Operational Excellence (OPEX) Insight – Tuesday, January 27, 2026: Davos 2026: Why HR Is at the Center of AI-Driven Workforce Reinvention.
Góc Nhìn Vận Hành Xuất Sắc – Thứ Ba, Ngày 27/01/2026: Davos 2026: HR Đang Ở Tâm Điểm Của Chuyển Đổi AI và Tái Tạo Nhân Lực.
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This is the bilingual post in English and Vietnamese. Vietnamese is below.
Đây là bài viết song ngữ Anh-Việt. Tiếng Việt ở bên dưới.
English
PART 1 – OFFICIAL INFORMATION
At the World Economic Forum Davos 2026, artificial intelligence (AI), workforce skills, and workforce reinvention continued to be among the central themes across discussions on economics, technology, and society. Business leaders, policymakers, and representatives of international organizations broadly agreed that AI is no longer a standalone technology trend, but has become a force with direct impact on job structures, skill models, and the way organizations operate their workforce at a global scale.
According to the discussions shared at Davos 2026, AI—particularly generative AI and intelligent automation systems— is reshaping the nature of many knowledge-based jobs, not only in technology, but also in finance, manufacturing, services, logistics, healthcare, and the public sector. Rather than merely supporting isolated tasks, AI is increasingly embedded in decision-making, analysis, planning, and operational coordination processes. This development has made the boundary between “human work” and “system work” increasingly blurred compared to previous technological transitions.
One point strongly emphasized at Davos 2026 was that the skills gap is widening faster than the pace at which many organizations can train and reskill their workforce. Discussions on labor and education highlighted that AI-driven change is not only about the emergence of new skills, but also about the disappearance or fundamental transformation of many existing skills. In this context, leaders at Davos argued that traditional upskilling approaches are no longer sufficient; instead, organizations must approach the challenge as a matter of systematic workforce capability redesign.
From the official perspective of the World Economic Forum (WEF), the role of Human Resources (HR) is being clearly repositioned. HR is no longer viewed primarily as a personnel or benefits function, but increasingly as a strategic capability responsible for bridging technology, skills, and operating models. Many sessions at Davos 2026 stressed that HR must be directly involved in redesigning work, defining future skills, building reskilling pathways, and supporting organizational adaptation to AI-driven change.
Leaders also shared that workforce reinvention is not merely an individual employee issue, but a system-level challenge. Large-scale AI adoption requires organizations to rethink the allocation of responsibilities between humans and systems, how labor performance is measured, and how new job roles are designed. Without coordinated adjustments in processes, governance, and organizational culture, AI may increase stress, risk, and imbalance rather than deliver sustainable operational effectiveness.
Another key message repeatedly reinforced at Davos 2026 was that AI does not automatically lead to productivity gains. Productivity improves only when AI is integrated alongside changes in skills, ways of working, and organizational structures. As a result, leaders emphasized the importance of simultaneous investment in technology and people, rather than treating AI as a simple labor replacement solution.
Taken together, the official discussions from Davos 2026 indicate that the focus has shifted away from the question of “how many jobs AI will replace”, and toward how organizations and societies proactively redesign the workforce to adapt to an increasingly volatile operating environment. Within this landscape, HR is identified as a critical enabler, serving as the bridge between AI strategy, human capability, and long-term operational effectiveness.
