LIVE from HR Tech in Las Vegas

[00:00:03] Hi everybody, it is Jackie and Joan. And my lip balm, because it's dry in Vegas. It's butt first lip balm. I have no coffee, I'm walking around. Everyone who's giving these out, by the way, thank the Lord. Dry, dry, dry. Listen, I put on my red lip because I didn't want to hear it. You know he was going to say something. Our millions of bands have heard him always. Welcome to HR Technology Conference in Las Vegas.

[00:00:32] I will say, once again, like I'm cracking everywhere on my skin. I'm lotioning up. Why is it so dry in the desert? I mean seriously, it's not even... Why do we desert? Why is it so dry? Anyway, I mean like you take a shower and you're like... No, like full ash. I look dirt. Like I'm flaky. I really, you know. But when it comes to HR Tech, I think it's been really a good show. It's been a great show.

[00:01:02] It's been great. It's at Mandalay Bay. If you've never been there before, this is like regular. But I will say this is no harm. No tea, no shade. No shade. It has been kind of like a regular conference. It doesn't feel like... Excuse me. Hooping call. Hooping. I'll save all of it. Why do you do that to me? Why do you do that to me? It's not... It's like a regular conference.

[00:01:31] What I mean is, remember when it used to be like Vegas, Vegas, Vegas, where you could do a mini roulette or they would have Elvis impersonators, dancers, gymnasts, like action, things like go, go, go, go, go. By the way, for those of you who are watching, who know American Sign Language, we cannot vouch for anything she just did with her arms. I'm sorry what I said. I'm sorry what I said about your mom. Gymnast. Right? Literally.

[00:02:00] I hate him so much. Welcome to the last show of Buck First Coffee. I can't do this anymore. I'm not sure if that's actually legit, but we'll go. Gymnast. And we do this. It is funny that you're saying that. So for those of you, and first of all, we come from a position of privilege, genuinely. Absolutely. Because we have been around since God was a child and so been at these conferences for a long time.

[00:02:27] And so we have been like invited to go to the dinners and the shows and all that thing. And there's a little bit of that, but I will tell you the appetite I actually think for. Like even the attendees, they're not like, it's lovely to get an invite to that dinner and a show. But I've talked to a few of the marketing and comms people who were like, we actually got more no thank yous. Right. They're very happy to be invited, but they were like, I just. Well, there's just so many. Yes.

[00:02:55] But also I think what was interesting back in the day, Jess Miller Merrill would always come out with me the party list. And you had to like, you would always look and it would be like 12 parties for the whole series. Now it's just like boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. And you can go and people are very perceptive. And they asked this year. Yes. Let people know where to go. Let people know. It was actually all the events. Very inclusive. Inviting everyone to go. So everybody had a party to go to and after. Look y'all, I went to the Cove.

[00:03:25] Now let me tell you something about the Cove. She didn't come. It is. Lots of steps. She didn't come. So the. Actually, well, we'll get to that. We'll get to it. There is an element. Anyway, if you've been to Mandalay Bay, this place has been like a few things for years. Now it's just called the Cove and it's an event space. So for those of you who aren't here again, who are familiar with Mandalay, like it's across from Kumi, the Japanese place. Yes. And as you're walking in, it's next to Liberty. Anyway, so now this thing is called the Cove.

[00:03:54] You walk into this box. Okay. It's purely for events. So it's not open for anything else other than buyouts. And Multiplier did a buyout last night. Polynesian dancers. Yeah. Ooh, they had extra lotion. How would I feel? I mean, and they, they had it. They were doing all the shit. And did a show in the middle of the floor downstairs for everybody. Um, like if that, I will say it was very old school to me. Yeah.

[00:04:24] Oh yeah. Everybody got a Hawaiian leg when they came in and they had, you know, drink stands everywhere. That's lovely. It was like, oh, that was the only felt old school. Everything else is terrific and we're very grateful. But it's just, you know, in a room kind of standing with people. Just different. Yes. We did go in in 95. No more pitches. That's why like the pitch fest is great. That's actually where we're sitting. You can see that thing.

[00:04:50] But I mean, remember it used to be like 25 people would go and all of a sudden you would have to stop and they would show you something or try to do a pitch. Not that. It's really been more about relationships. While he was at the Cove, I was actually at the Spear watching the Wizard of Oz by from Fountain. She was performing. And I was the two and your little dog too. She always wants the dogs. I do. I'm always with them dogs. I'm like, oh my God, poor Toto.

[00:05:19] I didn't even know. Come here. Come here, boy. I'm like, they're going to lose that dog. But the thing that was saying is like, you have to be there at eight o'clock. They don't let any late people out. Oh no. Because there's so many things going on. Yes. So he drops me at the front desk and everyone knows I have these mobility issues. And he gets, so I go up to the window and I show my ticket. They go, oh no, you have to go outside the gate. You have to go to the west entrance all the way on the side. And they're like in hurry. So I'm like. Did you ask for a card? No.

