Artificial intelligence (AI) integration into the workplace is progressing rapidly, with HR professionals and workers increasingly adopting AI tools for various tasks. To better understand how global HR leaders and workers think about and interact with AI, HireVue surveyed over 4,000 HR leaders and employees.
This isn’t another AI hype report. This is what’s actually happening in hiring—right now.
AI adoption among HR professionals is surging in 2025, reflecting a shift from experimentation to active integration. Weekly AI usage climbed from 58% in 2024 to 72% in 2025, with tools like ChatGPT (61%) and chatbots (43%) driving widespread application. Trust in AI systems rose significantly, from 37% to 51%, marking growing confidence in its capabilities.
2025 marks the tipping point for AI in hiring. AI is no longer a future vision—it’s fundamentally changing how HR operates.
The resounding themes this year:
Both HR professionals and workers align on AI’s role as a productivity enhancer, with HR citing its utility in automating tasks and workers using it for job applications and research. Yet, lingering anxieties about job security reflect broader apprehensions about AI’s long-term impact. Compounding these challenges is a misalignment between HR and workers on AI’s role, with workers often perceiving it as a decision-maker rather than a supportive tool.
In 2025, AI is moving beyond simple automation into a new era of intelligent workflows and adaptive problem-solving:
- In 2024, Workday’s Illuminate provides movement in HR by integrating AI into everyday workflows, helping employees easily streamline tasks.
- Microsoft’s Copilot became an essential workplace assistant, not only summarizing emails and drafting content but also improving global collaboration. Even global pharmaceutical giant Bayer adopted Copilot further demonstrating AI’s ability to cut through information overload, saving the company hundreds of hours previously spent searching for data. The company will even be sharing data on farming and crop cycles with Microsoft to feed their AI. The process identifies not only relevant models but also the researchers responsible for them, making it easier to collaborate with experts, accelerate product development, and speed up laboratory processes that ultimately get products to farmers faster—augmenting data to make AI offerings better. As we move forward, we expect this trend to grow, with companies and AI vendors increasingly seeking high-quality data sources to enhance AI performance.
AI has taken even another leap forward with the rise of Agentic AI. According to Forbes, “While generative AI focuses on creating, agentic AI is all about doing…. they make decisions, take actions, and adapt to changing environments.”
- Salesforce’s Agentforce, for example, has revolutionized customer support by resolving 83% of visitor inquiries on its Help site without human intervention.
These agentic systems mark a shift from passive assistants to proactive problem-solvers, fundamentally changing how businesses operate. As companies continue to integrate AI-driven decision-making into their workflows, 2025 is shaping up to be a year when AI doesn’t just assist—it actively drives progress.
As AI adoption continues to rise, addressing gaps in trust, transparency, and communication will be essential for organizations to maximize AI’s potential while maintaining employee confidence and fostering collaboration. This report emphasizes the need for thoughtful integration and alignment between stakeholders—with trusted tech vendors so teams can:
- Position AI as decision support that does not replace human judgment.
- Ensure transparency about AI’s role in hiring to build trust.
- Partner with ethical vendors offering precise, explainable AI tools.
- Integrating skill-based solutions to transform hiring with fairer and more efficient outcomes
The future of work demands a high-tech, human-touch approach in which AI enhances efficiency while preserving human connection and fairness. By bridging the communication gap and prioritizing trust, organizations can responsibly harness AI’s transformative potential.
AI productivity: AI no longer experimental—it’s essential
There is proof of AI becoming indispensable. HR isn’t testing AI—it’s running on it.
HR professionals cited a substantial jump in AI usage, trust, and productivity in 2025:
- Weekly AI usage jumped from 58% in 2024 to 72% in 2025, demonstrating widespread reliance on AI tools for everyday tasks and reflecting a shift from cautious experimentation to active integration.
- ChatGPT adoption is notable, with 61% using it at work, alongside 43% using chatbots.
- Trust in AI systems increased from 37% to 51% in a year, reflecting growing confidence in the technology’s capabilities.
- HR professionals are leveraging AI to drive efficiency and improve outcomes, citing:
- 63% greater productivity
- 55% automation of manual tasks
- 52% enhanced business efficiency
- 52% faster process turnaround
In 2025, HR professionals are leveraging AI extensively across the hiring process, streamlining tasks and enhancing decision-making.
1. Resume Screening (35%)
2. Training (35%)
3. Candidate Communications (34%)
4. Recruiting (33%)
5. Candidate Screening (31%)
6. Assessments (31%)
This growing trust and usage reflects an industry of HR leaders who are looking to streamline processes and automate manual tasks, freeing them up for more strategic endeavors, like building relationships with candidates.
