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

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 benefits, finally making personalization possible at scale — the chat interface that understands your profile and tells you exactly which plan makes sense for your life, without requiring an HRBP to sit down with every employee one-on-one. He's also direct about the trust gap: candidates are frustrated, employers are issuing no guidance on AI use, and someone needs to bridge that communication divide. The episode closes with Kyle's Love It or Leave It hot takes from the conference floor — shoutouts to Findem's data labeling capabilities, CodeSignal's persona-based AI interviewers, and Kinfolk, plus a sharp critique of vendors still running the same conference playbook. And he previews his Human-Centric AI Council, a practitioner-led resource group producing best practices for HR and talent leaders navigating AI — available for free. Connect with Kyle: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kylelagunas/ Learn more: kyleandco.com