The 2025 HR Tech conference in Las Vegas was nothing short of electric—especially given the tremendous excitement and some trepidation in the world of HR tech. Thousands of HR leaders, vendors, analysts, investors and innovators gathered to explore where HR technology is headed, what’s hype and what’s real, and how to align all that with business outcomes—all in the context of an uncertain, rapidly changing business climate.

The conference continues to innovate as well. A new dimension this year was the expanded “Investor Experience” track, tightly coupling founders, VCs and practitioners. Pitchfest drew fresh innovation onto the main stage. Meanwhile, in keynotes and breakout sessions, dominant themes included advanced AI (especially agentic AI), consolidation, people analytics evolution, payroll reinvention and an increasingly serious set of conversations about ROI, trust and ethical guardrails.

What stood out in the halls, breakout rooms and in informal conversations was a kind of creative tension: On one hand, we are amid a tsunami of new tools and capabilities; on the other, HR leaders are asking, “Which will actually make an impact in our organization?”

3 lessons from HR Tech 2025

With that in mind, here are what I see as the three most important takeaways from HR Tech 2025—with a bonus wildcard technology to watch in the future.

1. Agentic AI becomes table stakes (not just a buzzword)

If there was a single technology idea that dominated almost every corner of the conference, it was agentic AI. These modern systems go beyond responding to simple suggestions or prompts and can now act (on behalf of users) autonomously, (hopefully) within constraints. This year, vendors moved from promising “AI-assisted” or “AI-supported” features to demonstrating real, working agentic capabilities for recruitment, talent mobility, manager workflows and employee support.

The main stage keynotes from IBM’s Nickle LaMoreaux and analyst Josh Bersin made it clear: AI is no longer a nice-to-have point solution or feature; it is rapidly becoming a new, essential capability in HR systems and departments. In fact, IBM’s HR organization has transformed its entire service delivery model—enabled by AI.

As we head into 2026, then, for HR, the shift is quickly transitioning from asking which AI module to buy to how AI can meaningfully (and measurably) impact business and talent outcomes. HR is now talking about embedding autonomous agents in core HR flows (recruiting, skills matching, manager nudges, even compliance or payroll) in safe, governed ways. Heady stuff, but as with any major technological breakthrough, organizations will have both widely different experiences with agentic AI and wildly differing capacities to manage change associated with these tools.

See also: 6 things HR leaders must know about agentic AI before investing

If you were at HR Tech 2025, you were likely blown away at least a few times with what you saw on the expo floor; however, the technology is not without risks. The hype around agentic AI invites bold, but probably unrealistic, expectations, and more projects that fail to deliver on heightened promises. In some cases, there could even be a tendency to ignore human-in-the-loop controls and explain unintended outcomes later.

So, at the core of the issue for HR leaders is this concept: You should think of AI not only as a set of features that can be leveraged incrementally, but also as a unifying layer of your HR technology platform. From there, the questions become things like: Where should agents act? Where should they advise only? What guardrails, visibility and audit controls must exist?

2. Elevated expectations for outcomes and ROI

One consistent theme across customer case studies, attendee think tank sessions, vendor-buyer conversations and even in keynotes was this: Don’t chase the latest cool tools and features; stay focused on outcomes and value. The first wave of AI seemed more about the technology itself and not as much about the impact. A combination of increased expectations and a more cutthroat competitive landscape has changed the game. Now, HR tech must demonstrate clear business impact, measurable ROI and trustworthy, ethical, responsible behavior.

HR technology vendors are rapidly increasing their focus on auditability and trust by embedding explainability, data-lineage tracking and governance controls directly into their AI platforms. Many are introducing transparent model documentation, bias-monitoring dashboards, and human oversight tools to help customers verify how AI decisions are made and ensure compliance with emerging regulations and ethical standards.

To that end, trust emerged as a foundational theme. One large provider (UKG) framed it directly: “Trust is the foundation of future-ready organizations.” That means building AI responsibly, ensuring explainability and reinforcing that tech enhances work rather than replaces human agency.

