In this episode of Talent Draup, Dr. Dieter Veldsman, Chief HR Scientist at AIHR, joins Vishnu Shankar, VP – Data & Platform at Draup, to talk about how HR can transform from policy-led procedures to people-first operating models in the age of AI. 

Dieter emphasizes that instead of replacing human experience, AI must enhance it. In his view, HR must be able to integrate AI while maintaining high-touch interactions, accountability, and trust. He elaborates on how HR can transform workflows, close the insight-to-action gap, and rethink workforce strategy in an age when AI collaboration is de rigueur through examples from learning, talent acquisition, and performance management. 

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Quotes 

“We are entering a new chapter of work, which is going to call on us as HR professionals to rethink what our mandate and what our value is in the organization.” — Dr. Dieter Veldsman 

“If you can't fix skills, structure will never help you. If you don't have the right structure with the skills tied to it, you can never deliver on strategy.” — Dr. Dieter Veldsman 

“We sometimes operate from this assumption that everybody wants to be promoted, everybody wants to be pushed into extreme projects and stretched, et cetera. And that's not the reality for a lot of people.”— Dr. Dieter Veldsman 

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Moments You Can't Miss 

04:39 – Approach HR as a product house, employees as the consumers of HR solutions 
08:44 – AI for performance management: where restraint and human context trumped full automation 
09:59 – Three levels of governance for AI in HR: strategy, enablement, and transition, with ethics as the overarching guide 
12:15 – Placing decision-making at the frontline while keeping centralized guardrails 
17:14 – Understanding that career choices are life choices: HR needs to factor in the human context 

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Key Takeaways 

Decentralize ownership: While maintaining responsible governance, bring decision-making closer to the location of work. 
Connect insight to action: Turn talent intelligence into effective, well-designed interventions that impact outcomes. 
Trust by design: AI should complement human judgment, not substitute for it; human-centered HR supports employee trust. 
Clarity of strategy: To effectively deploy resources, define the HR mandate, areas of concentration, and success metrics. 

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More on Draup:
Draup is an AI-powered intelligence platform that supports over 200 global organizations in enhancing their talent and sales strategies. Draup enables enterprises to make informed decisions in workforce planning, talent acquisition, and account-based marketing by providing multi-dimensional global labor market data.  

More on AIHR: 
The Academy to Innovate HR (AIHR) is a leading global academy for HR education, research, and digital learning. It offers advanced courses, credentials, and thought leadership to help HR professionals build practical skills in organizational design, people analytics, talent management, and AI-based strategies. These capabilities enable HR leaders to design human-first, data-driven, and future-ready workforce strategies.

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Social media: 
Vishnu Shankar: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vvishnushankar/
Dr. Dieter Veldsman: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dieterveldsman/
Draup: https://draup.com/

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