The HR–IT Debate in the Age of AI: Cooperation or Consolidation?
•February 10, 2026
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Why It Matters
The alignment of HR and IT determines how effectively AI can improve employee experience and operational efficiency, influencing competitive advantage across industries.
Key Takeaways
- •HR and IT collaboration accelerating due to AI initiatives
- •New C-suite role: chief productivity officer merges CHRO and CTO
- •Consolidation risks tech‑centric bias, losing human nuance
- •Shared governance and metrics drive effective HR‑IT partnership
- •Alignment, not merger, essential for AI‑enabled workforce transformation
Pulse Analysis
The surge of artificial intelligence has forced traditional silos to dissolve, especially between human resources and information technology. Companies are witnessing unprecedented joint initiatives as HR seeks data‑driven talent insights while IT supplies the platforms that power employee engagement. This convergence has birthed the chief productivity officer role, a hybrid position that promises unified oversight of people processes and digital tools, signaling a strategic shift toward holistic workforce management.
Proponents of consolidation point to faster decision‑making, clearer accountability, and a direct line of sight into the return on AI investments. However, merging HR and IT under a single leader can tilt the balance toward technology‑first solutions, marginalizing the cultural, ethical, and human‑centric considerations that HR brings. Such an imbalance may result in under‑utilized tools, reduced employee adoption, and a loss of nuanced judgment essential for change management. The tension underscores the need for a measured approach that preserves the distinct expertise of each function while leveraging their combined strengths.
Industry experts advocate a partnership model built on shared governance, joint metrics, and incentive structures tied to employee impact rather than mere rollout statistics. Cross‑functional teams that co‑design AI initiatives ensure problems are defined collaboratively, solutions are tested iteratively, and success is measured through both technological performance and workforce outcomes. By keeping HR and IT separate yet tightly aligned, organizations can harness AI to enhance productivity without sacrificing the human element that drives sustainable performance.
The HR–IT debate in the age of AI: cooperation or consolidation?
As business leaders across industries turn to AI to drive efficiency, productivity and modernization, the shift is reshaping not just how HR works—but also with whom the function works.
In particular, HR and IT are rapidly growing closer at organizations that are looking to stay on the leading edge in the age of AI. Many HR leaders are reporting record rates of collaboration with their IT counterparts, while some organizations have even merged the two functions into one. That thinking is giving rise to an entirely new C-suite title that marries traditional CHRO and chief IT officer positions: chief productivity officer.
Who is the chief productivity officer?
A recent piece in FastCompany offered a bold prediction: “The day may well come when organizations have a CPO—chief productivity officer, not chief people officer—in charge of both the people part of the company and the technology part, because those two pieces have to come together to redefine work at the enterprise level.”
Neil Morrison, GM, international markets at employee experience platform Staffbase, says the rise of the chief productivity officer reflects “growing pressure on leaders to make work actually work better”—largely owing to fragmented ownership of “people, processes and platforms.” One function, for instance, may have oversight of employee experience, while another manages workplace tools.
It’s an approach that can cause things to “slow down, accountability gets muddled and smart investments don’t always lead to real change,” Morrison says, noting that the merging of functions and creation of roles like the chief productivity officer are less about technology and more about reaching for alignment.
Cooperation or consolidation
Consolidation has its merits: Speedier processes, clearer ownership and a more direct line of sight into the ROI of tech investments, Morrison says.
It’s a “tempting” pivot for many, as leaders strive for more clear visibility into how broader workforce strategy comes to life each day. Yet, there is a real risk for imbalance.
Neil Morris, Staffbase
HR professionals bring a focus on culture, ethics and human judgment, for instance, while the IT function is driven by “systems, data and scale,” Morrison says. And AI needs both sets of capabilities for success.
Yet, one voice will likely overpower the other if both perspectives are housed in one unit, or under one C-suite leader.
“That can lead to decisions that are too tech-led, or technology that never fully gets used,” Morrison says. “Over time, organizations can lose the depth and nuance that really matter.”
Instead, he advises, organizations should focus first on the foundation: fixing operating models and the ways in which decisions are made.
Finding a ‘true partnership’
That journey begins by shifting the attention from org charts to outcomes. Shared ownership—not silos—should be the goal, forged through close partnerships, co-leading AI transformation and plotting out what success looks like together.
CHROs must grow to deeply understand the tech strategy, while tech leaders have to recognize the outsized value of human-centered adoption; when both happen, Morrison says, “it becomes clear that you don’t need to merge roles.”
At his own organization, the HR and IT functions have formed a “true partnership.” HR doesn’t just ask IT for tech any longer. Instead, leaders are working side by side to define problems, test solutions and define success, both with the technology and for the workforce.
Organizations that hope to effectively redefine the HR-IT relationship will “put real structures” around collaboration, Morrison says: cross-functional teams, shared governance and leadership incentives that are defined not by rollout metrics but employee impact and adoption.
“It comes down to shared goals, shared metrics and mutual respect—not shared titles,” Morrison says. “AI works best when it supports people, and that only happens when HR and IT move forward together, separate, but tightly aligned.”
The post The HR–IT debate in the age of AI: cooperation or consolidation? appeared first on HR Executive.
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