20 AI Tools Changing the Future of Work
And why you should probably bookmark this list before your competitors do
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When you talk to companies about AI and the future of work, one question you will get is “what tools beyond ChatGPT should I use”?
And as this is an ever evolving landscape, I've been diving deep into the AI rabbit hole lately (as one does when you're supposed to be doing other things, especially during summer). I’ve been trying to look beyond the big players like Workday, SAP and the other giants, looking at places such as Y Combinator, Product Hunt, X, Crunchbase and also the good old way, talking to builders!
All in all, I’ve looked at over 250 AI tools, and I'm about to share (in my view) the 20 most interesting ones. That does not mean that the other 230 are not interesting but 250 would make a VERY long list.
Ready? Let's dive in.
The "This Could Change Everything" Tier
1. Tezi - The Recruiter That Never Sleeps
What they do: Remember when you thought ChatGPT was impressive? Well, Tezi just raised $9M to build an AI recruiter that handles the ENTIRE hiring process. We're talking end-to-end automation, from finding candidates to scheduling interviews. No human required.
Why you should care: If this works (and early signs say it does), traditional recruiting agencies are about to have a very bad time. Imagine cutting your hiring costs by 80% while actually getting better results. That's the promise here. Will it work? Only time will tell.
2. Serra - Killing Sourcing (?)
What they do: Serra has built an AI that completely eliminates the sourcing step in recruiting. Their tagline literally says "skip sourcing entirely and get qualified interviews directly on your calendar."
Why you should care: Sourcing is usually 60-70% of a recruiter's time. If Serra can automate that away, we're looking at a fundamental shift in how talent acquisition works. Plus, they're Y Combinator backed, which means smart money thinks this is the real deal.
3. 11xAI - Building Digital Employees
What they do: These absolute madlads at 11xAI aren't building HR software, they're building "autonomous digital workers." Think of it as hiring an AI employee that never calls in sick, never asks for a raise, and works 24/7.
Why you should care: This isn't about making humans more efficient. This is about replacing humans entirely for certain roles. The implications are... significant. And slightly terrifying if it works.
4. Vora AI - Meet Rachel, Your New AI Recruiter
What they do: Vora AIs AI agent named Rachel acts as a dedicated recruiter for hiring managers. She sources talent, writes personalized outreach, and books interviews directly into your calendar.
Why you should care: What Vora is hoping to create is an AI personality that becomes part of your team. It's like having a top-tier recruiter who never gets tired, never has a bad day, and costs a fraction of a human salary.
5. When - Finally, Someone Cares About Offboarding
What they do: When raised $4.6M to solve a problem literally everyone ignores – what happens to employees AFTER they leave. Their AI helps people navigate post-employment transitions and maintain healthcare access.
Why you should care: This is a completely untapped market. Every company focuses on hiring and retention (as seen on this list as well), but nobody looks into offboarding. When is creating an entirely new category, and first-movers in new categories tend to do very, very well.
The "This Is Genuinely Clever" Tier
6. Anthropos - Career Development Through Gaming
What they do: Anthropos uses AI simulations and skills mapping for workforce development. Think of it as career development meets video game technology.
Why you should care: They're gamifying professional development in a way that actually makes sense. Instead of boring training modules, employees get AI-powered simulations that adapt to their learning style.
7. Taito AI - Performance Management That Actually Motivates
What they do: Taito AI uses generative AI to automate employee performance reviews and create personalized development plans. Think of it as having an AI coach that knows exactly what each employee needs to improve.
Why you should care: Traditional performance reviews have been what they have been for the last…100 years or so? They're subjective, time-consuming, and often demotivating. Taito makes them data-driven, continuous, and actually helpful for career growth.
8. Hyperbound - Sales Training
What they do: Hyperbound turns your ICP (Ideal Customer Profile) descriptions into interactive AI buyers that your sales team can practice with. It's like having unlimited role-play partners who never get tired of your terrible cold calls.
Why you should care: Sales training is usually awful and expensive. Hyperbound makes it actually useful and scalable. They're reporting 50% faster onboarding and better conversion rates. In sales, that translates directly to money.
9. Skillfully - Hiring Through Gaming
What they do: Skillfully raised $2.5M for "simulation-driven hiring", basically, candidates get tested in virtual environments instead of traditional interviews.
Why you should care: Traditional interviews are terrible at predicting job performance. Skillfully lets you see how candidates actually perform in realistic scenarios. It's like a flight simulator, but for your job.
10. Interviewer.AI - When AI Becomes the Interviewer
What they do: Interviewer.AI lets candidates have their first interview with an AI instead of a human. The AI analyzes everything from facial expressions to word choice.
