As 2025 unfolds, business leaders from major corporations including Accenture, IBM, Mastercard, and Indeed are forecasting transformative changes in how AI will reshape the workforce. In Business Insider’s Workforce Innovation roundtable, executives identified three critical trends: AI-powered search and agents, lifelong learning initiatives, and skills-based talent management.
Kenon Chen, Executive Vice President at Clear Capital, highlighted the emergence of AI-first search systems that provide direct answers rather than ranked results. This “summary-before-source” approach is revolutionizing how employees access institutional knowledge, eliminating traditional barriers to subject-matter expertise. However, Chen cautioned that accuracy remains a concern as companies bypass human gatekeepers for data access.
Justina Nixon-Saintil, IBM’s Chief Impact Officer, emphasized the rise of AI agents and the critical balance between innovation and responsible implementation. She stressed two priorities for 2025: upskilling employees to build a skilled AI talent pipeline, and establishing ethical guardrails for AI systems. “When you’re providing a prompt for a system to execute something, you really have to consider the implications of that,” Nixon-Saintil explained.
Maggie Hulce, Chief Revenue Officer at Indeed, distinguished between incremental AI projects that improve workflows and transformational “reimagination projects” that radically alter customer journeys. She emphasized the need for dedicated teams empowered to think across functional boundaries and a culture that rewards innovation and adaptability.
The skills-based talent management trend dominated discussions, with executives acknowledging both its promise and complexity. Jack Azagury from Accenture shared his company’s decade-long journey implementing skills-based HR, including retraining over 100,000 employees on cloud technology during the pandemic. He advised starting with pilot programs, maintaining transparency about skills measurement, avoiding cost-reduction motives, and demonstrating clear career benefits to employees.
Anant Adya from Infosys announced plans to set targets for recruiting from skills rather than four-year degrees, focusing on underrepresented communities. Lucrecia Borgonovo from Mastercard emphasized that skills-powered organizations require “significant change management” and an enterprise-wide approach rather than siloed initiatives.
The roundtable also addressed the aging workforce, with Marjorie Powell from AARP noting record numbers of workers over 65 remaining employed due to rising living costs and retirement concerns. This demographic shift necessitates age-inclusive workplaces and lifelong learning opportunities across all age groups to keep pace with AI and technological acceleration.
Key Quotes
I think it’ll have a really large impact, which is the idea of an AI-first search. This is where the search funnel is providing direct answers as opposed to just a ranked set of results.
Kenon Chen, Executive Vice President at Clear Capital, described how AI-powered search systems are transforming workplace knowledge access by providing summary-before-source results, fundamentally changing how employees find information without engaging subject-matter experts directly.
When you’re providing a prompt for a system to execute something, you really have to consider the implications of that. What are the types of guardrails that you have to put in place to be able to use AI agents effectively and also safeguard your company?
Justina Nixon-Saintil, IBM’s Chief Impact Officer, emphasized the critical importance of ethical AI implementation and responsible deployment as companies increasingly adopt AI agents in 2025, highlighting the need for protective measures alongside innovation.
We’ve been on the journey for about 10 years on skills-based HR. It took a while to get it right.
Jack Azagury, Group Chief Executive for Consulting at Accenture, shared his company’s experience implementing skills-based talent management, including retraining over 100,000 employees on cloud technology during the pandemic, cautioning that this transformation requires patience and systematic approach.
Lifelong learning doesn’t just end with AI. You have to consider the acceleration of technology. How do we make sure people understand that every new wave of technology will demand new skills and that lifelong learners will thrive?
Justina Nixon-Saintil stressed that continuous upskilling must become a permanent mindset shift for both employees and employers, extending beyond AI to encompass all technological advancement and requiring investment in marginalized populations through programs like IBM SkillsBuild.
Our Take
This roundtable reveals a critical inflection point where AI workforce strategy is maturing from buzzwords to operational reality. The convergence among executives from diverse industries—technology, finance, pharmaceuticals, and consulting—suggests these aren’t isolated experiments but coordinated industry responses to AI disruption.
Particularly noteworthy is the tension between AI’s promise and implementation complexity. While AI-first search and agents offer transformative potential, the emphasis on ethics, guardrails, and responsible deployment indicates that 2024’s rapid AI adoption created governance gaps that 2025 must address. Accenture’s decade-long skills-based HR journey serves as a sobering reminder that organizational transformation lags technological capability.
The democratization of opportunity through skills-based hiring could be 2025’s most significant development, potentially reshaping labor markets by decoupling talent from traditional credentials. However, success depends on execution—smaller companies lack the resources of Accenture or IBM, potentially widening the gap between AI-native organizations and traditional enterprises struggling to adapt.
Why This Matters
This roundtable discussion reveals how Fortune 500 companies are strategically preparing for AI’s workforce transformation in 2025, moving beyond experimentation to systematic implementation. The convergence on three key themes—AI agents, continuous learning, and skills-based hiring—signals an industry-wide shift in talent strategy.
The emphasis on ethical AI implementation and responsible deployment reflects growing corporate awareness of AI risks, from algorithmic bias to privacy concerns. IBM’s focus on guardrails and Accenture’s transparency requirements suggest that regulatory compliance and trust-building will be competitive differentiators.
Most significantly, the skills-based hiring movement represents a fundamental restructuring of talent acquisition and development. By prioritizing demonstrable capabilities over traditional credentials, companies can tap broader talent pools while addressing the AI skills shortage. However, Accenture’s decade-long implementation timeline underscores the complexity of this transition, suggesting that 2025 will be a year of experimentation rather than wholesale transformation. The integration of lifelong learning programs with AI upskilling initiatives indicates that workforce adaptability—not just technical proficiency—will determine organizational success in the AI era.
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Source: https://www.businessinsider.com/business-leaders-share-top-3-predictions-for-the-workforce-in-2025-1