2025: AI shifts from assistance to action
The addition of Agentic AI is enabling and transforming workflows as AI moves beyond assistance to action. AI is no longer just summarizing emails or scheduling interviews—it’s executing complex workflows. In 2025, businesses are leveraging this shift to drive efficiency, automation, and innovation at unprecedented levels.
Candidate POV: Breaking free from monotony with automation
Similarly, job seekers are turning to AI as a supportive tool to automate the time-consuming, monotonous tasks that come with the dreaded job search.
And they’re using AI to compete in the job market:
- 52% updating resume
- 51% writing a cover letter
- 49% preparing for an interview
- 45% researching a company
HR professionals and candidates are seeing the benefits of increased productivity due to AI usage—a trend that will positively impact both sides with the right hiring technology.
Meet candidates where they are
The use of AI in hiring often feels uncertain, leaving applicants wondering what’s acceptable and what’s not.
Be upfront with your candidates. Clearly outline how AI is used in your process and what behaviors align with your expectations.
For example, if using AI to update resumes, draft cover letters, or prepare for interviews is encouraged, let them know. At the same time, be clear about where you draw the line, such as using AI to generate interview answers or bypass assessments. Transparency builds trust and sets the tone for an ethical, fair process.
Your next move: Unlock peak productivity (and savings)
People are more than warming up to the idea that AI can improve productivity, especially for tasks perceived as low-stakes or administrative. Both groups recognize AI as a productivity enhancer, especially for routine tasks.
AI taking action in hiring and talent strategy—reshaping HR’s role.
Your hiring process should enhance both your recruiter and candidate experiences, showing that you value their time. At the end of the day, your hiring metrics should also reflect a bottom-line advantage—implementing efficient technology that saves time also saves money.
- Automation: Automation is key to productivity gains. HireVue solutions are powered by automation, so no matter what the next process step is, your candidates are effortlessly funneled through without any manual effort. In addition, HireVue tools are all mobile-friendly, so engagement, interviews, assessments, and offer acceptances can be completed in your candidates’ hands.
The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) implemented HireVue automation into their hiring process. In collaboration with a strong Workday integration, CHOP launched HireVue assessments, allowing them to eliminate the manual, time-intensive phone screen. As a result, they have seen:
- 1,695 hours in annual time saving due to automation
- 6,743 hours saved per year replacing phone screens
- $667,000 saved annually in efficiency
AI Trust: Surging confidence in AI-driven recommendations
Trust in AI is surging among HR professionals, marking a pivotal shift in workplace and hiring dynamics.
In 2024, only 37% of HR professionals reported high trust in AI systems in the workplace. By 2025, that number has climbed to 51%, demonstrating a significant leap in confidence.
The trend extends to candidate recommendations. Last year, only 39% of HR leaders trusted AI’s hiring recommendations. This year, that figure has risen sharply to 53%, reflecting growing faith in AI’s ability to make informed decisions.
This progress aligns with ongoing efforts to educate HR professionals and bridge the trust gap between HR leaders and workers regarding AI in hiring. The emphasis on AI at significant industry events underscores its transformative potential, with discussions covering various topics like adoption, enhancing candidate experience, GenAI in HR, and even its role in sustainability.
The momentum is clear: AI is not just a tool for HR—it’s becoming a trusted partner in reshaping the future of work.
Candidate POV: Selective acceptance
Employees appreciate AI’s assistance in areas like job searches and interview preparation, where it can enhance their efforts without directly impacting final decisions.
However, they are more skeptical about AI’s use in the hiring process.
While they welcome the use of AI in their job search and interview prep, 66% are opposed to AI making the final hiring decisions—a significant percentage but down 10% from last year. However, 43% favor AI reviewing job applications but still 41% oppose it.
For context, 62% of these candidates report working full-time jobs, 32% report working part-time, and 46% report being individual contributors at their jobs.
Overall, while employees are warming up to AI, especially in supportive roles, significant reservations remain about its influence on critical hiring outcomes.
Meet candidates where they are
Use AI to enhance the candidate experience by assisting with job matching, engagement, and assessments. Clearly communicate that AI tools are used to streamline these processes but that humans make final hiring decisions.
With 62% of candidates working full-time and 32% part-time, implement AI-powered tools that offer flexible interview and scheduling options. These tools can help candidates balance their current jobs (and life responsibilities) with the hiring process, ensuring a more inclusive experience.
Your next move: Focus on AI as a collaborative tool
There is an apparent disconnect between how employers and employees are using AI. Ensure you communicate to your candidates your company’s view on AI and how it’s being used in the hiring process—that of a collaborative tool to make hiring better and fairer for everyone, including candidates.
- Conversational AI: HireVue’s Hiring Assistant can help candidates unlock their potential by matching their skills with available job opportunities. Our advanced AI recruiting solutions ensure that tricky titles or confusing job descriptions don’t slow the recruiting process.
