The professional services giant has revealed that its custom-built AI assistant, named Kai is also programmed to recommend relevant job openings based on a candidate’s location, experience, and stated interests.

KPMG’s bold foray into AI for talent acquisition is already delivering significant results. The professional services giant has revealed that its custom-built AI assistant, named Kai, has cut interview scheduling time by 58%—dropping from an average of one hour to just 25 minutes—and saved over 1,000 hours for its talent acquisition team in just over a year.

The AI-driven transformation was led by Sandy Torchia, KPMG’s Vice Chair of Talent and Culture, who set out with two clear goals: provide job candidates with round-the-clock access to information, and free up her team to focus on more strategic aspects of hiring.

“The notion of freeing up time to focus on more strategic initiatives is so important,” Torchia told Fortune. “It’s not only giving [the team] back hours, but it’s increasing job satisfaction because they’re able to reduce the time it takes to complete an administrative task that isn’t super rewarding and focus on something else.”

Kai was developed in partnership with Paradox, a hiring software company that specialises in conversational AI tools. The bot answers common questions about KPMG’s hiring process, benefits, working hours, and more—especially useful for candidates who want answers outside of regular business hours. In fact, 33% of the 23,000+ enquiries handled by Kai in its first year came in after 5 p.m.

Beyond answering questions, Kai is also programmed to recommend relevant job openings based on a candidate’s location, experience, and stated interests. Impressively, around 21.5% of users who receive these tailored suggestions express interest in the roles presented.

Paradox CEO Adam Godson emphasised that the success of Kai lies in its narrow, focused application. “It’s not about automating as much of the process as you can,” Godson said. “It’s about picking the spots where automation makes sense. You can use AI for everything, but candidates don’t want that, and recruiters don’t want that.”

While automation is proving to be a powerful efficiency driver, KPMG is keeping a human touch where it matters most. Candidate screening and interview decisions are still handled through traditional methods, ensuring cultural fit and personal interaction are not sacrificed in the name of speed.

“It’s still super important to have a human in the loop,” Torchia added. “Because you can learn about our culture by asking questions, but you’re not going to experience it until you talk to someone.”

As companies across industries look to AI to streamline recruitment processes, KPMG’s approach stands out: targeted automation that solves specific pain points, while preserving the human connection that defines a meaningful candidate experience.