AI is reshaping how HR teams work, but not in the way most vendors want you to believe. The word "agent" gets used to describe wildly different products, and the gap between marketing language and shipping reality has never been wider. Recent MIT research found that 95% of enterprise AI pilots fail to deliver measurable business impact, a stat even Workday cites in their own press releases.

In this session, Grayson Morris, CEO of Performio, shares a vendor’s-side-of-the-table perspective on where AI is genuinely improving HR and compensation workflows, where purpose-built software still matters, and how to cut through any vendor pitch. Through a simple three-shape framework of chatbots, workflows, and agents, illustrated with concrete Total Rewards examples, attendees will walk away with practical ideas to apply immediately, without rebuilding the tech stack they already have.

Key Takeaways

• A practical three-shape framework of chatbots, workflows, and agents for telling apart what every HR vendor is selling, with real Total Rewards examples for each
• The questions that separate real AI agents from copilots-with-a-sticker, plus an autonomy-vs-risk lens for matching the right shape to each compensation decision
• A short list of Monday-morning actions, including how to find the "shadow AI" already running in your organization and the questions to bring to any vendor demo