- Build structured interviews: Builder, our interview automation tool, makes it easy for hiring teams to create top-notch interviews quickly. It provides job-related competencies, structured interview questions, templates, and evaluation guides for any role at any level. Plus, it offers decision support by standardizing evaluations, ensuring fairer and more consistent hiring decisions every time.
According to SHRM, skills-based hiring is a “method for finding talent [that] focuses on individuals’ abilities and competencies rather than their education and direct experience. It’s a more expansive approach that considers individuals who don’t fit the traditional template for a role yet have skills and other experience that can be applied to the job.”
It’s the idea that your candidates are more than what’s on a piece of paper, because resumes aren’t true predictors of success. Implementing AI tools that not only unlock what your candidates are capable of doing but are specifically designed to assess the skills that predict success is a strategic way to set your business up for future success.
The right AI-powered solutions will deliver the data that can be trusted for decision-support. Emphasize that your view of AI is that of a trusted partner that enhances HR efficiency and decision-making rather than an autonomous decision-maker.
Inferred vs validated skills
Validated skills are objectively measured, ensuring candidates have the abilities needed for a role—with data that proves they do. Inferred skills, on the other hand, are less reliable and come from assumptions based on experience, education, or past roles—often leading to bias and misalignment if not grounded in sound data.
Directly test skills, rather than assume, with AI-powered tools like video interviewing, assessments, and conversational AI. Proven skills predict real job success with data-driven skill validation.
“When making hiring decisions, directly measuring and validating a candidate’s skills provides the strongest foundation for fairness and accuracy. By prioritizing direct skill assessment, organizations can make more confident, objective, and equitable hiring decisions.”
- Dr. Lindsey Zuloaga, Chief Data Scientist, HireVue
AI Concerns: Championing security, truth, and fairness
Today’s concerns regarding AI in the workplace are similar to those of last year:
- 51% are concerned about misinformation
- 51% are concerned about AI replacing jobs
- 47% are concerned about security leaks
Similarly, concerns over AI in hiring reflect the past year as well:
- 45% legal compliance
- 42% candidate perceptions
- 41% biased recommendations
- 35% poor recommendations
- 30% lack of transparency
In this digital age, cybersecurity attacks cost millions. According to Embroker, a breach can cost companies in healthcare $9.8 million, finance $6.1 million, and companies in industrial, tech, energy, pharmaceutical, and professional services over $5 million.
And according to Statistica, “As of 2024, the average cost of a data breach in the United States amounted to 9.36 million U.S. dollars.”
So it’s no surprise that today’s teams are balancing a lot—and focusing on building trust with internal partners like legal, PR, and data protection to help mitigate risk.
While adoption and trust are increasing, so are teams’ awareness of what they need to be searching for in terms of vendors—trusted vendors.
Candidate POV: AI and fairness
Candidates view AI in hiring with optimism, and their concerns, focus more on fairness rather than legal or financial risks.
- Concerns: 45% of workers see racial bias as a major issue in hiring, while 41% view it as a minor one.
- AI Optimism: 46% believe AI would treat applicants more fairly than humans. And 47% think bias based on race/ethnicity would improve
- Progress in Perception: 57% think AI use in hiring would reduce racial/ethnic bias, a 6% increase from last year.
Candidates are hopeful about AI’s potential to improve fairness and emphasize the need for responsible implementation.
Meet candidates where they are
Try including a personal message from your CEO that emphasizes your commitment to a fairer hiring process that’s backed by data and science. Pair this with authentic candidate testimonials from real employees who can share their experiences working at your company.
An added bonus? Strengthen your employer brand in the process!
Your next move: A two-part strategy for success
For today’s companies, helping quell concerns is a twofold task. How do you mitigate internal risk while also assuring candidates that your processes are designed to protect and empower them?
Internal Teams
First, when looking for an AI vendor, ensure you’re searching for a trusted, ethical one. Your vendor should be able to tell you how their product works quickly and in a way that makes sense—with proven results.
HireVue created the industry’s first AI Explainability Statement to do just that. In addition, we are open about how we use AI and how we protect data. When used to assess talent, HireVue AI is both static and deterministic, meaning algorithms are not being re-trained or “learning” on the fly and they provide a repeatable output each time they are used.
This should be the standard of AI in the hiring process.
And to continuously improve the security of our platform, HireVue undergoes several recurring independent third-party audits for various security standards.
Candidates
While it’s great to explain the science behind your vendor’s technology, it might not come across as conversational enough for connecting with your candidates. At the end of the day, you want to ensure that your hiring processes are allowing them to be themselves—no matter their background.
HireVue provides various solutions to do just that.
- Assessments: A comprehensive suite of interviews, game-based assessments, and job simulations to help hiring teams make faster, fairer decisions. Our platform evaluates skills and competencies that predict success, enabling you to build a future-ready workforce.