Why you should care: This eliminates human bias in initial screening and scales globally. Plus, candidates can interview 24/7 from anywhere.
The "Quietly Revolutionary" Tier
11. Uniplay - Corporate Learning That’s Fun
What they do: Uniplay creates the world's first fully game-based, AI-powered Learning Management System (LMS). They turn boring corporate training into engaging mobile games that employees actually want to play.
Why you should care: Corporate training is usually mind-numbing PowerPoints that nobody remembers. Uniplay makes learning addictive by turning it into games. When your compliance training feels like Candy Crush, engagement skyrockets and knowledge actually sticks.
12. Kiku - High-Volume Hiring Without the Headache
What they do: Kiku tackles the nightmare of frontline recruitment with AI that can screen thousands of candidates for retail, hospitality, and warehouse jobs in minutes instead of weeks.
Why you should care: Hiring frontline workers can be brutal, high turnover, massive volumes, tight margins. Kiku's AI does the heavy lifting of initial screening, letting recruiters focus on the human stuff.
13. Protex AI - AI That Prevents Workplace Accidents
What they do: Protex AI uses computer vision to predict and prevent workplace accidents before they happen.
Why you should care: Workplace safety is literally life and death, plus it's expensive when things go wrong. AI that can prevent accidents saves both lives and money. Hard to argue with that ROI.
14. Figure - Physical AI Workers
What they do: Figure is building AI-powered humanoid robots for physical workplaces. Think warehouse workers, but they're robots.
Why you should care: While everyone else is focused on software, Figure is building physical AI that can actually replace human workers in manual jobs. The implications for labor markets might be quite dramatic, if this turns out the way Figure is hoping for.
15. Metaview - Interview Notes That Write Themselves
What they do: Metaview automatically generates interview notes and candidate scorecards so recruiters can focus on actually talking to people instead of frantically scribbling notes. And if you are an avid reader of FullStack HR, you know them by now!
Why you should care: It's a simple problem with a simple solution, but the time savings are massive. Plus, the notes are actually better than what humans write because the AI never gets distracted or forgets important details.
The "Surprisingly Smart" Tier
16. Textio - Predicting Diversity Before You Post
What they do: Textio analyzes your job descriptions and predicts how diverse your candidate pool will be before you even post the job.
Why you should care: DEI isn't just nice to have anymore, it's a business requirement. Textio lets you optimize for diversity proactively instead of scrambling to fix things after the fact.
17. Hey Tilda - Learning Design That Actually Works
What they do: Tilda is an AI-first platform that helps organizations design behavior-changing learning and development initiatives based on science, not guesswork.
Why you should care: Most corporate training fails because it's not designed to actually change behavior. Tilda uses behavioral science and AI to create learning experiences that stick. When your L&D budget needs to show real ROI, this is how you make it happen.
18. VoiceLine - Smart Voice for Remote Teams
What they do: VoiceLine from Munich provides smart voice messaging for remote and hybrid teams.
Why you should care: Remote work isn't going anywhere, and text-based communication sucks for building relationships. VoiceLine makes async voice communication actually useful, which could be huge for distributed teams.
19. Harriet - HR Support That Helps
What they do: Harriet is an AI-powered HR assistant that handles 70% of routine employee queries automatically and turns the rest into structured, trackable tickets with full audit trails.
Why you should care: HR teams are drowning in repetitive questions about policies, benefits, and procedures. Harriet gives every employee instant access to answers while ensuring sensitive requests get proper human attention. It's like having a 24/7 HR helpdesk that never gets tired.
20. Wysa - AI Therapy
What they do: Wysa provides anonymous AI-powered mental health support through specialized chatbots.
Why you should care: Mental health is a massive workplace issue, and traditional therapy is expensive and hard to access. Wysa democratizes mental health support, which is both good for humans and good for business.
What Does This All Mean?
Once again, there are more companies than these 20 but still, it’s a good starting place! And sure, some of these will fail spectacularly. Others will become the next billion-dollar unicorns. One or two might actually change the world, who knows.
What should you do with this list?
If you're in HR: Start experimenting with these tools now, before your competitors do. Start by taking a call with some of them, just to see what they potentially can do for you!
If you're just curious: Bookmark this list and check back in a year to see which predictions aged well.
The future of work isn't coming, it's already here. These 20 companies are just the ones building it.
What do you think? Did I miss any obvious ones? Hit me up and let me know which of these you think will be the biggest game-changers.
P.S. If you found this useful, share it with your peers!
Nice, thanks. But half of them are about hiring and recruitment.
Is that also half of the job of HR?