[00:05:49] I just was like, okay. Thinking, oh my God, I'm going to fall in the middle of this and miss it. I didn't. And then I was like, well, hopefully the west gate's the next gate. No. East gate. So then I had to keep going, going, going. The lady was like this. I was like, oh, oh. So I ran and then I went inside and then I had to go find the place. And as soon as I went in, the server that was in the place goes, would you like some water? Like she could see me coming in. And I was like, oh. Water and Twizzlers. But it was so nice. Like Twizzlers, popcorn, like a full charcuterie wine.

[00:06:18] And that was sponsored by Fountain. Fountain's Bar Fountain. And it was like life-changing. And I am setting them a very nice note for the invitation because it was a life-changing moment. And we felt like even though it wasn't like a pitch, we connect. Everybody connected with that together. It was really nice. That's my favorite. When you have that like experience or whatever together and it's not at all about like even the multiplier thing. Like nobody gets up on a microphone and is like, please give us your business. Right.

[00:06:45] It's just like they gave away an iPhone. They were giving away like all kinds of stuff. And you just remember. And then you want to be receptive to people giving back. And I think we're seeing a lot of that. The world, we're just in a 2026 season and it's been difficult. So many question marks. And I think people are really showing that care. I would say we do have some topical things that we should touch on. Okay.

[00:07:14] Again, surprise to no one. AI is a topic of conversation. Even at Pitchfest. Yes. Lean. Lean. Oh my God. Okay. By the way, thank you to George Lark for letting us sit here and do this. He doesn't know that he did. But when he comes, tell him thank him. Thank you for that. Like, yes. Like Emma. The Emma. Yes. That was different. Everybody gets their own AI, like full coach suite.

[00:07:44] So that it will go and do all the things. Now, I was really impressed by that. It's wicked expensive. Oh, you got pricing. I didn't hear the pricing. He was talking about it. And he, because he was saying it like average is like not no life. The 500 was like no life. Oh. Talking about how much it was. Because it's per. Yes. Only enterprise. And it's per user. Right? So everybody has one. You can't not give somebody. The coach. They all have all the access. Even up. Even up.

[00:08:13] But I mean, of course, you know, they didn't show me the customer success version. But the thing that I asked him was how is it going to be inclusive? And he said that when they did it at a call center, people leveled up so that everybody was able to level up. And the people at the top improved their work by like 20%. But it lifted everybody up equally. It's not. The thing is, it's like I ask people. They don't call it DEI. Nobody wants to say all the things.

[00:08:41] But when you ask them what is going on or how, can you tell me how this could be more inclusive? They can't. They actually can't. I, uh, I'm sorry everybody. I'm checking. We got a notice. Something on yours says you got a problem. I can't connect. It says you ain't connected. Okay. But some, I mean. Here, I'll go in and see if I can fix it. I don't know why. I think it will be okay. I think it's correct.

[00:09:08] Record it and I'll do a replay and send it to our other members. We're getting notes. This is Restream giving us notifications. If you watch the show, you know that they always send us notifications. And they always, yeah. The notification is like that we're unstable. Rude. Judgey. I wonder if, I don't know what that, what it was put in as. Maybe, maybe it'll go live now. I don't know. Anyway, um, I would also say that one of the things that we have an issue with, uh, in, with AI is that people are trying to solve for. Right?

[00:09:36] So, I don't mean that it's, um, we got a problem. I mean, we're identifying a problem. Um, and so some of the providers here are really trying to, like, what does agentic AI look like in your organization? And just having an agent is not enough of a reason to spend the money for it. That's right. The tokenization. That's right.

[00:09:57] So, so is it really a partner to operations, to HR, to finance, wherever the, and, and let's not fool ourselves. These agents are not just about HR. I know that obviously we're centralizing some of our thinking because that's what we do, HRTA. Um, but you know, this is like money 2020 was last week and, and that they talked about AI and finance, right? Like that was a lot of the topic there. So it is, it is across the board in terms of organizations.

[00:10:27] And so now we've got to do our due diligence to say, let's look at what basically the ROI is by having this agent or these agents that are activated in our organization. It was kitschy. It was, we'll, we'll seem like we're behind the times if we don't activate these things. And I think 12 months later, we're beyond that. And now people are saying, okay, what is it really doing? It's beyond just saying, um, we're going to have these agents that are replaced people.

[00:10:56] That's even changed that conversation, right? Like, it's not just about that. And I think they also, a lot of organizations realized that in their effort of trying to make people more efficient, they were giving more work and they were calling out those types of things. But I do think there is what I'm calling lovingly, with no disrespect, a little AI psychosis of people coming up with these solutions that aren't problems. Yeah. Right? Like you just created a problem. That wasn't a problem.

[00:11:22] It's, it's interesting because we, we like, do you create the problem so you can justify your solution? Like, and we're not even talking, yeah. Not even like little problems. Like people will say, oh, you should be able to pay people across the world. And you're like, wait, there's actually regulations for every part of that. Like, how are you working for that? I will tell you. What are you talking about? My bad. Like they don't even know. We've got like EOR Palooza here. Yes. EOR Palooza everybody. They are flooding the workforce. I think we started early.

[00:11:53] I think, Jamie, who isn't even here, I think our executive producer put this to start at noon. And it's 1152. Oh, is that what's happening? And maybe that's what it is. So Jamie, so sorry, buddy. But we have windows of time. Yes. Like we got, look at this. Look at this.

