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We are at a moment where the choices leaders make about technology will say more about their values than any policy or statement ever could.
For HR leaders, that creates a real balancing act: how to move fast and stay competitive, while remaining deeply human in how change is experienced by our people.
At Philip Morris International (PMI), our ambition to be a global smoke-free champion has made that challenge central to how we think about leadership and change. As our work becomes more digitally and AI-enabled, we have had to be intentional about how people develop, how decisions are made, and how trust is built and sustained.
That is where HR (People & Culture) must lead: not by controlling technology, but by setting the guardrails that promote transparency, reinforce fairness, and embed empathy, keeping people at the centre of progress.
Start with culture, not code
A few years ago, we set out to be clear about the behaviours we expect of ourselves at PMI.
That work resulted in the PMI DNA: a shared set of values and behaviours that guide how we work and lead: We care. We are better together. We are game changers.
At PMI, we are clear that AI is there to support people, not replace their judgment. In high-stakes decisions such as hiring, internal mobility, or performance, people remain firmly in the loop
We created it through employee listening, focus groups, and cross-functional co-creation.
Those same values and behaviours now guide how we deploy AI. When people recognise their fingerprints on the system, trust follows, and so does use. In our 2025 employee listening survey, 94% of colleagues reported awareness of the PMI DNA, 91% expressed confidence in it, and 79% said senior leadership acts consistently with it. That level of cultural alignment is what gives us the license to scale AI responsibly.
Principles before platforms
At PMI, we are clear that AI is there to support people, not replace their judgment. In high-stakes decisions such as hiring, internal mobility, or performance, people remain firmly in the loop. Context, judgment, and empathy are essential to making better and fairer decisions, not obstacles to efficiency.
We are piloting generative AI in practical ways that help frontline teams respond faster, support more personalised interactions with consumers, and give employees better tools to find information, create content, and get work done more efficiently. We measure success by the outcomes these tools enable, not by the tools themselves. What matters is whether decisions are easier to understand, outcomes are stronger, and the experience is genuinely helpful for the people involved.
That principle shapes how we govern AI. Technology can surface insights and accelerate decision-making, but it can also introduce bias or remove nuance if it is not carefully guided.
That is why AI at PMI acts as an enabler, not a decision maker. We combine data with human judgment and are clear about how recommendations are formed, what information is used, and how it should be interpreted. When people understand the reasoning behind decisions, trust grows and responsible adoption follows.
