growth and national competitiveness. President Trump also appointed David Sacks as the new “AI & Crypto Czar.” Sacks – a Big Tech veteran, Silicon Valley insider, and vocal advocate for deregulation – will likely oversee a seismic transformation in how AI will be regulated and integrated across industries.
• What’s next? Employers and AI industry leaders must now deal with an evolving landscape where AI regulation is loosened and investment in AI development is skyrocketing. The emphasis will be on innovation and industry collaboration, and for employers, this means a flurry of new workplace AI tools that you’ll need to track and integrate. But you should also note that we’re starting to see a patchwork of various state and local laws regulating the use of AI in the workplace. Click here to review all of the laws, regulations, guidance documents, and court action that impact employers and their use of AI.

Conclusion

President Trump’s second term kicked off at a rapid pace, and we expect to see a lot more to come during his first 100 days and beyond. We will continue to monitor developments related to all aspects of workplace law.

Courtesy of Fisher Phillips

The 10 Things All Employers Must Include in Any Workplace AI Policy

Whether your organization has deployed a generative AI tool for your employees or hasn’t (yet) hopped on the bandwagon, the time is now for you to create a workplace policy governing the use of the technology. Many organizations are exploring ways their workforces can harness the revolutionary advances in productivity, efficiency, and creativity that generative AI (GenAI) products like ChatGPT, Google’s Bard, or Microsoft’s Bing can bring. And, even if you aren’t doing the same, your employees almost certainly are. But how can you do so in a responsible way? A first step is developing a workplace GenAI policy. Read on for the 10 things you should include.

First Things First: What is GenAI?

Recent advances in GenAI, kicked off most prolifically by the release of ChatGPT and soon thereafter joined by Bard and the reformulated Bing, have captured the attention of a broad audience. Almost immediately, employees and employers alike began thinking about the ways the technology can be used in the workplace, seemingly limited only by our imaginations. How is this different, however, than other forms of AI which have been around for years?

You’ve probably been living and working with some form of AI for some time now. Does your company have any sort of chatbot providing answers to simple questions about where to find a resource? No doubt you have an auto-complete feature when you type into your email platform. Those are all examples of artificial intelligence – just in rudimentary form.

Unlike this prior technology, GenAI is able to generate original human-like output and expressions in addition to describing or interpreting existing information. In other words, it appears to “think” and respond like a human. However, GenAI is limited by the data upon which it was trained, and will not have the judgment, strategic thinking, or contextual knowledge that a human does. These and other technological limitations and risks are why having a sound GenAI policy is so important.

The 10 Components Your GenAI Policy Should Include

While each company should customize a GenAI policy to suit its own needs and priorities, there are 10 topics to consider at a bare minimum. 