- Find My Fit: Expands job seekers’ opportunities by matching their skills, interests, and personality to ideal roles, boosting diversity, and uncovering hidden talent to help your organization find the perfect candidates.
Curious how AI might impact jobs?? Let’s talk about it.
While AI adoption is increasing, uncertainty about its long-term impact on job security, collaboration, and organizational trust remains a hurdle.
Both HR professionals and employees share the concern that AI will replace jobs, and when layoffs can feel common in today’s economic climate, fears linger.
According to CNBC, ChatGPT made AI the topic of conversation, but it also brought about fears of role elimination. However, “Job postings on LinkedIn that mention either AI or generative AI more than doubled worldwide between July 2021 and July 2023 — and on Upwork, AI job posts increased more than 1,000% in the second quarter of 2023, compared to the same period last year.”
AI Decision-Support: A disconnect between parties
HR professionals see AI as a tool to get more done efficiently, with clear boundaries for decision-making.
When asked how their company uses AI in the hiring process, they don’t cite decision-making but rather tools for decision support.
- 41% of HR pros say their companies use skill assessments in their hiring process
- 45% say the AI-driven assessments they are using evaluate employee skill sets.
This comes as no surprise when skill-based hiring is the future of the workforce.
According to Inc., “The future of work is human-centric according to Gartner. That means tearing through the paper ceiling and focusing on skills-based talent sourcing, where what a candidate can do matters more than what’s printed on their resume.”
Your candidates are more than a phone screen of basic information like education and previous job titles—and resumes do little to predict future job performance.
HR professionals citing AI-driven skill assessments to evaluate talent marks a clear move away from traditional hiring methods and towards practices that unlock potential in candidates—offering fairer decision support for their hiring decisions.
Candidate POV: Is AI deciding my fate?
Workers are eager to know if AI is being used as a decision-maker, potentially replacing human input. This creates a disconnect, as candidates are understandably cautious about AI making final hiring decisions.
Candidates have a more nuanced perspective when AI directly impacts them. While they appreciate AI’s ability to streamline their job search, 79% want transparency about its role in the hiring process because 30% fear it would replace the human factor—which is fair!
However, there is alignment on the use of AI for decision support, 50% of candidates would apply to a job where AI is used to help make decisions.
Candidates value AI efficiency but emphasize the importance of clarity and a balanced human-AI approach in hiring.
Meet candidates where they are
Include clear disclosures about how AI is being used in your hiring process. Be transparent about your process and how it benefits candidates. For example:
- Chatbot: We can answer your questions 24/7
- Assessments: Candidate reports show the skills you perform well and ones you may want to improve upon
- Job recommendations: You can apply for roles you wouldn’t have otherwise considered with a chatbot that matches skills with available opportunities
In addition, your vendor should publicly offer AI explainability statements that show their commitment to ethically, regulated AI. These statements should provide a detailed account of how AI models are designed, tested, and implemented, ensuring compliance with legal guidelines while prioritizing fairness, accuracy, and accessibility.
By proactively disclosing this information, vendors not only foster trust among employers but empower employers to do the same with candidates.
Your next move: A high-tech, human-touch approach
HR professionals view AI as a support tool to enhance efficiency and aid decision-making, with clear human oversight. However, candidates often see AI as a decision-maker, creating fears of reduced human involvement in critical decisions.
There’s a communication gap about AI’s role in hiring. Employers need to clarify how AI is being used (as a support tool rather than a decision-maker) to address workers’ fears—and build trust between parties in the process.
So what does this tangibly look like?
- HireVue OnDemand interviewing offers the ability to make personalized introduction videos—giving hiring teams the ability to explain before an OnDemand that a real person is actually watching this video and that candidates are just talking to a screen that will never be viewed.
- HireVue Direct Messaging allows teams to easily send campaign or personalized messages to candidates, keeping them engaged in a more personalized experience all the way to day 1 (and beyond) of the job!
Craft your winning strategy
The data paints a picture of the AI’s growing integration and acceptance but with trust, transparency, and communication challenges. Addressing these gaps will be essential for organizations to fully leverage AI’s potential while maintaining employee confidence and engagement. As you create a hiring strategy driven by AI, remember:
- Automate Every Step: Leverage automation across your hiring process, from job matching to engagement to streamlining workflows, to improve your efficiency.
- Focus on Skills: Adopt skill-based hiring solutions that validate and identify skills and find best-fit candidates for any role. Structured interviews and assessments foster inclusivity, enabling candidates from diverse backgrounds to shine—creating resilient, future-ready workforces.
- Demand Ethical Standards: Partner with tech vendors committed to ethical practices, regulated standards, and regular third-party audits to ensure accountability.
- Be Transparent: Address candidate concerns by clearly communicating how AI supports your hiring decisions. Open, honest conversations build trust and show candidates they’re more than just data points.
