Is AI really something new — or just the next big technology platform?

He’s the founder and CEO of Phenom, an HR tech company that was last publicly valued at $1.4 billion in 2021. His firm develops “talent experience” software, such as career sites and employee web portals that companies use to recruit and interact with employees.

He’s selling efficiency and automation, while identifying as being in “the people business.” If anybody has to have a prediction on the age of AI in which we find ourselves, it’s Bayireddi. 

“People are stupidly dissatisfied, insanely adaptable, but crave stability. We want all the benefits of AI without the consequences” Bayireddi said. It’s like a medicine without the side effects.

The only industry hotter than AI right now is the AI-metaphor industry. 

Look around: Artificial intelligence is like the printing press. Or electricity. Or the internet. Or water, apparently. The choice of metaphor influences our interpretation of how AI might impact our economy and individual lives. How might you interpret the news that 800 of the 65,000 jobs cut from the American economy last month were attributed to efficiency gains from artificial intelligence?

For some, AI, like the printing press, electricity and the internet before it, is another transformative platform technology — an invention that spawns entirely new industries. Though disruptive for individual workers for a period of time, historically such technologies create more than they destroy. In this light, you can sympathize with people who lose jobs, all while assuming in the long run we’ll create more prosperity than lose as artificial intelligence improves. 

Conversely, some AI proponents contend “this time is different.” They argue that AI’s potential surpasses all previous technologies. A marketing executive recently told me that “I believe the internet is nothing” compared to what AI will bring. This wing of the debate argues that AI will cross a threshold into seemingly limitless development, presenting a paradox. 

If AI is merely the latest in a series of platform technologies, then the solution may involve simply helping workers transition to growing industries. But if AI is an unprecedented development, then a more radical response is required to support workers through this shift.

Many AI enthusiasts I’ve spoken with seem to want it both ways: They promote AI as unprecedented, but revert to the familiar argument that workers will adapt as they have with past technologies when pressed about economic risks.

AI for frontline hiring, but not executives

Last month, Bayireddi’s company hosted its ambitious annual user conference.

I attended, along with a pre-conference analyst day — typical of companies preparing for the regulatory requirements of being a publicly-traded company. The company is headquartered in Philadelphia suburb Ambler, but the analyst day was set in a Center City hotel conference room with good food and dense presentations, all of which championed new AI capabilities, like candidate sorting, message drafting and predictive scoring. 

How much presented genuine efficiency gains, versus mere marketing hype — or worse, risky autopilot operations? And what can that tell us about where AI, work and this economy are going?

Up to 90% of the time once put into hiring for certain frontline jobs can already be automated

Bayireddi presents a cool, serious, even stern stoicism. In years of meetings, interviews and events alongside him, I’ve never seen much back-slapping. He’s no doubt focused. At the conference analyst day, I noticed his cheery rainbow-colored Nike sneakers because they seemed out of character — until I saw they were adorned with the Phenom logo.

In a followup interview, Bayireddi articulated an already-present divide taking place in automation’s role in the hiring process. 

Up to 90% of the time once put into hiring for certain frontline jobs can already be automated, he said, focusing on skill audits, past experience verification, and follow-through testing. 

In contrast, just 10% of the process is automated for hiring executives, where personality fit and leadership qualities are crucial, requiring in-person interactions. 

As one Phenom staffer put it: The era of a hiring manager matching a person’s resume to a job description is ending, because now generative AI tools like ChatGPT can essentially match any person’s resume to nearly any job rec. New solutions are necessary, they argue — though I am skeptical of the endless arms race of more technology being introduced to hiring.

Humans in the workplace, humans in the loop

The Phenom team, like other tech execs cautious around the timid public, emphasizes that “a human is always in the loop,” a oft-repeated safety valve that implies even if a process is automated, a person will sign off. 

It’s a nice thought, although critics point out people are quick to get comfortable relying on automation. Might a harried internal recruiter skip over auditing an automated hiring process and just select the top-ranked candidate, even if that recommendation came only through a black box technology? 

Here, Bayireddi speaks of augmentation versus automation. Phenom’s tools do not replace, but rather enhance, in-person interviews by providing summaries and sentiment analysis. 

Of HR’s long and complex balance of technology and people processes, Phenom’s marketing VP Jonathan Dale added: “This industry has proven you can bring the heart and head together.” 

Phenom uses their tools for their own hiring, and people are involved in each step. In this way, Phenom itself is a case study for how work is changing. Of the company’s 1,600 employees, more than 300 are in the Philadelphia area — still commuting three days a week to the office. Staff are writing code, speaking to customers, selling prospects and marketing their services. 

All those jobs are enhanced by AI, not replaced, Bayireddi points out — and as Technical.ly has reported. He goes in each weekday when he isn’t traveling to customers or their offices in India, Germany and Israel. 

“Working together in person is great for employees,” Bayireddi said. “It builds a strong community.”

So where does Bayireddi stand on the AI divide? Is it just another big generational platform change, or is everything different this time?

He leans closer to the former. In his keynote at last year’s conference, he himself relied on the “electricity” metaphor — an historic change that will unlock more opportunity than displacement. He does predict economic change, such as a more commonplace four-day workweek.

The adaptability necessary  for professionals in this new age is akin to the journey from founding a no-employee startup to leading a 1,600-person company preparing to go public.

“Running a company is a spiritual journey,” Bayireddi shared. “Letting go of what you already have. It’s not about you but about the company. The ego of you. You’re not Phenom, you’re one building block. The clarity will give you a lot more thoughtfulness. I have to give up one job so I can move on to the next. Letting go gives you a lot more insight into who you are as a being.”