1. Outline the Policy’s Purpose and Scope. The first thing your policy should include is a description of its purpose and scope.
   • Generally, the purpose of the policy would be to provide guidelines for the organization’s development, implementation, use, and monitoring of GenAI in the workplace.
   • The scope should clearly tell your employees which areas are covered – and here’s where you need to be very clear. If your organization does not provide any GenAI products for your employees, you still need to make clear that the policy covers the use of any third-party or publicly available GenAI tool, such as ChatGPT, Bard, Bing, DALL-E, Midjourney, and other similar applications that mimic human intelligence to generate answers, work product, or perform certain tasks. And, if you do supply your workers with a GenAI product, you should make sure your policy covers appropriate usage with specific circumstances kept in mind.
2. Maintain Data Privacy and Security. Data privacy and security is a critical component of any GenAI policy, particularly given the strict data privacy laws that exist and are developing across the country (and internationally). Your policy should create safeguards to protect the data inputted into any GenAI technology, addressing data collection, storage, and sharing. At a minimum, you should prohibit your employees from entering private or personal information into any GenAI platform.
3. Uphold Company Confidentiality. You will also want to ensure that your company’s most important data – trade secrets, private information, PII of your employees and other third parties, confidential data, sensitive matters, etc. – are kept far away from GenAI. This will not only help you avoid embarrassing or damaging situations, but could help you uphold and defend the confidential nature of this information if you ever find yourself in trade secrets litigation.
4. Ensure Your Commitment to Diversity is Not Compromised. GenAI has the capacity to provide information that violates not only your company’s strong diversity goals but also legal anti-discrimination standards. For this reason, you should plainly state that information received from GenAI needs to be double-checked using reasoned human judgment to ensure it does not run afoul of your company’s commitment to diversity.
5. Prohibit Employment-Based Decisions Aided by GenAI. Related to the previous point, you should clearly state that GenAI tools should not be used to make or help you make employment decisions about applicants or employees. This includes recruitment, hiring, retention, promotions, transfers, performance monitoring, discipline, demotion, terminations, or other decisions. Of course, if you have deployed a GenAI tool to help you navigate human resources activity, you can allow such use – so long as you are confident that your policies surrounding the use of that specific tool uphold legal principles (including any relevant state laws) and your highest company standards.
6. Prevent Copyright or Other Theft Concerns. The danger always exists that information provided from GenAI platforms (including image generators like DALL-E 2 and Midjourney) could include details from copyrighted or other protected sources. If your employees use a GenAI tool to generate content for company use that happens to include information from a protected source, you could find yourself in legal hot water. Make sure your employees know not to pass off any information or content received from GenAI as their own without double-checking sources. They should use GenAI as an idea generator, not as a replacement for content creation.
7. Outline Best Practices. The inherent limitations related to GenAI in its current form should lead you to outline best practices that should be followed whenever your employees use the technology to aid their work. Some examples:
   • Because GenAI is prone to providing hallucinations and outdated answers, you should require your workers to confirm any information received before relying on it in any capacity.
   • There is always risk of a data breach involving any GenAI provider. While your workers might think they can input any question into the system with complete anonymity, they should be warned to treat any information provided into any GenAI platform as if it will go viral on the Internet –with their name and your company’s identity along with it.
   • Your company’s supervisors should want to know when – and to what extent – GenAI was used to help complete a task. For that reason, you might recommend that employees disclose when they are using the technology and the extent it aided the creation of any content they develop.
8. Be Clear About Consequences. As with any company policy, you should inform your employees that they could face repercussions should they violate any of its tenets. Let them know they could face disciplinary action – up to and including immediate termination, and possibly legal action – should they violate the policy. The policy should also direct employees to report potential violations they learn about to their supervisor or to HR.
9. Include a Disclaimer. Due to the broad reach of the National Labor Relations Act – even over companies that don’t have a unionized workforce – you need to make sure that you offer protections for behavior that has been upheld as protected by the NLRB and courts. Work with your legal counsel to create a disclaimer that clearly states your policy is not intended to interfere with, restrain, or prevent employee communications regarding the rights protected by federal labor law.
10. Input From Across the Spectrum. Finally, make sure you include multi-disciplinary input from stakeholders across the organization to ensure your policy is comprehensive, effective, and realistic. Obvious stakeholders include members of your regulatory, compliance, IT, DEI, and legal departments.

What’s Next?

Once you publish your GenAI policy, your work is not over – it’s just beginning. Besides the all-important work of training your workforce on the policy parameters and ensuring continued and consistent enforcement, you should use the creation of a policy as the right time to establish a framework for GenAI governance and oversight.

Please let us know if you would like a copy of a complimentary GenAI policy provided courtesy of Fisher Phillips LLP.

Beyond Job Descriptions: 6 HR Tasks ChatGPT Can Do for You

Since ChatGPT’s launch in November 2022, many HR professionals have used the generative artificial intelligence tool to perform some of their daily tasks. While anxiety remains about “robots taking our jobs,” ChatGPT can make HR professionals more productive, freeing them up from repetitive tasks and allowing them to spend more time on strategic work. However it still needs to be used selectively and with caution to avoid a costly mistake.

