A very good TA convo with... S3-E6. Hung Lee

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‍The power of community in an AI world

As artificial intelligence rapidly increases our information intake and output, Hung argues that humans are desperate for genuine connection. He emphasizes that face-to-face events strip away corporate hierarchies and provide a necessary, democratized counterpoint to AI.

"I think we need to corroborate and complement that with community intelligence, collective intelligence like we need to meet in person and exchange that peer-to-peer lived experience. That's a necessary counterpoint to artificial intelligence."

"Keep what you kill"

A massive danger for TA teams adopting AI is assuming the hours saved will automatically belong to them. Hung warns that efficiency gains will naturally default back to the business unless recruiters actively negotiate for them. By keeping the hours they "kill," recruiters can reinvest that time into things that actually matter, like improving the candidate experience or diversifying their pipelines.

"We need to implement what I call a keep what you kill policy... so that we are able to take the time that we've saved and reinvest it in the stuff that we think that the business needs from a talent perspective."

AI transformation is just classic change management

When advising companies on AI transformation, Hung points out that simply buying new tools isn't the solution. Successful AI adoption requires classic change management: getting senior stakeholder endorsement, finding a quick win that proves value, and letting internal influencers champion the success to the rest of the company.

"If you just zoom out on it and you delete the AI from all of the coms, it would just look like classic change management. Nothing bigger than that."

The danger of deleting institutional knowledge

Hung cautions CEOs against blinding themselves with short-term payroll efficiencies from AI. AI relies on explicit, documented information, but the real essence of a company—its culture, its vibe, and the off-the-cuff conversations—is rarely written down. If a business cuts headcount too deeply, it loses the undocumented knowledge that gives it a competitive edge.

"AI is trained basically on explicit information, which means documented information. But we all know that the world as it is contains tons of information that is never documented... you got to be very careful if you want to get rid of it. Because you won't be able to recover that information ever again."

The need for dedicated AI enablement

To truly embrace AI, companies shouldn't just force operational recruiters to add AI experimentation to their plates while still demanding they hit headcount targets. Instead, Hung sees a massive opportunity for HR and TA to expand their scope and create dedicated roles—like a Chief Automation Officer or an AI Enablement specialist—whose sole job is figuring out how to help the team work better with AI.

"You need someone that doesn't have a headcount target whose only job is to figure out, okay, how can I help my other recruiters do this better? AI enablement."

The takeaway

Hung's message highlights that the AI revolution in recruitment is ultimately a human challenge. As tools accelerate our capabilities, recruiters must double down on community relationships, advocate fiercely to retain their hard-won time, and structurally separate AI experimentation from daily operational goals. If every company eventually reaches optimal AI efficiency, the only true differentiator left will be the undocumented human culture you chose to preserve

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