Yutaka Takagi
Principal Product Evangelist
isolved
Episode 62
HR's AI Dilemma: The Human Core Technology Must Never Replace
Current chapter: Built by People podcast features insights from world's top HR leaders
Built By PeopleSeptember 3, 2025 · 12:14
Thesis
“Despite the relentless march of technology and AI in HR, the indispensable human elements of communication and empathy must remain at the core, guiding how we design and implement solutions to truly serve people.”
Show notes
Yutaka Takagi has been watching organizations digitize their human processes for 30 years — and one of the things he's learned is that the analog rituals companies are most eager to automate are sometimes the ones doing the most important work. The coffeemaker conversations. The informal walk-bys. The physical proximity that builds the low-level social trust that holds teams together. Technology can eliminate friction. It can also eliminate the friction that was doing something useful.
As a Principal Product Evangelist at isolved, Yutaka brings a rare combination of technical depth and genuine human empathy to a field that often sacrifices one for the other. His career spans early DOS systems to AI-powered HR platforms — and the lesson he's drawn across all of it is consistent: the tools change, but the core challenge of keeping people at the center of organizational decisions doesn't. As AI accelerates, that challenge is only getting harder.
He's also direct about what technology cannot replace: empathy and communication. Not as soft skills, but as strategic capabilities that determine whether a digitized HR function actually makes organizations better or just faster at the same mistakes.
- The hidden value in analog processes — what's worth preserving before you automate it away
- Staying human in digital transformation — how the best HR technology implementations keep people at the center
- Resilience when technology fails — the leadership lessons from a high-stakes system breakdown
- Empathy as a strategic capability — why communication and human connection are competitive advantages in an AI-driven world
- What 30 years of HR tech evolution actually teaches — the patterns that hold across every wave of innovation
Previ is an employer network that provides private pricing for employees — saving the average employee $2,200/year on essentials like cell phone service and insurance, at no cost to the company.
What you'll take away
- 1Always approach technology implementation with a human lens, recognizing that informal human connections can be crucial to organizational function, even if seemingly inefficient.
- 2Prioritize and develop strong communication skills, as they are an irreplaceable human superpower, essential for conveying messages effectively regardless of technological support.
- 3Ensure that automation and AI tools are designed and utilized to augment human capabilities and service, not to replace critical human-to-human interaction or empathy.
- 4Leaders should strive to leave a legacy of integrating human considerations and empathy into all technology decisions and conversations.
What most organizations get wrong
- •Pushes back against uncritical automation: highlights that a seemingly inefficient manual process (interoffice mail) fostered critical understanding of the workforce that digital workflows wouldn't capture.
- •Challenges the notion that AI can fully replace human attributes: asserts that communication and empathy are human superpowers that cannot be automated or delegated to AI.
In Yutaka's words
“Yeah, you know, my career really started several decades ago now, but it really started because, not because I knew anything about HR or payroll, to be honest, I couldn't spell it to save my life, but I, I was good with computers, right?”
Reveals his non-traditional entry into the HR technology field, driven by technical skill rather than HR expertise.
“But in fact, that carrying the paper back and forth was actually an enormously important aspect of how this organization got stuff done. And that was like a switch that early in my career that kind of flipped for me to recognize, oh no, this is about people.”
Illustrates a pivotal moment where he realized the critical value of human processes and connections over pure technological efficiency.
“And at that moment, I couldn't proceed. I just, I froze up, right? In that moment, because I was so reliant again, just so reliant on the technology that I forgot that at the end of the day, I need to be able to communicate.”
Describes a career-defining failure that taught him the fundamental importance of communication skills independent of technology.
“I would love for my legacy to be to always bring the person into those technologies. Technology conversations and to be, you know, thought of as, as sort of someone who was always sort of empathetic to that perspective of, of the human effect of technology.”
Articulates his core philosophy and desired impact as a leader in HR technology, emphasizing a human-centric approach.
“the human superpower is, I think, still to this day Communication and empathy, right?”
Highlights the irreplaceable human qualities that remain paramount even with the rise of AI and automation.
The problems this episode addresses
- •Organizations struggle to implement HR technology solutions that automate processes without inadvertently eroding valuable informal communication and human connection critical for workforce understanding.
- •HR leaders risk becoming overly dependent on presentation technology, leading to communication failures when technical issues arise and neglecting fundamental storytelling abilities.
- •Integrating new generations into the workforce necessitates a re-evaluation of how organizations think about people, business, and technology to maintain engagement and productivity.
- •Maintaining a human-first approach in HR is challenging amidst the increasing adoption of AI, digital workers, and other advanced automation tools.
In this episode
Built by People podcast features insights from world's top HR leaders
Built by People
Your career started several decades ago now in HR payroll benefits technology
WSJD Live: Career Journey
Itaga, can you tell us about a career-defining moment
What's Your Career-Defining Moment?
Hitaka has overcome numerous technical challenges in his career
Challenge of the Year
Yutaka hopes to leave behind a legacy as an HR leader
A legacy for human resources?
Topics covered
Organizations and entities mentioned
Full transcript
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