Disney Promotes AI for Annual Reviews

The group encourages its employees to rely on chatbots to prepare their self-assessments and set their goals, using approved prompts and tools like Microsoft Copilot. Academics and HR professionals praise the time savings but point out the risk of more generic evaluations and similar objectives.

Risks of Generic Evaluations and Cloned Objectives

Academics are warning about the effects of widespread use of chatbots for evaluations. Chris Dellarocas from Boston University believes that when AI writes the assessments, everyone appears excellent, making it harder to discern real excellence amid generic praise. Elijah Wee from the University of Washington anticipates that AI-generated objectives will be very similar within the same team, complicating the managers' tasks. If many employees follow similar guidelines, managers may face a large number of standardized responses. For Sarah Franklin, companies must ensure they do not delegate human judgment in these processes.

Productivity Gains Described by Recruiters and Employees

Greg Summers, CEO of Orion Talent, finds AI useful for compiling individual and team achievements during evaluations, freeing up time to focus on upcoming goals. A software engineer from Disney reports that their manager encouraged the use of AI to review the past year in order to finalize the evaluation on time, a typically very manual and time-consuming exercise. More broadly, AI can save many hours in the annual process for both employees and supervisors.

Internal Guidelines: AI Allowed, but Reflection Not Delegated

Disney encourages its employees to use AI tools to prepare their self-assessments and define their goals, including soliciting chatbots to generate improvement suggestions. However, the company permits the use of approved solutions, such as Microsoft Copilot, as brainstorming partners for employees. Chatbots are presented as supports for inspiration and tone adjustment, but without entrusting them with substantive thinking. The responsibility for clear alignment with the manager on priorities remains explicitly with the employee.

Provided Prompts to Frame Objectives and Development

Employees have access to examples of requests to guide the generation of objectives. They are specifically asked to formulate three ambitious, specific, and measurable goals aligned with their team's objectives for FY26. Another guideline involves building an objective that supports progression based on the development areas from the previous year, as listed in the FY25 year-end summary. A third example targets improving the way to express a leadership expectation or a Disney value.

Expanded AI Strategy at Disney, in a Sector-Wide Movement

The company has structured its shift by implementing an AI adoption dashboard and opening the creation of AI-generated advertisements for Disney+. Under the leadership of Josh D’Amaro, technology has become a priority, highlighted by the mid-September hiring of the company's first Chief Technology Officer from Character.AI. In a memo, D’Amaro made technology serving creativity one of his three priorities as CEO. This use of AI for evaluations is part of a broader trend where large groups, like Meta and Amazon, are revisiting their evaluation processes with these tools. Sarah Franklin notes that these companies are looking to extract value from their investments in AI.