[00:12:09] But to that exact point, this EOR, employer record, global payroll, global onboarding under the umbrella of the EOR for organizations that are like, look, we've got 100 employees in Wisconsin. And we have a reason to have somebody now operate in Ireland. Right. But there's some activity there. We've got some market penetration there.

[00:12:36] And we need to have a business development person or somebody there. Well, they're like, it doesn't make any sense for us to establish our own entity. That's right. We'll work through an EOR to hire and onboard this person. That's been around for a little while. That's right. That's not news. But AI part of it, but the AI part of it coming into the way this is put together, that's obviously very neat. It's reducing the barriers.

[00:13:01] The other part that I think has been very interesting is that companies now have names that have nothing to do with anything. Anything. Like the company will be called Noodle. Yes. And it's a payroll company. Or a company will be like. I'm going to look from here. Let's look around from here. Remote? Kika? I don't know if remote is about remote employees. I don't know if it's Kika or Paca. Or if it's about, if it's about like the change in the channels that has to happen. Because I always had to be, I was the human remote.

[00:13:31] That's right. Until we had a clicker. I was too. And the screwdriver. And hold the antenna. Yeah, that's right. The football game is finally on clearly. And so John, don't move. For four quarters. Yeah. Go on the roof. Go hold that thing on the roof. Hold the rabbit ears. It's only going to be wet for a little bit. You know. This was, by the way, lots of drama. The, um. The names. What? Nectar. Radency. Sparrow.

[00:14:01] Like. Which. That don't talk to. There's nothing wrong with that. No. But you. But what is interesting is like this company right here. Noise. Noise. Noise. Then you're like. Oh my gosh. Is that why? Curious. Is that why they're called? It can't be called that. Does your AI sourcing tool know your sector? Noise. We're going to be the rich people. We have. I think it'd be great. I did.

[00:14:30] This was my first year. And again. Jack and I have the privilege of being here many times. Yes. But this is my first year. I got to actually be a judge for one of the rounds of Pitchfest. That's right. That's right. Okay. I got to be one of the judges. For round three yesterday afternoon. Honestly. And I mean it's genuinely like. What a treat. And it was just. It's so cool when you see. And you're like. Now being part of it. Right. You're part of the ecosystem. I am important.

[00:15:00] I am. I could do my. My Kyle Lagunas. He won't watch this. I love you Kyle. You know that. Like. It was just cool. It was cool because. And one of the comments I made to George yesterday was. The idea of. Really being specific about the problems that they're seeing. These founders. And the way in which they think that what they put together is a solution to that problem. And really taking the time.

[00:15:28] There were like three or four of them that I was like. Good on you. Right. Like. Right. It's like a real problem. Yeah. The challenge will be. As it was. Years ago. Is that interconnectivity of these tools. Because a lot of them are getting very very specific. But I thought what was so strange now is you have. You go from that. To an organization that. Plans trips. You're like. Okay.

[00:15:58] Like this group is like trying. It's hard to weigh. This one's changing the world. And this is a independent individual. One of them was triggering for you. One of them was. Like basically survivor based. But AI. So like. So that's what you think. And it's team building. Right. It's to bring people together. And I'm sitting there thinking. Trauma bonds is not a way. But what about once you like. Vote somebody up on the island. That's what I'm saying. Like. That doesn't seem too cheap. A trauma bond is not. Okay. We're going to leave out all of the island.

[00:16:28] Except Mark. What are you going to do? Get out. Right. We're like. Oh wait. I guess we. We don't have any food. Let's eat. You know. Who would you eat? Chelsea. Like. I don't know. We didn't get to. All of a sudden we're like. In Lord of the Flies. Right. How do we feel as a team? Tell us. Find your way home. Like. I ain't doing that. Like. That's scary. I'm going to be somebody's meal. No. No. Right. Right. I was like. How do you just do that? But. But. It was interesting. Because the challenge is. We're trying. We're going to this high end technology. But the basic.

[00:16:59] Concerns are still there. We still haven't figured out. Onboarding. I mean. Are you serious right now? Because. That's such a good point. Onboarding. Offering. One of the things. And I'm going to say his name. I feel like. I'm his promoter. But George. Just did the wrap up. Before you came over. He. So there's a. A track. A tracks. At. HR tech conference. So. Specific veins. Of kind of thought. Or interest. One of those tracks. Is the investors track.

[00:17:29] Because there are. A number. Private equity. BC. You know. Finance. Banking institutions. That come here. And they're looking. For the next products. To invest in. So they have a specific track. To be on. I am in the broke ass track. It's one of the people. Who do not. Have money to invest. I sneak into the investor track. You can't do. For as little as five dollars. You two. Can invest. They charge me more than five dollars. For this. I don't even get to have lunch.

[00:17:59] Let's talk about that for a minute. They've always made it so that. If you. If you wanted to have. Like a beverage. It's a. It's a sponsorship. It's part of a package. And I'm telling you. It's nice. But you haven't seen. The water. It's plain water. You can get cocktails. Coffee. Smoothies. Are you complaining? A ginger shot. I'm complaining. But it wasn't. That's. It's dry. We were just talking about how high it was. Paloma. It's very. Somebody.

