Since Sunday February 1st, I’ve been at the Hyatt attending CANTO’s 42nd Annual General Meeting spread over a couple of days, under the regional theme…Elevate the Caribbean from Connectivity to Global Competitiveness.

In addition, CANTO extended the week to include its inaugural in-person HR Leadership Conference focused on Elevating People, Power and Purpose, understanding that building a globally competitive Caribbean starts with people-first leadership.

Yesterday, on day one of the HR Leadership Conference, I sat in a room full of HR leaders, listening to a man talk about the future as if it had already unpacked its bags and moved in.

His name is Leslie Lee Fook, Director of AI, Automation and Analytics at Incus Services Limited.

He took to the floor, energetic, confident, comfortable with the language of algorithms and automation, talking about AI the way some people talk about electricity… not as a novelty, but as basic infrastructure.

His company Incus, is built around engineers, analysts, data scientists, and deep technical people partnering with world-leading analytics vendors, helping companies use their data more intelligently. Technology agnostic, he focuses on skill transfer and capacity building… helping organizations choose the right tools, not just sell them tools.

They work with banks, telecoms, and big institutions, helping clients reduce churn, optimize pricing, improve operations, and make better decisions. Their pitch is competence and practicality… not gimmicks.

And listening to him, you could feel the pride in what his company has built.

But pride was not the only emotion in the room. There was also tension.

Because the presentation was not about his company, but about what AI is doing to work… and to the people who do the work.

He started with the success stories, of course… thousands trained, organizations transformed, companies flying him around the world to help teams make sense of artificial intelligence.

Eighty percent of professionals, he said, are already using some form of AI.

And then he asked the question that quietly changed the temperature.

How many organizations here have
an actual AI strategy?

Very few hands.

How many have an AI usage policy?

Even fewer.

Which means most workplaces are experimenting their way forward… tools first, thinking later… enthusiasm outrunning structure… curiosity outrunning caution. That gap, he made clear, is where the real problem lives.

AI, he said, can streamline HR in ways we only imagined a few years ago.

It can automate onboarding and scheduling and payroll. It can answer employee questions at two in the morning without getting tired. It can screen résumés faster than any recruiter, reduce certain kinds of bias, map skills, analyze performance patterns, predict turnover risks.

In theory, it frees HR to move from administration to strategy… from processing forms to shaping culture… from reactive firefighting to proactive decision making.

And the benefits are real. Less manual work, fewer errors, faster processes, lower costs, better insights, more personalized employee experiences.

On a slide, it all looked very clean. But sitting there, watching the faces around me, I kept noticing something else. The quiet worry beneath the promise. Because every efficiency gain has a shadow.

• When he spoke about companies asking HR to justify why a human should be hired instead of AI… you could feel people shift in their seats.
• When he demonstrated an AI conducting a job interview with a perfectly calm, perfectly professional voice… the room laughed, but it was a nervous laugh.
• When he talked about layoffs rising while share prices climb… nobody laughed at all.

This is the new HR tension.

Smarter systems…anxious humans.

And that anxiety is not irrational.

• AI can analyze sentiment, yes… but it cannot sit with fear.
• It can flag disengagement… but it cannot rebuild trust.
• It can predict patterns… but it cannot hold a difficult conversation with compassion.

That part still belongs to us.

Here in the Caribbean, especially, work has always been relational before it is operational.

We don’t just work in companies… we work in communities. HR is not only a department… it is a social glue.

And AI, brilliant as it is, does not understand verandah conversations, cultural nuance, history, tone, unspoken context, the human subtleties that actually make organizations function.

So while Incus and companies like them are helping organizations modernize, upskill, build capacity, and use data more intelligently… HR is being asked to do something deeper.

Not just adopt technology. But translate it.

Translate efficiency into meaning…translate analytics into empathy…translate automation into something people can live with.

Leslie said something near the end that stayed with me.

We don’t need policy enforcers…we need
trust builders.

That felt true because AI integration in HR is not primarily a technical project. It is a human project wearing a technical jacket.

• Yes, we need strategies and policies and governance.
• Yes, we need reskilling and training and frameworks.
• Yes, we need companies like Incus helping organizations figure out how to do this responsibly and intelligently.

But none of it works without context and care.

AI can help HR make smarter decisions. Only humans can make wise ones. And that is the line we are now being asked to walk. Between progress and protection…between innovation and identity and between smarter systems and anxious humans.

That is the new HR mandate.

Strategic Reflection Prompt

In your organization, is AI being introduced mainly as a tool for efficiency… or as a partnership for people? What would need to change for it to be both?

About Giselle

I’m Giselle Hudson — Organization & People Development Sensemaker™, MCODE® Legacy Coach, writer and musician. I help leaders and independent professionals close the gap between strategy and execution by making invisible friction visible, so direction can finally translate into results.

If execution isn’t matching intent and you can’t quite see why, message me on WhatsApp. We’ll start with a brief Clarity Conversation to understand what you’re facing and decide together whether a focused Sensemaking Session is the right next step.