HR professionals have been urged to start building their knowledge around artificial intelligence (AI) now – or risk being left behind.

Various studies have shown that HR professionals are increasingly using and experimenting with AI to reduce admin-intensive processes, including screening CVs.

Tracy Jones, Programme Manager at leading training provider Realise, warned those who are stubbornly not engaging with AI are putting their future prospects in jeopardy.

Tracy said: “Artificial intelligence is already having a huge impact on the HR industry – and that is certain to grow quickly.

“It is already being used to simplify monotonous tasks related to both recruitment and employee management, and it can also be used for strategic insights and creating policies and procedures.

Realise’s People Professional Level 5 apprenticeship has been amended to include AI.

The programme looks at the possibilities of AI within HR, as well as potential ethical and legal concerns.

It is hoped that AI will help to remove bias from the recruitment process, but in some high profile cases the opposite has been true. In one infamous example, Amazon scrapped its use of AI in reviewing job applications after it found the system was showing bias against women, resulting in a less diverse workforce.

Learners are encouraged to think critically about the scope of AI and to consider what the real life returns for the business would be.

Realise’s People Professional Level 5 apprenticeship looks at a wide range of topics, including business acumen, commercial drive, evidence-based practice, digital working and analytics.

And Realise is increasingly using AI to bring its own programmes and lessons to life, for example through the use of knowledge videos tailored to the individual’s own working environment and personalised e-books.