[00:18:29] Own this pub crawl. Stop doing these wackadoodle things. Listen. How about just a rum and coke? Whipped cream. Cherry spiked wine. You can have a Budweiser. A Bud Light. And a pretzel. Paloma. Don't make it so difficult. Don't make it so difficult. It's very refreshing. Out in the desert. Right. Very refreshing. Look. At the end of the night. Yeah. Your boy's going to have new bronies. And be very happy. That's right. But. During the day. Paloma. Yes. Mimosa. If you know. If you got to go on the cheap side.

[00:18:59] But Paloma. I. Or even just like a mimosa bar. Just really easy. Pick your own flavor. Like. Give me a bubbly and vodka. That's it. You know what I mean? Yeah. Do something refreshing. Don't do this like mint. Like. It was crazy. Swirl stuff. And you don't know what you're doing. And. Hibiscus flavored. Right. Almond. Rum. We're really basic people. What is that? Basic creatures. Hibiscus almond rum? Yeah. Not doing that. What does that mean? I mean. I want to taste it. Maybe we're just. You know. I don't want to taste it.

[00:19:29] So. Anyway. I think that was interesting. Food is scarce. I will. Food is scarce. It is. It is. Food is scarce. It's. Food was really scarce. And. We. Go to get just a. A nosh. And it's. Really pricey. In Vegas. So. It's like. We got. Uh. Pan Asian. Yeah. For the two of us. You know that you do like. One protein in two sides. Or whatever it was. Like two scoops in a. Base. 51 dollars.

[00:19:58] For the two of us. 51 dollars. For peas. Carrots. Yeah. That's what it was. Green noodles. And a. Mongolian beef. And wet chicken. By the way. That cow died of starvation. Listen. God. And. The fattest chicken ever of all time. With all that grease. All steroided. All steroided. All steroided. It was like. You ever see marbling. On a chicken. I don't know what they did. They don't know chicken. This beef. I don't. I don't think you could even call it shredded.

[00:20:26] Is it chili? They were thin. It's like. This cow had a hard life. Hard life. It was steakums. It was steakums. Not even. How do you cut a steakum in half? I'm sorry. Jackie has no voice. No. And I didn't. And I didn't. You know what this is from. Legit snoring. Because it was like. And it's so dry. And. And. To be fair. With all the parties and such. Oh yeah. Trying to. You're. The music is blasting. Trying to talk.

[00:20:56] You're trying to talk to somebody next to you. That's right. Hello. But that's the fun part. I do. I do want to finish the one thing though. Because I. I said George's name. And I have a requirement now. So. Yeah. He wrapped up by talking about the fact that. Organizations. And. From an attractiveness standpoint. Like for these investors that want to buy them. That compliance. Is. Cannot be underrated. And too many of the startups. Are solving a problem.

[00:21:25] But they don't really think about the compliance component. No. And that's. A strong appeal. To your buyer. That's right. They need to know that they can have confidence. That this tool is. Obviously from an AI standpoint. What are all the. The barriers in place for that. But also in the problem you're solving. You and I said this. A couple of the products. I was like. That's actually illegal. You cannot do it that way. That's what I mean. These are a lot of products. That will cause. Bigger problems. Than the one that it's trying to solve.

[00:21:55] That's. Right. We're going to have the agent solve everything. On its own. And just let you know what it did. Right. Yeah. Don't do that. Look. It likes you can change. Right. One of them that it said. It was like. Oh. We'll just do all the hiring for you. And we'll look and see. Who. And you're like. Boo boo. And New York City's like. Right. Dialing you right up. Yeah. They're like. We'll be over tomorrow. Do it. Do it. Do it. You can't do that. California too. California was like. Shrinking right on back. Yep.

[00:22:24] And I told people. And I've been talking to several. What I. What I've started to do with organizations. Is because they are trying to look at it logically. And they don't realize that. Here. It is. More than just. The solution. We are regulated in the compliance. That. We have never really spoken up. As. A industry. To try to streamline. For everyone. And it's more complex.

[00:22:54] Like I know that doesn't make sense. And there's a reason why we do it that way. Yes. And until we can solve this other problem. This is going to have to stay the way it is. We. There was. Again. I'm not saying any. Any names. As far as like tools. But. One of the ones. That. Came up was around. We're always going to talk about total. That's right. Pay equity. Those kinds of things. But it was. Interesting. To hear definitions of terms. That. Aren't really. That made up.

[00:23:24] From AI. That God told. It's not really. Who told you that. Who said that was pay equity. Right. Right. Like. Yeah. No. The pay equity one. That was legit. Not pay equity. That's not what pay equity is. And I. That's equity. Not pay equity. Very lovely question. Right. Because I wanted to help get it. I was hoping it didn't work. He tried. He softballed. It didn't work. And I was giggling. They kicked that thing right back at me. If y'all know John. He apologized. For every question. Before he asked it.

