Before generative AI exploded in late 2022, Helena Almeida was already at the forefront of technology and AI initiatives at Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (ADP). As a member of the legal team at the payroll processing giant, Almeida has long navigated the many issues that AI in its various forms presents to the company and its users. It wasn't until 2025, however, that these challenges formally entered her title—first as AI Legal Officer, and then, on July 1, her title changed to Chief AI Legal Officer. She also serves as Vice President and Managing Legal Counsel at ADP.

In her new role, Almeida's scope of responsibilities will expand into more product compliance-related areas, while her previous work has included developing and managing the company's responsible AI initiatives. As technology evolves, she has noticed a significant increase in attention and questions from finance teams.

"It's an interesting evolution. Initially, when people really started asking more questions about AI and tools, the starting point was the IT department," Almeida told CFO Dive in an interview in late April. But over the past two or three years, "it has become a topic that HR leaders and finance leaders take very seriously."

CFO Dive recently spoke with Almeida about AI and how finance leaders are applying and integrating it within their companies. The following Q&A has been edited for brevity and clarity.

CFO Dive: What are the main questions you've been receiving recently from CFOs and finance teams?

Helena Almeida: One topic we discuss a lot is "human-in-the-loop." It has become a buzzword. We are exploring how to make it meaningful. Because, "human-in-the-loop" could just be someone sitting there clicking a mouse when the AI prompts an action. But what we think about is, how do we actually build a meaningful, critical moment of human intervention into our workflows?

"Human-in-the-loop" is not the same as meaningful human judgment. So, when you think about what matters most to finance professionals, payroll practitioners, and HR professionals, they are not looking for human oversight as a checkbox process... We all know AI can look very polished and persuasive, but our goal is to design a system that truly encourages a human to say "wait," to look at what they are seeing and judge whether it makes sense.

CFO Dive: Payroll processing is critical. What issues and pain points do CFOs need to understand around applying AI?

Helena Almeida: One of the challenges is building trust at scale... Many companies feel a tension: on one hand, they want to integrate AI into workflows, and on the other, they worry about moving too fast. Part of the magic—and something I'm proud of in my work at ADP—is ensuring we develop at the "speed of trust." That may sound like a slogan, but it truly is foundational. Responsible AI is not a constraint on innovation; it is what enables us to innovate and scale with trust.

CFO Dive: Can you talk about your role as a legal officer at ADP and what you have accomplished in that role?

Helena Almeida: ADP has a very robust governance system that brings together subject matter experts from the privacy team, security team, data team, product team, and HR and ethics groups to ensure we develop AI with all of those important perspectives in mind. So, whenever we bring AI into customer-facing products, or use it internally for employee-facing tools, we engage with finance, HR, and product leaders to ensure we are doing it in a way that truly solves problems... We have hundreds of ideas under consideration each week, and we have to think about which issues need to be prioritized.

CFO Dive: How has AI reshaped ADP's payroll processing platform?

Helena Almeida: We have an excellent product called ADP Assist. All of our customer-facing AI products fall under the ADP Assist umbrella and offer different capabilities. For example, one of them looks at payroll variances and missing tax IDs. We know that people don't always realize the various things that are triggered when hiring a new employee or entering a new jurisdiction, and we are working to make that process easier and reduce issues that could have been avoided with technology and processes.

CFO Dive: What advice do you have for finance teams looking to integrate AI into their systems, whether payroll or otherwise?

Helena Almeida: Don't try to layer AI on top of existing processes. This is an opportunity to examine your complete workflow and get at the real problems and obstacles relevant to your company.

HR and finance definitely should both have a seat at the decision-making table. These leaders really need to be actively involved, without feeling like they have to know how to develop AI agents or write code. What they bring isn't necessarily technical expertise, but finance's focus on control and accuracy, and HR's focus on how workflows affect the people in the enterprise, are both critical... Frankly, getting these things right is key to improving adoption rates within the company.