For HR leaders, the implication is stark: Tech selection is more than just feature checklists or vendor messaging. You should ask key questions like:

• What business metrics will shift? (e.g. time to hire, internal mobility, retention, manager effectiveness)
• How will we govern, audit and explain AI models?
• How will we detect and mitigate bias or drift?
• How will trust be preserved through transparency, control and human oversight?

The vendors that can’t answer those questions risk cautious buyers filtering them out.

See also: How HR can prevent AI systems from becoming the ‘yes man’

3. Focus moves down the organization

This year, we also saw an increased focus of technology to support frontline managers, without a sole focus on HR administration or shared centers of excellence. A large number of vendors launched solutions designed to support, nudge or inform managers with real-time analytics, recommended actions, performance insights, skill-gap flags, engagement signals and workflow assist. Later events this fall also showcased some innovative use cases for AI in the area of manager-employee coaching and development conversations.

Another trend I saw at HR Tech and in the market generally is the development of tools that push access to people analytics and labor market insights to more users, specifically ones closer to frontline workers and to customers. Functionality that was traditionally limited to HR admins, power users or even IT groups is becoming more democratized—powered by generative AI in most cases. Managers and leaders can now “ask” for reports and data in more natural language and get the results they need, alongside, in some cases, immediate recommended actions and proposed interventions (learning, mobility, staffing adjustments).

For HR leaders, this means don’t treat manager enablement or analytics as afterthoughts. Make sure your tech plans include manager workflows, democratized insights, embedded nudges and guardrails so that analytics lead to action, not just dashboards. In the long run, access to HR tools for transactions and even reporting will likely follow similar patterns—no complex menus or navigation to recall and access to needed functions and information via generative AI prompts—all in real-time.

Next steps for HR leaders facing the AI wave

Feeling a little overwhelmed? That is totally understandable. Here are some practical steps HR leaders can take to help navigate this new environment in HR technology.

First, ensure any new technology initiative is connected to business and talent strategy. Define two or three important business outcomes (e.g. reduce time-to-fill, improve internal mobility, boost retention) before exploring new tech. This cuts through feature noise and forces the organization and its vendor partners to focus on results.

Next, consider establishing an AI oversight framework to better manage change and risk associated with new AI tools. This framework can include a model for governance with roles, audit protocols, escalation, transparency, human-in-loop checkpoints, etc. This can help the organization mitigate risk, bias and model drift, while building internal trust with employees and managers who may be skeptical about implementing AI.

Additionally, it will be important to upskill HR, employees and managers in AI literacy. Invest in educating HR teams and people managers on how to understand, validate and work with AI tools in the context of work. This will help with overall adoption rates and speeds the time to value of new tech investments.

Last, HR leaders should focus on measurable ROI for these AI projects and investments. For every new AI tech deal, leaders can establish baseline metrics, observable impact, and review progress and outcomes. This keeps vendors accountable and justifies investment for business leaders.

Under-the-radar launch that was super interesting

At HR Tech 2025, Attesto launched Trust Layer, a recruiting operations tool designed to detect fake, duplicate or AI-generated applications at the earliest stages of the funnel. It’s a move that hints at a future where candidate integrity tools become standard in talent acquisition tech. With so many companies seeing a dramatic surge in applications—both real and fraudulent—I would not be surprised to see this kind of solution seeing quick adoption and eventual inclusion in all major ATS systems.

Looking ahead

HR Tech 2025 underscored that we’re no longer in a “promise stage” of AI in HR. We are entering what is likely an extended phase of execution, accountability, outcomes and governance. Agentic AI is becoming more mainstream in provider offerings and roadmaps. But vendors and buyers alike must demonstrate trustworthiness, measurable value and accountability. Meanwhile, the focus of transformation is shifting toward managers, day-to-day workflows and democratized analytics, not just HR centers of excellence.

For HR leaders, the path forward with these new AI and other technologies is about smartly making connections between business priorities and HR tech capability. The most successful organizations will be those that apply AI in a way that fits with their unique set of conditions, including their technical acumen, culture, and current and planned HR and IT strategies. The new wave of HR tech promises much, but as always, requires intelligent and patient application to fulfill its promise.

I look forward to seeing which of this year’s trends prove enduring, how organizations succeed with these amazing tools and what new innovation we have not even thought of yet.