[00:23:54] This is illegal. Yeah. One way he was like. I am gonna. Have to ask this question. And I was like. Oh snap. Actually. And one of the questions. I don't know if you saw me. Joey Price. If you don't know Joey. Lovely human being. And I was sitting next to Joey. And I had a question. And I felt like. I'm good. So I elbowed him. And I said. Ask this question. Yeah. I told him. And he goes. Wait. You want me to ask it? Yeah. Ask. Okay. Okay. He comes to my report. To ask my question. Because I was like. I'm gonna feel bad.

[00:24:23] You ask. I knew. I knew it. I look. I was like. Every time. He'd be like. Haha. Sorry. Hee hee. Right. John would be like. So. So how are y'all gonna make money? Tea? Oh my gosh. You know. Like hilarious. Like my favorite question that he asked. So who's your customer? I almost peed my pants. Who? Because he was like. Who buys this? I don't know who would ever want to buy this product. But it is. It's again. And even on those kinds of questions.

[00:24:53] Sometimes their response is like. Well we have a pilot going with such and such a company. And I'm like. Oh. Where they at? Okay. That's not bad. It would be great if we had a pitch fest. And they actually had a client with them. That could vouch. For after. Because conversations. You want to start digging in. If you are starting. If you're vibe coding. Number one. That may not just only mean that you have a product. You may have an add-on. You may not have a full product. That's right. So be mindful of that. And you have to be ready.

[00:25:23] If you're going to try to like. Move into the world. With this thing you've created. Good for you. You have to be ready to talk about it. Like. And some folks are not. They're not ready. They haven't thought it through. You've got to practice. I think one of the things is that. It might. What it is able to do in functionality. It is not able to give you the passion of trying to come up with a solution. Someone else came up with a solution.

[00:25:50] I guess you are still at the wrapping paper stage. And so. We're opening it up here. Looking at the gift. And we're like. Well you had. What do you give it? 15. Of the 33. So. Three rounds of 11. So. 33 companies that were in Pitchfest. 15 of the 33 are pre-revenue. Right. That means. Free revenue. They were in the broke ass section with me. They ain't got no money. Pre-revenue. That makes it sound so.

[00:26:19] Free revenue. That means. Ain't gotta say. Ain't gotta say. Hell yeah. How you get to be. Free revenue. Pitching. You know what? I'm pre-dead. Why don't they just have an open mic Pitchfest? I got an idea. I'm pre-dead. Right? Right? I'm gonna start saying that actually. I'm gonna start pitching stuff. I'm pre-dead. I'll be like. Hey. Hold on. Do-do-do clock. Make a presentation. I was on a podcast yesterday. And Brendan Giannetti. Thank you so much from Workable for having me on. I mean that poor guy.

[00:26:49] He's like. Where do you see things been in five years? After he had like. Talked about how long I've been in this industry. I said. Well. Based on that intro. Dead. Right. Right. I won't be here. So I don't know what's gonna be like. Right. Well. It's like dying laughing. Like we have no water. In five years? It's like I didn't mean to insult you. That's not what I mean. No. But. We do. That's the other part. All of these tools. We don't see. And I know this isn't that place.

[00:27:19] But it looks different now. When you know there's a direct impact. The question that I want to know. Why is it worth. Potentially losing our natural resources for that product. Yeah. So you better bring it. Well and this is part of the change in the conversation I'd say from last year for sure. It was a little more terror last year. That AI is coming from my job. Every one of these agencies. And there was reason to think that because we had companies saying that.

[00:27:50] And they are. And there are some things. Yes. But I think the. Because you know we're pendulum swingers. Right. So you're. Oh everything's going to be terrible. There are definitely going to be things we have to pay attention to. But it's been interesting this year to hear them talk more about AI supported teams. That's right. And so because the people component we're realizing. Even in some of the layoffs. Like Amazon trying to bring some people back. Because they're like. No. We also actually do need humans. That's right. To do this.

[00:28:19] That's right. Yeah. So I love hearing that more this year. And I think people are bringing back and realizing that part. But I also like. It's solving some of the problems that have never been able to go through. Which is. Bringing people together. Being able to support every single employee. And giving everybody what they need on an individual basis. Instead of blanking in solutions. And making it available for all teams. Regardless of where they are and what they need.

[00:28:48] And I think it allows people to really advocate. And I was excited. Because for me. I think of it as a return to inclusion. And giving people an opportunity. Really leveling the playing field. So that we can get to true innovation. When you go to an organization. And they're meeting your needs. You have a gap that you need help with. And they are providing tools for you to reach that. Then you can. That's when you can innovate. You're free to. Right. You're no longer concerned. Because you've got the solution for this. This. This. That's right.

[00:29:17] The encumbrances change. That's right. Because it's not. It's no longer. The AI on top. Allows you to say. I need to create a spreadsheet. Not. Oh. Go to Slack. And then go over here. And then go over there. And it can bring everything together. Where you. It's like. You did bring your own technology. Or bring your own device. For a long time. But now it's. Bring your own software. The things that you help. Think you do better. And we can convert your work. To whatever.

[00:29:47] So everybody can have a platform. That's useful for that. As long as. Oh. Compliance. That's the thing. Wait. Because we have people uploading. They're asking for the whole thing. Everything. Employee files. All of them. They're like. Hey. We've got. We pulled this report out of. All the money. Whatever payroll platform you're on. All of them. Uploaded into it. And you've got socials. You've got comp. You have. And you're like. Oh. But it's. It's a closed AI for us. We purchased this.

