E23 - AI without the BS (with Erica Farmer)

Erica Farmer, author of AI for People Professionals and host of AI for the Average Joe, joins Deano for this episode to state the obvious and less obvious... AI has landed in HR - but most organisations are still stuck somewhere between dabbling, panicking and pretending they have a strategy because someone switched on Copilot.

In this episode, Deano and Erica chat to cut through the noise and talk about what AI adoption in HR actually requires: Confidence, clarity, permission, psychological safety and a proper people-first approach.

Erica explains why AI is not “just another system implementation”, why HR needs to stop waiting for IT to own the human side of transformation, and why every HR professional now needs to see themselves as a change architect.

• Why AI is different from traditional workplace technology

• The biggest mistake HR is making with AI adoption

• Why policies and toolkits are not enough

• The importance of creating an AI manifesto

• How to move from experimentation to meaningful adoption

• Erica’s concept of the “AI dividend”

• Why people need personal buy-in before organisational buy-in

• The role of psychological safety in AI enablement

• Why HR and IT must collaborate — but HR cannot outsource the people bit

• Why prompt lists are not enough

• How AI can support wellbeing, inclusion and productivity

• What to do when adoption stalls

• The first thing nervous or curious users should try

AI adoption is not a tech rollout. It is a people change. If employees do not understand why AI is being introduced, how it affects them, what they are allowed to do with it, and where the guardrails are, they will either avoid it or use it at a very surface level. The organisations seeing progress are the ones giving people permission to experiment, linking AI to personal benefit, and creating space for people to redesign work from the ground up.

Connect with Erica Farmer on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericafarmer 

Listen to AI for the Average Joe: https://www.youtube.com/@AIForTheAverageJoe 

Buy AI for People Professionals: Available NOW from Kogan Page and Amazon.