Top actions for HR leaders from UNLEASH America 2026 Talent & AI Summits

UNLEASH America returns to Las Vegas.

The 2026 show kicked off with a series of inspiring, exclusive summits, featuring top HR leaders, analysts and academics.

For the Talent and AI Summits on Day One of UNLEASH America 2026, CHROs from Grupo OLX and Cardinal Group joined thought leaders including David Green, Jess Von Bank, Jason Averbook, Gary Bolles, Madeline Laurano and David Francis to discuss the opportunities and challenges ahead for HR – how can they seize the moment for the benefit of the business and its people?

The UNLEASH Editorial team were sitting in the summits – these sessions are covered Chatham House rules, but here are our topline takeaways on the decisions HR teams need to make in 2026.

Jess Von Bank speaking at the UNLEASH America 2026 AI Summit.

UNLEASH America 2026 Talent & AI Summits: How HR must seize the AI wave

We might be in unchartered territory but there are extensive opportunities for the HR function in this environment – the AI wave is here, it’s time to figure out how to ride it.

That’s the main message for HR leaders from the UNLEASH America 2026 Talent Summit, powered by Checkr.

In 2026, HR must move away from using AI and technology to optimize existing processes; “you cannot just put AI on top of the way you work today and say: everything’s great”, said one speaker at the AI Summit, powered by UKG.

Instead, Talent Summit speakers called for HR to focus on reinventing and reimaging how work gets done.

To do this, HR leaders must become better interrogators and must get friendly with their IT colleagues.

One of the Talent Summit speakers was very clear that as a HR leader, you must to be a Chief Technology Advocate.

HR needs to “be so grounded in how technology is changing the organization [that] you are helping guide that ship” – these are still human-based business, “there will always be human-based elements.”

If we aren’t culture champions for the technology, no-one will be,” added another speaker.

They continued: “If we allow things to happen without proper governance, without proper trust, without proper culture, we lose everything.”

However, this doesn’t mean that HR leaders need to know it all; this is not a competition – that was a core theme of the AI Summit – “this isn’t about who’s winning the race.”

One speaker during the Talent Summit was very clear that there’s no recipe for success, and there’s lots they personally don’t know.

The key to success is to embrace the ugly and the chaos – learn as you go along the journey. Show your people that we’re all in this together, and that’ll help build the necessary trust to drive AI success in your organization.

CEOs remain “bullish” on achieving AI success – this means they are continuing to invest in new tools and technologies. It is predicted that money spent on AI will increase 60% in 2026, while the cost to access will decline 1,000% this year.

When it comes to buying decisions, a Talent summit speaker shared that vendors must be in a committed relationship with the HR team – they’re not just dating.

Their tools must also be integrated and embedded into daily workflows where work is actually getting done.

To close out the Talent Summit, one of the speakers reminded the audience that it isn’t the tools that are the hardest part of the transformation – managing the change is the biggest challenge.

One thing to keep in mind in this process is that many things are not changing – there’s a lot of the HR foundations that stay the same – and humans will be in the driving seat.

One speaker closed out the Talent Summit by sharing that while the machines might be intelligent, they are not wise – that’s where humans come in.

What a way to kick off UNLEASH America 2026 – stay tuned for more exclusive insights over the next two days. The show has only just begun; there’s so much more to come.