ChatGPT as an HR Tool

Like any emerging technology, ChatGPT offers both benefits and risks. Using it effectively requires a willingness to learn and experiment. “ChatGPT saves me hours of work every week and boosts my productivity,” said Declan Daly, managing partner at Bundoran Group, a recruitment agency. “I’m constantly discovering new ways to use it in my work.” 

Caroline Reidy, managing director of The HR Suite, an HR services firm, shares Daly’s enthusiasm for ChatGPT: “You might not get perfect results every time you use it, but generating a quick, working draft with ChatGPT can significantly reduce the time you spend on document development and other administrative tasks.”

However, relying uncritically on ChatGPT without performing a careful, human review of its generated content has some large potential risks. ChatGPT’s generated content may sound reliable, but it’s also generic and historical. Generative AI can synthesize what others may have said in the past, but it can’t offer specific guidance about what your company should do now in a specific circumstance. Organizations will always need HR professionals who can do their own thinking.

Common HR Tasks ChatGPT Can Perform

People are already paying attention to ChatGPT for its ability to write job descriptions. LinkedIn, for example, just announced it will soon introduce a feature enabling AI-written job posts. Here are six other HR tasks the tool can help HR professionals perform:

1. Recruiting. “You can use ChatGPT to generate relevant interview questions to ask candidates for roles you aren’t familiar with.You can also ask for the average salary for specific jobs or common benefits that are offered by other industries for a particular role, narrowed down by geography.

2. Onboarding. HR professionals can set up ChatGPT to give real-time support to new hires by answering questions about company policies, procedures and benefits, as well as offer them guidance on completing necessary paperwork.

3. Administrative tasks. ChatGPT can help HR professionals craft and send announcements and reminders to employees about events, such as training programs. The AI tool can also be used to write all sorts of documents (from handbooks to policy memos and beyond), as well as send automatic e-mail responses.

4. Employee self-service. ChatGPT can be leveraged to build conversational chatbots, providing instant support for common questions about benefits, vacation policies and payroll. More complex employee issues can be escalated from self-service tools to an HR professional for follow-up. The human follow-up could be blended with ChatGPT as well.

5. Employee surveys. You can ask ChatGPT to craft survey questions for measuring employee engagement. ChatGPT enables you to conduct companywide polls to gauge opinions on specific workplace issues, such as the pros and cons of hybrid work and the viability of a four-day workweek.

6. Performance reviews. ChatGPT can help with performance management by supplying HR professionals and managers with instructions on how to conduct performance appraisals and by responding to inquiries from employees about performance metrics.

Maximizing ChatGPT’s Benefits, Reducing Risks 

ChatGPT’s generated content comes from the Internet and can be inaccurate or biased. For example, if the source data ChatGPT scours through says “The moon is made of yellow cheese,” its generated content would reflect that. HR professionals can provide ChatGPT with detailed source information, including employee data, internal company knowledge bases and HR policies or procedures, to generate customized content and answer questions.

Another challenge in using ChatGPT is that generated content can have the wrong tone. “As an HR professional, you sometimes work on sensitive topics where automating replies might work against you,” said Ryan Faber, founder of Copymatic, an AI-based business writing platform. “Sensitive tasks such as layoffs and terminations should never be handed over to ChatGPT, because human empathy and nuance are required.”

Finally, the generated content might not comply with data privacy or other legal standards in HR. Again, be sure to review what ChatGPT writes to make sure the content is useable and compliant.

Trust, But Verify

What former President Ronald Reagan once said about negotiating with the Soviet Union also applies to using ChatGPT: “Trust, but verify.” Many HR professionals recommend using ChatGPT as a starting point, but would still speak to an expert or refer to another data source for verification of what the tool generates. 

Being able to use ChatGPT effectively, and with the right safeguards and controls in place, will become an essential HR skill moving forward. It will take some time for HR professionals and organizations to become good at using the tool.

At the end of the day, ChatGPT is an important HR tool that should be deployed critically and selectively for HR tasks, with a clear-eyed understanding of its strengths and weaknesses.