At the height of the pandemic, RingCentral, a communications software company, hired 4,000 people to deal with a surge of clients as remote working took hold.

But over the past two years, the company has cut its pandemic-era human resources team of 300 by nearly half. Head of HR, Alvin Lam, has told his superiors that he cannot lose more people. But, if it came to it, he says he probably could cut back again. Artificial intelligence tools such as the company’s HR chatbot Ringo would probably allow him to “figure out a way to continue to produce the same level of service [for] all our stakeholders and still be able to deliver”.

Lam’s admission goes to the heart of the challenges facing companies as they grapple with the possibilities of generative AI. Executives in all areas are examining how, and how fast, they can use the technology in their own teams, while also defending themselves against the assumption that AI agents could perform many of their teams’ duties more efficiently and more cheaply.