As enterprises race to deploy artificial intelligence across their operations, many are discovering that the biggest obstacle isn’t the technology itself—it’s the workforce. That’s the central message ManpowerGroup is bringing to VivaTech 2026, where the workforce solutions giant is returning for its tenth consecutive year with a lineup of AI-powered products, new research, and a strong argument that successful AI adoption depends as much on people as platforms.
Under the banner “Human First, Digital Always: Redesigning Work for the Age of AI,” the company is positioning itself at the center of one of today’s most pressing enterprise challenges: converting AI investments into measurable business outcomes through workforce transformation, reskilling, and talent strategy.
The timing is notable. Organizations worldwide continue pouring billions into generative AI and automation initiatives, yet many struggle to move beyond pilot programs. ManpowerGroup’s presence at VivaTech reflects a growing industry shift from AI experimentation to operational execution.
The AI Adoption Gap Is Becoming a Workforce Problem
According to Becky Frankiewicz, President and Chief Strategy Officer at ManpowerGroup, the conversation around AI has evolved considerably over the last year.
While executives remain enthusiastic about AI’s potential, worker confidence in using the technology is declining, creating a disconnect that could slow enterprise adoption efforts.
“The hardest part of AI adoption is the people side of the change,” Frankiewicz said, highlighting a challenge increasingly echoed across industries. As organizations accelerate AI deployment, workforce readiness, skills development, and change management are emerging as critical success factors.
That perspective aligns with broader market trends. Research from multiple consulting firms and technology vendors has consistently shown that skills shortages and organizational resistance often present bigger barriers to AI success than technical implementation.
From AI Pilots to Enterprise Impact
One of the major themes running through ManpowerGroup’s VivaTech agenda is helping organizations move beyond proof-of-concept projects.
A featured session hosted alongside IBM will explore how enterprises can balance human expertise with AI agents to generate meaningful business value. The discussion comes as companies increasingly experiment with agentic AI systems capable of executing tasks autonomously rather than simply responding to prompts.
Another panel, “Hybrid Intelligence: Managing AI’s Evolution from Tool to Coworker,” will examine a question many executives are only beginning to confront: What happens when AI becomes an active participant in workflows rather than a passive productivity tool?
The conversation is particularly relevant as major technology providers, including Microsoft, Google, Salesforce, and OpenAI, push AI agents deeper into enterprise software ecosystems. For HR leaders, that raises new questions around governance, accountability, workforce design, and leadership capabilities.
AI Hiring Takes Center Stage
Recruitment remains one of the most rapidly transformed areas of enterprise AI adoption, and ManpowerGroup plans to showcase several tools designed to modernize hiring processes.
Among the technologies being demonstrated:
- Sophie PowerChat, a conversational AI assistant that helps candidates discover and apply for jobs more quickly.
- Hubert AI, an automated pre-screening platform that conducts candidate assessments around the clock.
- AutoMatch, an AI-powered matching engine designed to improve job-candidate alignment.
- An enhanced Manpower App aimed at delivering more personalized candidate experiences.
The company’s recruitment-focused discussions will also address one of AI hiring’s most controversial topics: algorithmic bias.
During a panel featuring leaders from LinkedIn, Malt, and Hugging Face, executives will examine how organizations can use AI to evaluate potential and skills rather than relying solely on credentials while ensuring hiring decisions remain fair and accountable.
As regulators worldwide scrutinize automated hiring systems, transparency and responsible AI governance are quickly becoming competitive differentiators rather than compliance checkboxes.
New Research Shows AI ROI Is Starting to Materialize
Perhaps the most significant data point emerging from VivaTech comes from Experis, ManpowerGroup’s technology talent brand.
Its upcoming CIO Outlook 2026 report, based on responses from 1,930 technology leaders across 12 countries, found that 54% of CIOs are already seeing positive returns from AI investments.
That figure suggests enterprises may finally be moving past the early experimentation phase that dominated much of the generative AI boom.
However, realizing ROI remains uneven across industries. Many organizations continue to face challenges around implementation costs, workforce readiness, data governance, and scaling AI initiatives across departments.
The findings reinforce a growing market reality: deploying AI is becoming easier, but transforming organizations around it remains difficult.
Talent Solutions Bets on Workforce Intelligence
Beyond recruitment and technology services, ManpowerGroup is also highlighting a new generation of workforce planning tools under its Talent Solutions division.
Among the offerings:
- AI Boost, a workforce-focused AI maturity assessment.
- AI Impact Scorecard, a predictive workforce planning platform designed to model automation opportunities and efficiency gains.
- Agents-to-Humans, an orchestration platform that automates HR workflows while maintaining human oversight.
These tools reflect an emerging trend in HR technology where workforce analytics, skills intelligence, and AI governance are converging into integrated decision-making platforms.
For HR leaders, the challenge is increasingly less about whether AI should be adopted and more about understanding where automation creates value while preserving human judgment.
Startup Challenge Highlights Skills-First Innovation
ManpowerGroup is also using VivaTech as a launchpad for emerging HR technology startups.
Its 2026 Startup Challenge attracted more than 200 applicants, with five finalists selected for solutions focused on talent acquisition, workforce intelligence, skills mapping, onboarding, and assessment.
The finalists include:
- Hippolyte.ai
- Skillvue
- Skillberg
- SynTwin
- TaTiO
The selected companies represent several of the fastest-growing segments within HR technology, particularly skills-based hiring, AI-powered recruitment, workforce mobility, and digital knowledge transfer.
The winner will receive an opportunity to launch a commercial proof-of-concept partnership through one of ManpowerGroup’s active markets, providing valuable enterprise exposure in a highly competitive sector.
Why This Matters
The broader significance of ManpowerGroup’s VivaTech strategy lies in what it reveals about the next phase of enterprise AI adoption.
For the past two years, the technology conversation has largely focused on model capabilities, productivity gains, and software innovation. Increasingly, however, organizations are recognizing that sustainable AI success depends on workforce transformation, skills development, and organizational redesign.
That shift helps explain why workforce intelligence, reskilling programs, AI governance frameworks, and talent development platforms are becoming strategic priorities across industries.
ManpowerGroup’s message at VivaTech is clear: AI may be reshaping work, but people remain the deciding factor in whether those investments ultimately succeed or fail.
As enterprises move from experimentation to execution, the organizations that can align technology strategy with workforce readiness may gain the strongest competitive advantage in the years ahead.
Join thousands of HR leaders who rely on HRTechEdge for the latest in workforce technology, AI-driven HR solutions, and strategic insights
