PHILADELPHIA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb 25, 2026--
Phenom, the leader in applied AI that helps organizations hire faster, develop better and retain talent longer, today announced an expanded AI & Automation Learning Lab will return to IAMPHENOM 2026, now featuring the new Agent Center dedicated to agentic AI at work. The lab will showcase more than 75 HR use cases across job roles and industries on the exhibit floor of IAMPHENOM, taking place March 10–12 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia.
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Building on the hands-on learning experience first introduced at last year’s conference, the 2026 edition of the lab reflects how quickly AI and automation are reshaping talent operations and how far most organizations still have to go. According to Phenom’s inaugural State of AI & Automation for HR: 2026 Benchmarks Report, 83% of organizations demonstrate low AI and automation maturity in human resources, and 30% of HR professionals report limited knowledge of how to apply AI in talent acquisition and management.
The AI & Automation Learning Lab delivers immersive, station-by-station experiences across industries including healthcare, manufacturing, financial services, retail and hospitality. The new Agent Center spotlights agentic AI capabilities, showing how AI agents work alongside talent acquisition and management teams to automate multi-step workflows, surface intelligence and act on behalf of recruiters, HR business partners and hiring managers, without sacrificing the human judgment that matters most. IAMPHENOM attendees will explore AI and automation technologies and their impact throughout the talent lifecycle:
NEW: Agent Center Dedicated to Agentic AI at Work
The Agent Center demonstrates how talent teams can best work with agents to orchestrate hiring workflows, automate busywork and deliver hyper-personalized experiences; all governed by industry-specific ontologies and compliance guardrails. Featured agents will include:
The AI and Automation Lab for Human Resources
The AI & Automation Lab will also feature eight self-service stations, including a new mobile station, highlighting use cases across hiring, development and retention:
New: Levels of AI & Automation Maturity Center
A dedicated AI & Automation Maturity Center will help HR and TA leaders understand exactly where they are today, and where they need to be next. Built on Phenom’s proprietary AI & Automation Maturity Model, the center measures adoption across two dimensions: Intelligence, ranging from No Intelligence (Level 0) to Fully Integrated (Level 5); and Automation, ranging from No Automation (Level 0) to Fully Integrated Automation (Level 5). Attendees can get expert guidance on their current level of AI and automation maturity across talent acquisition and talent management, identify gaps, and prioritize next steps toward a future‑ready operating model.
“The data makes clear that most organizations are still in the early stages of putting AI to work in HR, and there’s enormous upside for those who become educated and move deliberately,” said Jonathan Dale, Vice President and General Manager, Global Marketing at Phenom. “The expanded Learning Lab and new Agent Center put real solutions in their hands so they can see exactly what’s possible.”
To register and explore the full agenda, speakers and conference details, including the expanded AI & Automation Learning Lab and Agent Center, visit IAMPHENOM.com. Register before February 28 and save 25% with Go Birds! Pricing.
About Phenom
Phenom is an applied AI company with the only AI infrastructure built specifically for HR. Powered by Engines that harmonize data, Ontologies that guide every decision, X AI that hyper-personalizes experiences, Agents that work alongside teams, Phenom’s platform uses industry and business context to automate workflows, eliminate busywork, and enhance every experience while remaining compliant. Driven by a purpose to help a billion people find the right work, no other company is as dedicated to helping organizations hire faster, develop better and retain longer.
Phenom has earned accolades including: Inc. 5000’s fastest-growing companies (6 consecutive years), Deloitte Technology's Fast 500 (5 years), 11 Brandon Hall ‘Excellence in Technology’ awards including Gold for ‘Best Advance in Generative AI for Business Impact,’ Business Intelligence Group’s Artificial Intelligence Excellence Awards (3 consecutive years), The Cloud Awards 2025/2024, The A.I. Awards 2024, and a regional Timmy Award for launching and optimizing HelpOneBillion.com (2020).
Headquartered in Greater Philadelphia, Phenom also has offices in India, Israel, the Netherlands, Germany and the United Kingdom.
For more information, please visit www.phenom.com. Connect with Phenom on LinkedIn, X, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and TikTok.
Phenom announced an expanded AI & Automation Learning Lab will return to IAMPHENOM 2026, now featuring the new Agent Center dedicated to agentic AI at work. The lab will showcase more than 75 HR use cases across job roles and industries on the exhibit floor of IAMPHENOM, taking place March 10–12 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia.
NEW YORK (AP) — Scottish entrepreneur Mike Welch made his fortune as an online tire retailer. But he says he might've traded that lucrative career for one in funeral services if not for an intervention from the charity of King Charles III.
A dyslexic teenager from a working-class background, Welch struggled with his college entry exams and took a job installing tires after leaving school at age 15. When he lost that gig, he lined up at the Liverpool job center. The job board featured a funeral director's listing — a “great career," he's sure, but “pretty grim" — and an advertisement for a charity event where entrepreneurs could win business grants.
Welch took that one and, less than 24 hours later, found himself inside a church filled with vintage furniture and friendly grandparents. It looked nothing like ABC's “Shark Tank," but he recalls feeling very much like one of the reality show's contestants as he described his proposal to sell cheaper tires to niche customers like his friends who drove souped-up cars.
That was Welch's first interaction with the then-Prince's Trust, which became known as The King's Trust when King Charles III became Britain's ruling monarch in 2023. “It wasn’t a well thought out plan, really,” said Welch, who is now based in Florida. “But they backed me. And they backed my enthusiasm. And they gave me a chance.”
