Hospitality has always been about people. The law is just catching up.

As the technologist in the room looking through the lens of the melding of industry workforce and the application of technology, I find this development curious for a number of reasons:

AI Singling Out: It's interesting to see the specific technology of AI singled out. Leveraging technology and automation has been a long-time lever for adjustments to traditional manpower models. AI is simply the latest lifecycle iteration.

The Ideological Paradox: That a communist system has taken a strong stance on the impact to the labour workforce and useful employment.

The Leadership Domain: The truth of the matter is that despite the application of AI, the determination to eliminate people sits clearly in the domain of leadership. Technology possesses no agency; it does not fire staff. Choosing to be opportunistic in reduction of manpower missed the point.

The conclusion I draw is that we have long had the wrong relationship with technology and the business of hospitality. Technology and people are mutually inclusive.

Technology provides competitive advantage to business. It does not follow that this requires the removal of our valuable hospitality professionals. If you become faster, higher and stronger through leveraging technology, it follows that you can also support the hospitality experience and the workforce.

The recent court ruling highlights an important principle: AI adoption should not be a labor replacement solution. The more meaningful question is how AI can help employees work smarter, more efficiently, and ultimately more effectively.

Hospitality has always been a people-centered industry. While AI can automate repetitive tasks, it cannot fully replicate empathy, judgment, cultural understanding, or genuine human connection. Instead of having AI work alongside people, the industry requires workers to use AI effectively to enhance service quality and guest experiences.

The ruling also reminds businesses that technological transformation is a management choice. Hospitality leaders should not measure AI success by the number of positions eliminated, but by how much value it creates for employees, guests, and organizations.

For example, AI can support scheduling, forecasting, training, information retrieval, and service personalization. By reducing time spent on routine tasks, employees can devote greater attention to guest engagement, service recovery, problem-solving, and leadership development, leading to higher employee and guest satisfaction.

Ultimately, the goal is to create workplaces where AI amplifies human potential, enabling employees to deliver greater value, build stronger relationships, and create more memorable experiences. Empowered by AI, employees can work with more than “two hands” and solve more complex challenges.

Hospitality has never been just about systems, processes or efficiency. It has always been about people. The ruling highlights an important point: AI may change how we work, but it should not change what hospitality stands for.

As an industry, we should not see AI only as a way to reduce labour costs. That would be a very limited and dangerous view. Technology can support better scheduling, quicker communication, guest data, forecasting and routine administration. But it cannot replace the human judgement, warmth and emotional connection that define a memorable guest experience.

The court ruling is a reminder that people cannot simply be treated as a cost to remove. Hospitality businesses need to think beyond short-term savings and focus on long-term value. A skilled, motivated and emotionally intelligent workforce is still the strongest competitive advantage this industry has.

For hospitality education, this is a clear message. We must prepare students not only to use technology, but to lead with it. Digital skills will matter, but so will communication, empathy, teamwork, cultural understanding and ethical decision-making.

The future should not be AI replacing people. It should be people, supported by AI, creating better workplaces, better service and stronger hospitality careers.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is here to stay, however, I agree, it does not replace people-to-people service. The issue with technology in general is that our industry needs to balance efficiency and effectiveness. That balance is that technology, AI et a.l, can be good tools but the efficiency of a business should mean more time providing high-quality service. Offering courses and content on service(s) management is critical to developing the next generation of leaders.

Given that the U.S. economy is approximately 80% service sector, the importance of a service and technology balance is critical. Thinking back to the pandemic, our program remained connected with our graduates who, if their hospitality positions were eliminated or frozen, found employment throughout the diverse service sector; that are retail, grocery, healthcare, human resources and more. We have embraced the fact that our graduates that have a hospitality business degree and are service advocates are prepared to work in and or beyond hospitality. To reiterate, our industry needs to strike the balance of technology and service, remembering that AI is a tool to use to accomplish our goals. The next generation and our graduates can embrace that reality.