What CEOs Are Saying: The People vs. AI?
Three earnings calls from Korn Ferry, ICON, and Paychex on how AI fits into work that runs on human judgment
In this edition
• Keeping AI out of executive assessments
• “A little thing called the war”
• Holding the line on prices
• Internal AI knowledge bases
Quote of the week
“Players win games, coaches lose games.”
—Gary Burnison, CEO of Korn Ferry, on why he is keeping AI away from the part of his business that judges people
White-collar hiring has been shrinking for years. Professional and business services payrolls have contracted YoY for 31 straight months, a streak that former Glassdoor chief economist Aaron Terrazas says has no precedent outside a recession.
The most cited reason for job cuts is—you guessed it—AI. That has been true for three months running, according to the outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. A recent example: ServiceNow’s messy AI-related headcount reduction, months after the CEO pledged to hold headcount steady.
Three companies that reported last week sell labor-heavy services into that market, and each is building AI into its own work while drawing a line ar…