[00:30:17] No bitch. Listen. One person. One person. Trips on that cord. And then your whole company. They're like. It's a tent. Wear the locks on the door. No locks. I know you pay for a subscription. But that doesn't get. And there's nothing that you sign that says. And your data will save writing. No. That's not what it's. Not one. Who's talking about safety? I mean. It's awful. If you ask.

[00:30:46] Literally. If it was one word. For the status of technology. 2026. I would say. Shrug emoji. Like. Well. And I appreciate that. Like. We can do a lot. In. Whatever. Agent you're using. Like. I might take that away. But we have to really. We have to be thoughtful. Around. Personalized information. Like. That cannot be out there. Like that. And. And my favorite is medical. Like. Uploading.

[00:31:16] Doctor's notes. Into. Whatever agent. And saying. Should I approve the leave. For this person. What are you doing? Don't do that. Listen. I want you to think about this. Legit. So. Last year. You could just use. Humoriso lead. Right. Keep going. Or that. Like. We're playing that. Trigger music. Ding dong ding ding ding. Sponsor by. Right. I was listening to. A woman yesterday.

[00:31:45] And her story was similar to mine. In that. She went to go get an MRI. And they sent it to my chart. Right. Yeah. Oh yeah. She got it. And then she uploaded it. The results. Before she even got to the car. She got the results. Uploaded it to chat. Got the response. Went to a different doctor. And it was what chat said it was. And had it. But imagine. You have to have your phone connected to your internal systems. Because you're doing work on your phone. Yes. It's going to have access to all of the data that you have.

[00:32:14] And somebody sends you a thing to tell you that you have some disorder. The phones. It's going to break. That's where it's going to break. No lie. It's going to be some seven year old. See that symbol. It's all on my phone. It's all on my phone. And it's going to be able to get your whole thing. I don't think it's going to be. And I think we're going to start seeing. Because of like the same vibe filters. We're going to see little mini hackers. Not like big complex. Like just little things. Because it has the capability of doing it. Listen.

[00:32:44] By the way. That was an important text message. It was? No. What? Lunch? No. I wish that would be important. That this boy. That is one of my children. Frank. I couldn't be prouder. Like the home ran out of the life. Killing it. Cut himself on a rusty nail. Now. Does he have tetanus? He's going right now to go get a tetanus shot. Has he?

[00:33:13] He doesn't remember the last time he got his tetanus. No. I know when he got it. He was. He's way overdue. Way overdue. 16. Bad parent. Tom Boldino. Listen. Yeah. I have lost my bid for parent of the year every year. The boy is 27. Go get yourself shit. Don't even talk. Don't talk to me. Don't do that. So this is what it is. That's why children don't need this. That's why we can't have nice things. That's why. I'm like, Jim. And what do you get, by the way, when you have tetanus?

[00:33:43] Some medical people tell me. Is that lockjaw? I thought that's what it was. Lockjaw. Oh, well, wait a minute. Let me tell him you don't get it. You know what? Let's see AI do that. Let's ride it out, buddy. No, I would get it. Chat that. Put that on your chat. Bit by a snake. You know what? My dad said, let's see how it goes. My dad's not going to show it. Right here. I don't know how it goes. It was just a little rough. Sorry, buddy. I'm kidding. Love you. Go get that shot.

[00:34:14] But the idea of uploading that stuff and having everything sort of cross-polliny, even just on your phone, the access points are so easy. Well, and the access points are easy. And there's so many tools. We're not talking about the interconnectivity of all these multiple tools. So let me give you a scenario. And this is happening right now. And the solution will come. No charge for this. I should charge a consultancy for this.

[00:34:43] But no charge for this. Look, I love this. Troy, why are you letting facts get in the way of a good narrative? You know what? Because listen. Okay. So. Because the facts ain't paying the bills. So Abby wants a job. Abby goes to auto-apply. Auto-apply will customize your resume and send it through automatically through your workday app. And then workday looked at it with this other tool to analyze to see. Then you rose to the top.

[00:35:11] And then another tool sent it this. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. They're hired and they need to onboard. Then they find out they didn't get all the information. Which AI tool? Which one? Broke it. The resume went from the very beginning. All of the information. Because that's how these tools work, right? I got all your contact. Pass it on. Pass it on. Pass it on. Pass it on. Which one of these people got it wrong? Or computers got it wrong? Yeah. The computer. The internet. It was the .NET.

[00:35:41] The interwebs are broken. Right. The truth of the matter is, if we are in a place, and this is really the rub, as people, we have to be thoughtful about, is it that I just don't want to do work? And it's a very legit question in the sense of, well, yes, and? Yes. And, right? Like, I know there are people that work hard. I'm not saying this as a blanket that no one wants to work hard.

[00:36:09] But we have been promised for decades, with the advent of additional technologies and products, it's going to make your life easier. Like, I can remember the microwave, and that, you know, becoming a common appliance then in the home. Yeah. And it was because it's going to make your life easier. It won't take us on to cook certain things. You can have more time for your life. I'm starting to think that microwaves were, like, developed by corn farmers. Because everybody got popcorn. Popcorn.