Generations of Brits can tell stories similar to Welch, thanks to The Prince's Trust and The King's Trust, which have been supporting young people launch their careers since 1976, when then-Prince Charles took his Royal Navy severance pay and established the charity at a time of great economic distress for the United Kingdom. In the past 50 years, the King's Trust says it has reached more than 1.3 million young Brits through its education and employment initiatives, creating numerous success stories including those of celebrated actor Idris Elba and noted fashion designer Ozwald Boateng.
As Charles and Queen Camilla continued their first state visit to the U.S. since he became king, they nodded to The King's Trust with a gala Wednesday in New York, as the charity works to deepen its impact in more than two dozen countries including the United States. Attendees included Anna Wintour, Charlotte Tilbury, Donatella Versace, Lionel Richie and Martha Stewart.
At the event, Charles emphasized that “potential and latent talent truly knows no bounds once you help develop it.”
“I won't see the long-distance future,” he told attendees. "But I'm enormously grateful to you all for what you can all do as supporters to help this vital endeavor, to champion the next generation, ensuring their talent and ambition continue to strengthen our societies for many years to come.”
Members of the British Royal Family have traditionally served as patrons of charities, boosting awareness and fundraising for existing organizations in the areas where they rule as nobles. Observers say Charles' lasting interest in young people's employment is evident as he continues lending his title to its expanding work.
The trust's programs reach young people through schools and established nonprofit partners. They include Get Hired, which helps young people land their first jobs, and the Development Awards, a grant that helps them afford purchases to advance their careers such as a laptop or professional clothing.
The Enterprise Challenge is an afterschool program where students develop businesses that address a problem in their community.
“What we see every time is that young people want to be helped. They want to be taken seriously,” said Jeremy Green, a trustee of the King’s Trust Group Company and chair of the King’s Trust USA. "And it’s not just giving them money. It’s giving them opportunity.”
LaKenya Sharpe, principal of The Collins Academy High School in the Chicago neighborhood of North Lawndale, said being taken seriously by such an organization has meant the world to her students. They won King's Trust US' Enterprise Challenge for launching a business that grows and sells fresh vegetables to stores in their area, which lacked access to stores that sold produce.
The “babies” in her community often feel as if no one pays attention to them, she said.
“This shows that they can achieve anything," Sharpe added. "Their belief now is ‘Oh, other people are watching. Other people are seeing this.’ And they ask "How far can this go?" My answer is, “It can go as far as you guys take it. Don’t let anything limit you.'”
Wednesday's gala aims to showcase “the very best of British-American philanthropy through the individual arts, culture, investments between the two countries,” according to The King’s Trust USA CEO Victoria Gore.
The gala arrives at a moment of unusual tension between the elected leaders of the two longstanding allies. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s refusal to support the United States’ war in Iran has angered President Donald Trump.
Charles noted the “wonderful opportunity” to celebrate “the enduring cultural bond” between the two countries, whose relationship he said is “rooted in shared creativity, enterprise and values.”
“Reminding us we are truly greater together. That's the point,” Charles told attendees.
The trust’s leaders emphasized they'd been planning anniversary celebrations long before the recent rift. But Charles' emphasis on the country’s deep philanthropic ties could serve as a reminder of their shared interests, said JP Tribe, a senior lecturer in law at the University of Liverpool who has written about royal patronages.
Tribe hoped the gala showed “that both countries have and can continue to engage in very positive public benefit activity that helps the most disadvantaged in our society.”
The King's Trust US has set a goal to reach 1,000 young people in the United States this year.
Their biggest partner in that effort is City Year, the education nonprofit that introduced The Collins Academy to The King’s Trust and sends young adults to help teach in schools nationwide. AmeriCorps members are helping them pilot a version of the “Get Hired” program. They're also relying on the nonprofit Per Scholas and Maryland school districts to test some other programs.
Gore said student participants tend to be very focused on their immediate communities. The goal is to show them they can have an impact where they live.
"Keeping employment in communities and keeping people in communities is actually the key to everyone’s success," Gore said.
Welch said it doesn't require giant investments to make an impact. He received a 500 pound ($677) grant and, perhaps more importantly, a mentor who provided office space for the nascent company that he’d eventually sell for 50 million pounds ($68 million) to Michelin.
He said the blueprint for The King's Trust's expansion to succeed already exists. It's just a matter of building relationships with on-the-ground partners who can reach the people with the most need.
“What we see in Chicago, what we see in Orlando, is really no different -- with obvious local nuances," said Welch, who launched his latest venture the Anglo Atlantic advisory and investment firm. "But it’s not very different to what we see in Liverpool, Birmingham, Manchester.”
Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.
Lionel Richie speaks during a cultural reception with Britain's King Charles III and Queen Camilla, Wednesday, April 29, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura, Pool)
Lionel Richie speaks with Britain's King Charles III during a cultural reception Wednesday, April 29, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura, Pool)
Britain's King Charles III speaks during a cultural reception Wednesday, April 29, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura, Pool)
Britain's King Charles III speaks with Christian Turner, British ambassador to the United States, during a garden party at the British Embassy, Monday, April 27, 2026, in Washington. (Roberto Schmidt/Pool via AP)
Britain's King Charles III meets with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House, Tuesday, April 28, 2026, in Washington, during a State Visit. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
