AI can now generate a working HR tool from a plain-English description, and the adoption numbers behind that shift are real. For any organisation weighing up its HR technology, it raises a fair question: if software is this cheap to produce, why buy a platform at all?
This paper argues that the question is the wrong one. Generating an application and managing a workforce are different problems. One is solved at the moment of creation; the other has to keep working through employment law changes, security exposure, and everything a growing business asks of its people data.
Written with Factorial, it sets out a five-layer view of HR technology, the Employment Rights Act 2025 changes landing through 2026 and 2027, and two tests for deciding what is worth building and what is worth buying.