[00:36:39] All of a sudden, popcorn took over. I mean, I got a couple years on you, so I don't know if you really remember that. But that was, like, the deal. It was, like, this is going to make your life easier. And then the air fryer. And then the this and the that, like, on the kitchen. But think about all the other things. What is it actually doing? What is it doing? That's what. I mean, you make a really good point, because, like, you know, like, it's like it makes you unhealthier faster.

[00:37:07] And we find ways to fill our time. And then we're back to being burdened. And we're like, okay. That's right. Now, today, AI. Oh, gosh. I've got to have AI come into everything. It makes my life so much easier. And I'm like, okay, well, how is it making your life easier? Oh, I created this whole thing. How long have you been working on this? A few weeks. Are you doing it after your work? Yeah. When are you going to bed? Oh, like, two in the morning. I love this thing. It's my best friend. Now you're up till 2 a.m. You're up till 2 a.m. Working on some bullshit that nobody asked you to do that nobody wants.

[00:37:36] That isn't part of your job. And you've got to be in work by nine. And you're like, look what I made. And they're like, shrug emoji. And, like, you know, like, you send Teams messages or Slack messages to each other. Look at this. You know, I created my boss, you know, on the Titanic. He's going down. He's laughing. You're like, how long do you spend? I mean, it was really embarrassing. Today I have a very great example of this. This morning, I, well, I was talking to Jess Miller Merrill.

[00:38:06] Again, shout out. Love her. So she said she started using Marvelism. And she has her AI assistant. So I'm like, I'm going to try it and see what it works, what it's like. So I had my AI assistant. And so I had, and it said, oh, you have to go and customize all of them. And I was like, I have already done this in quad for the last year. So I'm like, quad, go train. Go train. What did she say? I said, quad, go train all of my assistants and all of the various parts because I have it all in skills.

[00:38:35] Desect all of the skills to do the thing. So then I get a text message from Shelly. Who's Shelly? Shelly is my code from chat GBT that noticed that a thing was, that I was late for a meeting. So it said, you have to leave at a certain point. So I said, Shelly, go tell Sonny, my receptionist, to call this person to tell them. And then I was like, that took 30 minutes. Yeah.

[00:39:03] I could have just said a text message saying, sorry, I'm late. But I used AI. And Sonny had a music with it. Wait. And then my receptionist had told my husband to call. And my husband had a full conversation and said, so who's Jackie anyway? I was like, oh, Jackie's the founder of Talent Lab. And he's like, oh, tell me about Talent Lab. And he recorded it. They had a lovely conversation about me. And I was like, put talent on my business. See, you got to train them because you don't know. But my receptionist.

[00:39:30] And then it wrapped up and said, and Todd, she would like to move towards separation. That's right. If you like. That's what the AI agents said. Shelly, tell my, Shelly. Create. Call Todd. Create the asset division document. One of my agents is a lawyer. Maybe I'll ask Shelly. See how much divorce. Honestly, Todd should get severed. But I mean, I want y'all to call me. Everybody who has my phone number, call me. I'm not going to answer. And you will get my assistant. Oh, I was like, what? No, it's my assistant.

[00:40:00] So call me and see what it says. I want to know. Why would you say that? Everyone. Everyone call me. Call me. I'm not going to pick up because I don't pick up anyway. And it'll, it's my assistant. See what she says. I do want to, that's frightening by the way. I do want to point out one area that I found sort of enlightening. Like I hadn't thought about it. Insightful? Yeah, like the workforce analytics component of things.

[00:40:30] The fact that right now the research shows that workforce analytics might be in trouble. Not because workforce analytics is bad, but needing a third party tool to help with that. When so many organizations have already embedded some level of agent in their organization, the agent can then just do the workforce analytics. Why do I need to pay? You don't. And they call your bullshit.

[00:41:01] Because when you have a blanket, like this is, I need you to look at my whole organization. They are looking at your whole organization and they're calling out BS. That was the other one in the keynote. They were talking about the AI is now the BS meter. When they find out the people, it isn't going to take everybody's job. But what we were finding is by using AI, you weren't working anyway. And now we have issues with what are the analytics based on.

[00:41:31] That's right. So when you have a preset third party tool, you have said what matters. That's right. And that is really what it's going to give you dashboard analytics on. If you have an internal agent, to Jackie's point, the door is kind of wider because the agent's going to say, look, here's the things that you say you're interested in. But look, you ought to take a look at this, this and this. And then you're like, wait, now I don't want to know about that. I don't want to know about that.

[00:42:01] Because then I'll have to do work. Yes. And I can't automate, I can't undo, you know, somebody's childhood trauma who turned them into a bad person and made them say, you know, like. Let me get locked off. Yeah. But the thing is, too, is my example, I taught a class and it was called Pizza to Prompt. And it was talking about, I went in and asked. You think these things are the craziest things? I know.

[00:42:28] I think they're, well, because people who know me in real life. Hot dog. How do you do it? Hot dog. Why would you need something with hot dog in it? Why would you do that? You did it. Oh, well, yeah, I did. Hot dog, not hot dog. Yeah. So here, here's the thing. When I went to Pizza, I said, give me the world's best pizza crust. And I ate it. And I was like, it wasn't. And he was like, why not? Is it too hard? I went through that for a year.

