SPJIMR hosts dialogue on AI’s role in shaping HR

The Mumbai Chapter of the National Human Resources Development Network (NHRDN) hosted its FreshLens event at S.P. Jain Institute of Management & Research (SPJIMR). The event brought together HR leaders, academics, and professionals to exchange ideas on the evolving role of artificial intelligence (AI) in human resources (HR).

Aniruddha Khekale, Vice President, NHRDN Mumbai Chapter, delivered the opening remarks. He reflected on the changing HR landscape of HR and underlined the growing importance of AI, noting that it should not be seen as a threat but as an enabler — allowing HR professionals to move beyond transactional work and focus on strategic value creation.

Snehal Shah, Professor, Organisation and Leadership Studies, welcomed participants to the SPJIMR campus and focused on the outstanding reputation of SPJIMR as a business school with national standing and international repute. Quoting Kurt Lewin, she reminded the audience that “there is nothing as practical as a good theory.”

Amit Jain, Assistant Professor, Organisation and Leadership Studies, and Ashish Desai, Associate Professor, Information Management and Analytics, then led an interactive presentation. They began with a short quiz on popular AI platforms such as ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude before inviting participants to share how they use generative AI in their work.

Prof. Jain stressed that “generative AI is beyond prompts,” encouraging the audience to view it as a tool for creativity and innovation. Prof. Desai expanded on this theme, illustrating how AI can support HR functions such as recruitment, employee engagement, and knowledge management, while also introducing emerging tools such as NotebookLM.

The session concluded with an open discussion and Q&A, followed by closing reflections, felicitations, and a presentation by the SPJIMR Executive Education team. Abhijit Deshmukh, Director – Management Development Programmes (MDPs), extended an open invitation to participants to continue engaging in such conversations.

The event closed with networking over breakfast, where participants exchanged ideas and built new connections.

FreshLens offered HR professionals a renewed perspective on AI and reinforced the value of continuous learning, collaboration, and community. The event reflected SPJIMR’s commitment to thought leadership and to shaping the future of management practice.