Media and press
Johannes Sundlo, AI adoption and future of work expert
Former HR leader at Spotify. Has trained more than 150 organizations in practical AI, from Volvo and H&M to Swedish government agencies. Runs an annual survey of 700+ Nordic HR leaders on how AI is really used at work, one of the few original datasets from Europe’s early-adopter region. Keynotes at UNLEASH World, UNLEASH America and HR Technology Europe. Named to HR Executive’s Top 100 HR Tech Influencers four years running.
Same-day availability. Remote or on location in Stockholm, CET. English or Swedish. TV, radio, podcast, panel, written comment.
Ask me about
- The bottleneck is not the technology. It is that too few people dare.
81 percent of Nordic HR leaders have employer-provided AI tools. 25 percent use them in daily work. The gap is not budget or tech, it is who goes first and who is allowed to fail.
- Managers have to go first.
Employees whose manager uses AI are far more likely to use it themselves. No policy, platform or training replaces a leadership team that shows how it is done. That is where most rollouts break.
- AI is taking jobs.
Not all of them, not overnight, but the entry-level tasks that used to be the way into working life go first. I have data on how junior jobs are changing in Sweden and clear views on what employers, schools and policymakers should do.
- Stop piloting, start deciding.
Most organizations are on their third or fourth AI pilot. Pilots are the safe way to avoid a decision. The real question is which workflows change, owned by whom, by when.
- Recruiting is where the EU AI Act bites first.
AI that screens, ranks or evaluates candidates is classed as high risk under the EU AI Act. That covers almost every HR team using modern recruiting tools, including US companies hiring in Europe, and most do not know it yet.
Previous appearances
- HR Executive
- HR Technology Europe
- UNLEASH World
- UNLEASH America
- Redefining Work
- Now to Next
- Realtid
- HEJ HR!
- 2023 to 2026HR Executive: Top 100 HR Tech Influencers, four consecutive years
- August 2024HR Executive: AI expectations not being met? Keep adapting and upskilling, interview
- October 2023HR Executive: ChatGPT for HR, learn it now or risk being replaced, interview
- January 2025HR Technology Europe: Swedish HR lags behind in tech development, quoted and speaker
- KeynotesUNLEASH World, Paris and UNLEASH America, Las Vegas
- PodcastRedefining Work with Lars Schmidt: Practical use cases for generative AI in HR
- PodcastNow to Next with Jason Averbook: Practical AI for HR, curiosity and experimentation
- July 2026Realtid (Swedish business news): OpenAI shut down his AI tool, interview
Numbers nobody else has
From my annual State of AI in HR survey, 461 Swedish HR leaders and specialists, 2025. Free to cite with attribution: sundlo.com/state-of-ai-in-hr.
- 81%have employer-provided AI tools, up from 66% the year beforeState of AI in HR 2025
- 25%use AI agents in daily HR workState of AI in HR 2025
- 33%have received any formal AI trainingState of AI in HR 2025
- 47%of organizations have an AI policy, 44% have noneState of AI in HR 2025
- 7%worry AI will take their own HR jobState of AI in HR 2025
- 32%name budget as the top barrier, ahead of legal (30%) and tech (28%)State of AI in HR 2025
About Johannes
Short, 25 words
Johannes Sundlo is an AI adoption and future of work expert and former HR leader at Spotify. He has trained 150+ organizations and runs the FullStack HR newsletter.
Medium, 75 words
Johannes Sundlo is an advisor and keynote speaker on AI adoption and the future of work. After 15 years in senior HR roles, including Spotify and Avalanche Studios, he now works with leadership teams, managers and their teams who want AI to work in everyday practice. He has trained more than 150 organizations, runs the FullStack HR newsletter with 11,000 readers and publishes the annual State of AI in HR survey. HR Executive has named him a Top 100 HR Tech Influencer four years running.
Long, 200 words
Johannes Sundlo is an AI adoption and future of work expert based in Stockholm, and one of the Nordic region’s most sought-after voices on how AI changes work in practice rather than in theory. He spent 15 years in senior HR roles, including at Spotify and as People Director at Avalanche Studios Group, before founding his own practice focused on AI adoption in organizations. Since then he has trained more than 150 organizations, from Volvo and H&M to Swedish government agencies, in using AI on real work. He publishes State of AI in HR, an annual survey of Swedish HR leaders that documents the gap between access and use: 81 percent have the tools, 25 percent use them daily. Sweden is one of the world’s most digitally mature labour markets, which makes the data an early signal for what other countries will see next. Johannes has delivered keynotes at UNLEASH World, UNLEASH America and HR Technology Europe, and HR Executive has named him a Top 100 HR Tech Influencer four consecutive years. He runs the FullStack HR newsletter with 11,000 readers, the podcast of the same name and a free AI course for HR taken by thousands. His message is simple: the bottleneck is not the technology, it is that too few people dare, and managers have to go first.
- Role
- Advisor, keynote speaker and trainer on AI adoption and the future of work
- Previously
- HR leader at Spotify, People Director at Avalanche Studios Group
- Based in
- Stockholm, Sweden (CET)
- Languages
- English, Swedish
- Own channels
- FullStack HR, newsletter with 11,000 readers, and the podcast of the same name
- Recognition
- HR Executive Top 100 HR Tech Influencers 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026
Press photos
Free for editorial use with photographer credit. Click for high resolution.
See Johannes on stage
Clips from keynotes and interviews are coming shortly. Need material before then? Email and I will send it.
Practical
- Is there a fee?
- No. Appearances in journalistic contexts are free of charge.
- How fast can you be available?
- Usually the same day. Calling is fastest.
- Which formats?
- TV, radio, podcast, panel, written comment or quote. I also write op-eds and columns on request.
- What do you comment on?
- AI and work in the broad sense: how jobs change, leadership, skills, recruiting, the EU AI Act, HR. I bring original data and concrete examples from Nordic organizations.
- Swedish media?
- Yes. There is a Swedish press page.
