2025 has been called the “Year of AI Agents,” as organizations began adopting AI agents in real-world business applications. AI agents are technologies that autonomously make decisions and support actions to help users achieve their goals. Toshiba Digital Solutions is using AI agent technology to help organizations develop HR strategies. In today’s VUCA* era, sustainable growth depends on aligning medium- and long-term HR strategies with overall business strategy. Yet many organizations continue to face challenges in doing so. We combine the proven reliability of Generalist, our human resource management solution for HR, payroll, and talent development, with an environment where users can refine their strategies through discussions with multiple AI agents. Users can bounce ideas off AI agents modeled after historical figures or subject-matter experts within their own organization, helping them broaden their perspectives, reduce bias, and generate new ideas. This article explores how multiple AI agents and Generalist are helping advance HR strategy and transform HR operations.

* VUCA: Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity

Japan’s shrinking workforce has become a major social challenge. Estimates suggest that the country could face a labor shortage of 3.84 million workers by 2035*. Addressing labor shortages has therefore become an urgent priority for many organizations. Furthermore, inflation is accelerating and geopolitical risks are rising, among many changes taking place both in Japan and around the world. To achieve sustainable growth in today’s VUCA era, companies must be able to respond quickly and flexibly to changes in their environment. They must also attract and retain people who can adapt to these changes.

* Source: Persol Research and Consulting “Labor Market Forecast 2035”

Against this backdrop, human capital management and HR strategy are drawing increasing attention. Human capital management is a business approach that treats people as a form of capital and seeks to maximize their value to drive sustainable growth. HR strategy focuses on recruiting, developing, and assigning people with the right skills to help achieve business objectives. While many organizations recognize the importance of aligning HR strategy with business strategy, putting this into practice remains a challenge. We often hear from customers about challenges related to resources and expertise, such as a lack of specialized knowledge needed to build HR strategies based on business strategy, difficulties securing the personnel and budget required for execution, or simply not knowing where to begin.

For many years, Toshiba Digital Solutions has provided Generalist, a human resource management solution that supports HR, payroll, talent development, and other people-related operations (Fig. 1). It is used by more than 9,800 companies across a wide range of industries and has over 10 million licensed users*.

* As of September 2025.

Recently, rising prices and growing geopolitical uncertainty are making corporate decision-making increasingly difficult. Ad hoc responses alone are no longer sufficient to sustain business growth. Companies need to develop medium- and long-term HR strategies aligned with their business strategy, taking into account key business indicators such as profitability, efficiency, growth potential, and stability. Generalist's AI agents help organizations develop these HR strategies.

Specifically, users interact with multiple AI agents to explore and refine their HR strategies. The AI agents can also engage in discussions with one another. Users begin by providing their company's business strategy. By bouncing ideas off multiple AI agents with distinct perspectives, users can gain new insights and develop more effective HR strategies.

In addition to AI agents modeled after historical figures and HR consultants prepared by Toshiba, users can also create AI agents based on experts within their own organization.
Toshiba creates these AI personas based on text information such as a person's characteristics, values, behavioral traits, typical roles, and speaking style. Users can then select agents with contrasting perspectives—for example, the innovative Nobunaga, the adaptable Hideyoshi, and the conservative Ieyasu. By repeatedly moving between divergence (exploring options) and convergence (developing execution plans), users can examine issues in greater depth than would be possible with a single AI agent (Fig. 3).

To address labor shortages, HR departments must improve efficiency and automate routine operations. Dedicated AI agents handle routine tasks such as talent identification, payroll calculation and verification, attendance management, and employee support. An orchestration agent coordinates these specialized agents, significantly improving operational productivity. Ultimately, we aim for AI agents to handle approximately 60% of the workload involved in payroll operations.

HR operations include many processes where accuracy is critical, such as payroll calculation. Generalist already supports these processes through proven and highly accurate functions. We are now developing a mechanism that allows AI agents to execute Generalist’s proven functions while maintaining the high level of accuracy validated through years of use. For example, AI agents can automatically detect changes in payroll data and flag only exceptions, allowing personnel to focus on final review and approval. The system is also designed to work with automated scheduling based on payroll deadlines and policy updates, exception queues that collect items requiring review, and audit trails that record processing histories. These capabilities help prevent operations from becoming dependent on specific individuals while strengthening business continuity planning (BCP).

Generalist includes a wide range of functions that support HR operations end to end. AI agents help unlock the full value of Generalist. We have created an environment in which users simply provide their objectives and intentions, while AI agents help carry out workflows that span multiple functions. In this way, AI agents reduce the burden of routine tasks that have traditionally required significant time and effort.

Our vision is to transform Generalist with AI agents into what we call a “HR Department for Society.” Until now, HR data has generally been considered something that belongs solely to companies. Going forward, however, it will become increasingly important to recognize that this data also belongs to individuals. We envision a world where such data is not confined within organizations, but where individuals can safely carry their skills, learning records, and work experience across organizational boundaries. A world where information about a person's experience, knowledge, and skills can serve as their own personal guide, helping them create value in new roles and environments—both within and beyond their current organization.

For that vision to become a reality, society and industry need a shared understanding of skill levels. To support this goal, we established DSM Partners and are promoting the standardization of digital skills.* We believe that as common rules for utilizing this kind of data are established and adopted more broadly, talent mobility across organizational boundaries will become possible. When skills are standardized, companies gain a clearer understanding of the talent they need, making it easier for people to move between organizations. This will also enable more flexible ways of working, such as individuals supporting other organizations on a temporary basis. If such practices become widespread, they could help promote nationwide talent sharing and more effective workforce allocation. Of course, increasing talent mobility will not be easy, as it depends in part on the systems and policies adopted by individual organizations. Nevertheless, with a view toward a future where self-directed career development is seamlessly connected to learning opportunities and practical work experiences across organizational boundaries, we will continue building a foundation that respects both privacy and governance.

*DSM: Digital Skill Map. DSM Partners and its digital skill standardization initiatives are introduced on this page.

Guided by our vision of creating a better future for both workers and organizations, Toshiba Digital Solutions will continue to provide solutions that help companies across Japan sustain growth and compete successfully on the global stage. By reducing operational workloads through automation while accelerating progress through HR strategies aligned with business goals, we are pursuing practical applications of AI that support both objectives. We hope you will look forward to what comes next.