UKG’s CIO says HR tech is AI’s next big bet. The software firm’s employees have already launched 387 AI tools and over 12,000 agents

Prakash "PK" Kota, a former chief information officer at Autodesk, now serves as CIO at HR software company UKG. Since joining the company in April 2025, Kota has focused on consolidating software vendors and launching over 387 AI applications from more than 1,400 employee-submitted ideas. He has also spearheaded the creation of more than 12,000 AI agents across Microsoft, Google's Gemini, and OpenAI's ChatGPT.

Kota emphasizes that AI will be a major investment area in companies as work is reshaped and employees coexist with machines. AI's growing ability to automate tasks, including customer service, marketing, and coding, has put pressure on businesses and HR teams to envision a collaborative workforce blending humans and machines. The demand for AI-skilled candidates is also increasing, with job listings mentioning AI growing nearly eight times faster than the overall employment market, according to PwC.

However, studies show that younger workers, particularly Gen Z, are more concerned about their prospects in an AI era due to challenges in finding entry-level jobs and news of massive job cuts at major employers like Meta Platforms, Verizon, and Oracle, often attributed to internal AI adoption.

When Kota took up his role, his first major project was addressing IT integration projects delayed following the Kronos and Ultimate Software merger that formed UKG in October 2020. Within 90 days, he centralized the technology department to manage all systems, data, and AI across both former entities. Within six months, UKG merged its enterprise resource planning and customer relationship management software with Microsoft and Salesforce, respectively, and merged multiple data warehouses.

To stay agile with AI's rapid evolution, Kota avoids multi-year contracts. The company uses ChatGPT Enterprise, Google's Gemini Enterprise, and Anthropic's Claude Code tool for all 14,000 employees. A significant internal AI application is voice and chat agents handling customer inquiries, with 27% of calls now being addressed autonomously.

These agents also draft customer materials, making it easier for human representatives to handle calls and upsell UKG's products. The AI system continuously learns, creating around 300 case studies that summarize new customer service issues and provide solutions for both AI and human workers.