Waymo, the former Google self-driving project that spun out to become a business under Alphabet, has hired former Netflix and Cruise Automation executive Tawni Nazario-Cranz as its chief people officer. Nazario-Cranz will be responsible for hiring workers, shaping the company's culture, and diversity initiatives. She will report directly to Waymo CEO John Krafick. The executive comes with a long background in human resources, including a 10-year stint at Netflix, Bausch & Lomb and FedEd Kinko's. She was most recently Cruise, GM's self-driving unit, a position she held for eight months before leaving in April, according to her LinkedIn profile.

Indian manufacturing companies are going all out to woo expat talent in digital, artificial intelligence and other new-age technologies, as they seek to strengthen their global footprint with improved products. Companies in sectors such as automobile, industrial, pharmaceutical, chemical and packaging are keen on bringing in people familiar with international best practices who can replicate the quality and precision of developed markets such as North America, the UK, Korea, Japan and Germany. Over the last six months, automaker Mahindra & Mahindra has hired six expats for top-level posts while the diversified Vedanta Ltd in February brought in five expats at senior levels in India. A spokesperson for Hero MotoCorp said several experts have joined the company of late. "There has been an increase in expat hiring in the last six months. Expat hiring isn't about numbers but about inducting appropriate capabilities and talent," said Rajeshwar Tripathi, chief people officer, M&M, which last year inducted 15 expats at senior levels.

When SD Worx conducted an online poll of its customers, asking which functions of HR would benefit most from artificial intelligence (AI), it found the top three areas were: recruitment (62%), engagement (24%) and talent management (18%). What the global payroll and HR service provider didn't ask, however, was how long customers expected it would take before AI had a real impact. But, according to Laurence Collins, director of people and HR analytics at Deloitte, the expansion of AI into HR is already underway. "It's going to happen faster and harder than HR people are ready for," he warns, adding that it's "moving from traditional HR shared services administration up to HR business partner work – for example virtual assistants who provide us with cognitive insights". The bottom line is you can't take the human out of HR.

Artificial intelligence is transforming our lives at home and at work. At home, you may be one of the 1.8 million people who use Amazon's Alexa to control the lights, unlock your car, and receive the latest stock quotes for the companies in your portfolio. In total, Alexa is touted as having more than 3,000 skills and growing daily. In the workplace, artificial intelligence is evolving into an intelligent assistant to help us work smarter. Artificial intelligence is not the future of the workplace, it is the present and happening today.