Armonk, N.Y. – September 20, 2026 -- Seventy-one percent of Chief Human Resource Officers say the ability to supervise, validate and override AI outputs is now the most essential workforce skill, yet only 29% of employees rank judgment as important, according to a new global study from the IBM Institute for Business Value.
Sixty percent of employees worry AI is eroding their skills
The study, conducted with Oxford Economics from April to June 2026, surveyed 1,500 CHROs across 21 geographies and 23 industries alongside 8,800 full-time employees in 28 countries. Sixty percent of employees report concern that AI is eroding their skills, with critical thinking cited most often as the capability in decline. Among those worried about erosion, three out of four say AI has already begun to weaken at least some of their skills. Skills erosion ranks among CHROs' top concerns as well, cited by 46% of respondents, with 57% naming critical thinking and problem framing as capabilities that matter most in the AI era.
Nearly half of organizations exclude the CHRO from AI strategy decisions
Forty-six percent of organizations do not involve the CHRO when AI strategy is defined, even as 73% of CHROs say they struggle to coordinate consistently across the C-suite. Only 28% report a joint roadmap with IT backed by a shared operating cadence. Where the CHRO at least shares responsibility for determining which decisions remain human-led, 76% of employees feel safe to question or override AI recommendations, compared with just 43% where HR serves only in an advisory role.
Accountability gaps leave employees absorbing blame for AI errors
Forty-three percent of employees report that when AI-related problems arise, blame falls on them, while 41% of CHROs believe employees may not feel safe challenging or overriding AI outputs. Thirty-six percent of CHROs say unclear accountability complicates AI deployment. Eighty percent of CHROs believe AI adoption creates "invisible" work, including validating recommendations, fixing errors and managing exceptions, and 42% of employees say AI increases their workload or that their added effort goes unrecognized.
Defined human-AI workflows cut risk by 18% and lift quality by 20%
Organizations that clearly define workflows as human-led, AI-assisted or AI-executed report an 18% reduction in risk and a 20% improvement in quality. Where judgment is explicitly built into workflows, 62% of CHROs report growing employee confidence in AI-enabled decisions; where it is absent, 57% report confidence declining instead.
HR's own AI adoption lags despite its transformation mandate
Seventy-two percent of organizations make limited or no use of AI inside the HR function itself. CHROs rate their teams' capabilities particularly low in AI literacy (13%), AI performance measurement (16%) and change management for AI adoption (20%). Organizations with mature HR AI capability across governance, architecture and measurement are nearly twice as likely to report a higher number of positive business KPIs.
"As AI takes on more routine and process-driven tasks, uniquely human capabilities become even more important," said Nickle LaMoreaux, Senior Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer, IBM.