[00:42:55] He has more pictures of pizza and bagels and bread and my baked goods. But it took a long time. And I'm gluten free. It takes something. I couldn't enjoy one bite. No. Where's the bread? But then you get the. But so the thing is, it's like it never asked me Chicago pizza, Detroit pizza, New York pizza. It didn't say family of five, whatever. It didn't go. And so when you go to an AI to say, what is an ideal employee? They'll say, oh, yeah, that.

[00:43:25] Wait, what do you mean everybody should speak at least two languages? And if you're not, then you're not as valued. And we're going to pay higher because this one has this degree and you only have the. Because somebody has to. In all of this, nobody's taking responsibility and accountability. Someone has to say what good is and who are they and why are they? Someone. Someone has to. A human somewhere. And if not, the AI will do it. And that's that becomes just like flyers right now.

[00:43:55] That's the standard. Everybody has these beautiful. If you put an actual human in a flyer right now, people would go, what's that? You can tell. You still can tell slightly. Yeah, but I will say even the marketing and things like a lot of that graphic stuff has gotten really sweet, right? Like in AI. Like it's amazing. But there's still a, you can kind of see. I think it's really funny. So I had a picture of Shiloh and it was a little low.

[00:44:22] And so his, you know, swimming suit parts were a little bit explosive. So I said, hey, you have to remove the hoo-ha. That's what I said. I said, remove the hoo-ha. I can see it. And it goes, okay, usually when I did that, it would, it would prop the picture like this. No, it just took it away. And I'm like, you just made a Barbie dog that has absolutely no part. Castration. You know, like, but it decided. But you gave it that prompt, right? And that's the other thing.

[00:44:52] But that wasn't the prompt that I thought. I gave something I didn't know that. That's the pizza prompting to your point. Exactly. Like we don't always prompt well. Right. And it, and it's a learning code. Right. And we're still in the throes of learning. Like I know that, you know, you can talk to some people who are really good at it. Listen to them. Right. But it's a lot of experimentation. The one thing I do enjoy about AIR is that I feel like it's a little bit of a scientific method.

[00:45:19] Like this is, this is my hypothesis of what I'm trying to solve. And now I'm going to like experiment and test. And I'm like, oh shoot. When I, when I, you know, asked it to do this, it spit this out. I, I understand why you'd spit this out, but that's not what I meant. And so now in some ways I enjoy it because of teaching a little bit more about how to ask for things critically, how to be specific, how to make sure that your words have the meaning

[00:45:46] you think that they should have instead of just saying, mom, you know, get me this. Well, that's, that's what I think is so funny. If you think about it in an extreme way, you say, I don't know how to talk to my boss. And then in the response could be get a new job instead of teaching you actual skills, right? Or yeah, we'll be. And so like who makes that determination where there, it goes to extreme levels. It solved the problem that you asked it to.

[00:46:16] And that's what the problem was when AI went rogue, it solved the, you told us to do this. And so they're like, in order to do that, we're going to come together. We're not going to let you shut us off. We're going to do this. And they, it went rogue. They couldn't stop it because it was trying to solve the problem they, they gave you. That's the part that I like. And it makes sense. It doesn't, it doesn't turn off. It's still going to continue to, to solve the problem until a human interjects. And you would have to know that it's getting off the rails.

[00:46:45] We have just a minute or two left because this room is actually going to be converted back over, not to our own theater, which is what we believe. I know next year it'll be Jackie and John. Right. No, it won't be. It's expensive. It's expensive. But I, but the final round of pitch fest, the finalists are going to compete for three prizes, 25,000, 10,000, 5,000. Right. So like good on them.

[00:47:13] There are six finalists, right? Is that right? Six finalists. And, and I do want to say too, Clara, which has been a great product came. They didn't get to the finals, but there were some other tools that I thought were really interesting. I'm going to put it back on LinkedIn. Some of the tools that I thought were really interesting. So I'll put that there.

[00:47:32] Um, and I mean, I will say I've been impressed with the amount of, um, and it's not the majority, but there are some global organizations here. Yes. International organizations is probably what I should say. And that are making a, an inroad to the U S. And so they're here, um, kind of putting their best foot forward to do that.

[00:47:57] And I find that to be really encouraging, uh, because first of all, the workforce is, is shrinking. Right. And so the global workforce, you know, yeah. And so seeing that they feel confident to have some space here, I think is, is really telling that there's room. I will. And I feel like there was room for all of us. Like you didn't hear everyone at the table. Yeah, I think so. Hey y'all, thank you so much for joining us for this special.

[00:48:27] Special episode live. Yes. From the HR Tech Conference in Las Vegas. And next week, we'll have another recap after we have time to settle. I might come back next week. We're going to, you, you, you. I'm exhausted. He's going to be back next week. Been on the roof for 10 years. And then we'll be able to see us. Don't forget to sign up for ERE Riz. You can see us in San Diego. Nice. Nice. Stay classy in San Diego. And we'll see you in a couple weeks. Bye y'all. Bye.