Right now, someone in your business is probably pasting client data into ChatGPT. If that data includes anything personal or commercially sensitive, you could be looking at a UK GDPR breach. The ICO doesn't care that you didn't know it was happening. Most employees are already using AI tools regularly. ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, Grammarly, AI coding assistants. They're using them because they're useful and because nobody has told them not to. Or told them how.

2026 is weeks away. The changes coming to your workplace can either slow you down or give you an edge. Here we set out what's actually shifting in the world of HR and whether you need to do anything about it.