The AI revolution in human resources is beginning to change phase: what in 2023 was dominated by chatbots and one-off assistants, today is surpassed by the integration of structural AI that drives the automation of complete processes and frees teams from operational burden to focus on strategic decisions.
In fact, 79% of companies already use AI or automation in recruiting and hiring processes, which shows that technology has gone from being an isolated pilot to being part of the day-to-day life of the function. In this context, Viterbit, an enterprise operational recruiting platform, warns that 2026 will be the year in which AI stops being an extra and becomes an HR infrastructure based on automation.
Automation beyond chatbots
After the boom in generative tools in 2023 and 2024, artificial intelligence in Human Resources enters a new stage. What started as mass adoption of conversational assistants and automatic content generation is evolving into something more structural: complete process automation.
In sectors with high turnover, such as security, hospitality or retail, the slowness is usually not in attracting talent, but in coordinating decisions, managing follow-ups or preventing processes from being blocked due to lack of internal feedback. That is where the true costs appear: unfilled vacancies, overload on teams and loss of candidates due to delays, problems that automation seeks to solve directly.
The new phase of AI adoption focuses precisely on those critical points: detecting bottlenecks, activating automation within the hiring flow and reducing repetitive tasks that consume operational time. The most advanced tools allow you to analyze large volumes of data to identify delay patterns or prioritize applications according to real urgency, thus reinforcing intelligent automation.
An example of this change is seen in the restaurant sector. At FoodBox, a group with continuous hiring in different brands nationwide, the automation of the first contact through WhatsApp allowed us to reduce the average time for filling vacancies from nine days to just 24 hours. “We went from waiting for answers for days to moving the process in a matter of hours,” explains Laura Villarta, head of Selection at the company.
“The first wave of AI in HR was important to experiment with, but it did not fundamentally change how we work,” says Dimitri Nicolau, CEO of Viterbit. “The second wave is not measured in generated content, but in processes that previously consumed hours and are now executed in a reliable and scalable way thanks to automation.”
Companies that are already marking the transition
Some hiring-intensive organizations are already advancing this second wave of adoption. In sectors such as security, catering or services, where turnover is high and processes are continuous, structural automation begins to be integrated as part of the system and not as a specific tool.
Companies like Prosegur, Goiko or Clece operate in environments where coordinating hundreds or thousands of simultaneous processes requires more than conversational assistants. In these contexts, the priority is not to incorporate isolated tools, but to standardize flows, reduce internal blockages and gain visibility over the entire operation through automation.
Artificial intelligence stops being a technological trend and becomes a factor of organizational competitiveness
“What we have seen working with large organizations is that the real leap is not in incorporating AI as an assistant, but in integrating it into the core of the process,” says Nicolau. “Companies that treat recruiting as infrastructure, rather than an administrative task, are achieving greater foresight, less internal friction, and more consistent decision times through automation.”
From technological experiment to competitive advantage
For industry experts, the debate no longer revolves around whether to adopt artificial intelligence, but rather how to integrate it structurally. In an environment of pressure on margins, high turnover and the need for efficiency, the difference will not be in who has more tools, but in who has redesigned their processes based on automation.
“The question is no longer whether to use AI in HR,” concludes Nicolau. “The question is whether your system is ready to scale. Organizations that understand this sooner will not only hire faster, but will operate with greater stability and foresight.” In this context, artificial intelligence ceases to be a technological trend and becomes a factor of organizational competitiveness, driven largely by automation. And that transition, experts agree, will set the pace of the labor market in the coming years.
“AI is beginning to be HR infrastructure,” adds Nicolau. “It does not replace human judgment, but it does eliminate the operational noise that prevents making good decisions, especially when supported by solid automation processes.”
