What should leaders check before using AI savings to make workforce plans?
An AI efficiency estimate can describe one narrow task while the job around it includes coordination and responsibility that nobody measured. Map what the role really involves, and keep the uncertainty visible.
That gap was the workforce side of the accountability panel. I'd start with the role itself: sit down with whoever holds that job and lay out what they do all week, including the tasks that come up rarely but matter and the support they give other teams. Then mark which tasks your AI trial covered, and which it didn't.
Next, look at where the estimate came from. It might have been a demonstration, a small trial or regular operation, and review and recovery time may or may not be in the number. Optimistic assumptions turn into headcount numbers fast.
Faster output creates its own work
Maintaining sources and handling exceptions take capacity even when first drafts come out faster. So does supporting customers. A tool evaluation can inform a staffing discussion, but by itself it can't establish what a person or team is no longer needed to do. Take what you've found to the people who make workforce decisions and follow your organization's process.