Everyone's Selling the Same AI: What We Heard at HR Tech 2026

Every booth on the HR Tech expo floor this year was saying the same thing about AI, and the buyers walking those aisles wanted something a lot more practical. So we grabbed four of our favorite people, who live in Las Vegas, to find out what's actually changing.

Lance Haun has a simple test for telling vendors apart: cover the logo. Sarah White doesn't think there's such a thing as an AI company. Steve Goldberg explains why AI won't tell you when it doesn't have enough data to back up its answer. And Bonnie Tinder's implementation data shows that AI hasn't made projects cheaper or faster yet, and that customers love their implementation partner more than the software.

We also get into org agility, how a dinner with strangers can turn into a job, what each guest would build if they could invent the future, and how to survive the sensory overload of the expo floor.

Each of these conversations is also up on its own as a mini-episode on our YouTube channel.

Thank you to WRKdefined, William Tincup and Ryan Leary, for the podcast studio at HR Tech, and to HR Examiner for helping make live podcasting happen at the show.

GUESTS:

Bonnie Tinder, Raven Intelligence: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bonnietinder/

Lance Haun: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lancehaun/

Steve Goldberg: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sbgoldberg/

Sarah White, Lemon: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahwhitestrategy/

CHAPTERS:

0:00 Cold open

0:49 Welcome from HR Tech

2:49 Everyone is saying the same thing

8:21 Who the booths are talking to

12:16 What buyers are getting

19:15 Org agility