We Went from Doing More to Doing Better: HR Tech Analyst Kyle Lagunas's State of the Union on AI (LIVE @ Transform 2026)

About this episode

Kyle Lagunas discusses the evolution of AI in HR technology and its implications for recruiting and benefits.

WATCH: https://youtu.be/x26pDyl5bl0 Recorded live at Transform 2026 on Day 9, this episode brings together Adam and Kyle Lagunas — industry analyst, founder of Kyle & Co., and one of the sharpest unfiltered voices in the HR tech world. Kyle studies innovation cycles in HR technology for a living, which means he arrives at Transform with a uniquely calibrated perspective on what's signal and what's noise, what's genuinely new and what's the same playbook with an AI label slapped on it. The conversation opens with Kyle's pithy State of the Union on AI in recruiting: a year ago, the industry was doing more. Now it's trying to do better. From there, they cover the vendor consolidation question (the bloodbath is over, and AI unlocked a new wave of innovation for those who survived), the growing threat of companies building their own AI solutions in-house, and the fraud problem that Kyle has watched escalate from edge case to genuine crisis — including first-degree connections who've had the FBI in their office after hiring agents of foreign states. The benefits conversation is one of the most forward-looking in the series: Kyle makes the case that AI is the great equalizer in…

People in this episode

Host: Adam Posner

Guest: Kyle Lagunas

Topics covered

• AI in recruiting
• HR technology
• vendor consolidation
• personalization in benefits
• trust gap in hiring

Keywords

• AI
• HR technology
• recruiting
• vendor consolidation
• personalization
• trust gap
• innovation

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Kyle & Co., FBI

More episodes of The POZCAST: Decoding Success with Adam Posner

• BEST OF: Walking Barefoot Across the US for Mens Mental Health Awareness: Anton Nootenboom · June 5, 2026 · 58 min
• Unlocking Human Potential: Torrance Hampton’s Journey of Self Discovery · May 29, 2026 · 48 min
• The Messy Middle of HR Tech Nobody's Solving — Until Now. Onboarded Co-Founder Mike Johnson (LIVE @ Transform 2026) · May 22, 2026 · 9 min
• One Size Fits Many: How Wellhub Turned Personalized Wellbeing Into a Retention Strategy: CPO Lívia de Bastos Martini (LIVE @ Transform 2026) · May 21, 2026 · 13 min
• AI Offense and AI Defense: How Greenhouse Is Redesigning Its Entire Interview Process: VP of People Transformation, Ariana Moon (LIVE @ Transform 2026) · May 20, 2026 · 16 min
• You Can't Improve What You Can't See: The Origin Story of BrightHire: Teddy ChestnutL (LIVE @ Transform 2026) · May 18, 2026 · 15 min