AI in HR: Insights from the automation wave

Hey, we are Ramón Rodrigáñez and Andrea Marino, Co-Founders at Nova, the Global Top Talent Network.

Welcome to Talent First, our newsletter where those who believe that talent is the most important resource in the economy get together.

Every week, we cover a new topic related to attracting, hiring, developing, and retaining talent, as well as the learnings from our journey building Nova.

Summary

• Trends: HR is undergoing a structural transformation. AI is no longer a future vision, it’s the present reality for how organizations recruit, onboard, and develop people.
• Expert’s Take: We asked Jesús Copado, Head of AI at Nova, to share his reflections on the AI in HR Operations 2025 report by Devstark — and what it means for companies building the next generation of people functions.
• What’s Coming at Nova: We’re expanding our own AI capabilities in candidate matching to empower recruiters, not replace them. Sign-up to get first access to Nova Recruiter below.

1. Trends

1.1 From automation to augmentation

According to Devstark’s AI in HR Operations 2025 Report, 72% of HR professionals now use AI in their work — up from 58% just a year ago. Organizations adopting AI in recruiting, onboarding, and employee support report:

• 63% higher HR productivity
• 55% automation of repetitive tasks
• 52% overall efficiency gains

The takeaway? HR is no longer just a people function — it’s becoming a data-augmented leadership function.

Real-world examples show what’s possible:

• Unilever saved 70,000 hours of interviews through AI-based candidate games and pre-screening.
• KPMG reduced HR inquiries by 50% with an onboarding chatbot.
• PepsiCo logged 1.8M learning hours through AI-curated learning platforms.
• IBM predicts employee turnover with 95% accuracy, helping managers intervene before it’s too late.

Key take-aways for your organization:

✅ Let AI power recruiters, not replace them.

✅ Use automation for volume, human insight for value.

✅ Train your team to interpret AI results rather than just consume them.

1.2 Where AI works best (and where it doesn’t)

The research shows AI has the highest impact in six areas:

• Candidate sourcing and screening
• Onboarding and knowledge management
• Compliance and document processing
• Workforce analytics and development
• Shift and schedule planning
• HR workflow orchestration

However, the biggest barrier isn’t tech, it’s trust. Employees fear being replaced, and candidates fear being judged by a “black box.”

The most successful companies do one thing differently: they design AI-with-humans-in-the-loop.

2. Expert’s Take

“AI is not here to make recruiters redundant, it’s here to give them superpowers.”

When asked about these trends, Jesús highlighted the same shift we’re seeing inside Nova:

“The companies gaining the most from AI are the ones that understand where human context still matters. The best results happen when algorithms do the heavy lifting — sourcing, pattern detection, task automation — and humans bring empathy, judgment, and storytelling back into the process.”

Jesús also warned of a growing blind spot:

“AI is only as unbiased as the data we feed it. If your hiring history is homogeneous, your AI will be too. That’s why building diverse, clean datasets is now an HR strategy issue, not just an IT one.”

At Nova, Jesús and his team have been piloting Nova Recruiter’s AI-matching engine, which identifies hidden-fit candidates that traditional filters overlook. The goal isn’t to replace the recruiter, it’s to let them spend time where it matters most: with people.

“The future of HR is hybrid intelligence: algorithms for speed, humans for meaning.”

At Nova we run a daily line of sight into hiring, talent-development and network-effects, and we’d like to share a few concrete reflections from our journey.

3. What’s Coming at Nova

We’re continuing to expand our AI-powered tools to support recruiters and hiring managers in building more efficient, equitable teams.

In 2026, we’ll launch an enhanced version of Nova Recruiter, combining our network intelligence with real-time AI matching and bias-aware recommendations.

If you’d like to be part of the early-access program, you can join the waitlist here. 🤝

Thanks for reading Talent First. If you liked this issue, don’t forget to hit ❤️.

We would be grateful if you could share it by email or social media with other people who might like it or might be looking to hire top talent.

👉 Contact Us

And if this issue sparked ideas, share it with someone shaping the future of work in your network.