The Sunday Funnies • February 9, 2026
Don't Blame the AI — Episode 4
I Don't Know These People
“If your HRIS has no API, we're both in trouble.”
Previously: Developer agents learned that “ask Mike” isn't documentation, especially when Mike left in 2022. This week: the HR agent enters the chat—and discovers a data nightmare.
“Am I eligible for parental leave?” — “Let me check... this 2019 draft says nothing about that.”
The Point
TLDR: If your HR system or SaaS provider doesn't have a good API, this is much harder.
HR is where AI agents go to die. Not because HR is hard, but because HR data is a disaster. Benefits in one SaaS, payroll in another, PTO in a spreadsheet Karen maintains, org chart in PowerPoint on someone's desktop (updated quarterly, maybe).
An HR agent needs: employee profiles, policy documents, benefits info, PTO balances, performance history, compensation bands, training records, and onboarding checklists. What it usually gets: a scanned PDF of the 2019 employee handbook (DRAFT).
Tech Gaps That Kill HR Agents
The Human Version
Every HR professional has answered “Let me check on that” while frantically searching through three different systems, two SharePoint sites, and asking Janet because “she's been here the longest.”
Want the full context? Read the companion blog post.
Read Freedom '26