AI Shakes Up Global Payroll by Bridging Compliance Chaos

When most people think of innovation in the workplace, payroll isn’t the first thing that springs to mind.

But in today’s hyper-connected world, work is no longer defined by borders. Companies hire talent from São Paulo to Singapore, often in the same week. Yet while the ways in which businesses grow their workforce has evolved at lightning speed, how those same companies pay their workers, especially across international boundaries, has lagged behind due to its inherent web of jurisdictional landmines, compliance headaches and siloed systems.

“Global payroll is still a very complex process, one that is very fragmented and includes a lot of manual work, plus involves many compliance elements that are not fully technical,” Amit Levi, chief product officer at Papaya Global, told PYMNTS.

For multinational organizations, the stakes are high: regulatory missteps, delayed payments and a lack of real-time visibility into labor costs can cause financial and reputational damage.

“If you think of the standard payroll controller,” Levi said, “they’re on their toes. They’re always worried. Because something’s going to happen, somebody’s not going to get paid, or they’re going to miss some regulations.”

It’s a pressure cooker that 21st century back offices know well. But the heat may finally be easing as the convergence of artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, automation and digital finance appear poised to rewrite the operational DNA of payroll.

Global Payroll Pain Points Meet AI Progress

To understand the opportunity, it helps to understand the problem. Processing payroll in one country is challenging enough: tax codes change, benefits evolve and compliance standards grow ever more complex. Scale that complexity across dozens of countries, each with its own regulations, currencies, languages and employment laws, and it becomes clear why global payroll is a logistical minefield.

AI isn’t new to business operations, but its application in payroll is just beginning to show its full potential. Unlike traditional automation tools that follow rigid workflows, AI systems can learn, adapt and make context-driven decisions. This opens the door to smarter payroll processes that are not only faster, but more accurate and scalable.

“Can I, as the chief payroll person in the company, allow myself not to interact with AI? The answer is 100% no,” Levi said. “AI is real. Unlike other buzzwords we heard in the past, AI is real.”

He added, “Processes that used to take days are happening in an hour.”

One of the most promising applications of AI in global payroll is in compliance. Regulations vary wildly from one country to another, even from region to region within the same country.

“If you have global workforce in 30 locations, each jurisdiction has its own rules and regulations, and you simply don’t have the expertise in-house,” Levi said. “But what we see today is that companies are able to leverage the power of AI to constantly source local regulations and also to effectively surface them.”

AI, he noted, won’t make legal decisions. But it will provide a rich layer of data for human experts to interpret. “People can see alerts; people can see suggestions from AI … This really reduces load and makes the process more streamlined,” he said.

The Holy Grail of Global Payroll Is One System

Another revolutionary concept emerging in payroll is the decoupling of salary from geography. With employees working remotely around the globe, the one-size-fits-all local bank deposit model is showing its age.

“Today, payroll makes people be attached to their bank,” Levi said. “But very soon, we will see payroll companies offering wallets to the employees … I will own my payroll. Not my bank.”

In this scenario, employees could choose to keep their earnings in USD, convert them to local currencies or even hold digital assets like cryptocurrency.

“Maybe I want to convert some to cryptocurrency,” Levi said. “And we see this maturing. I won’t be surprised if in a year, we’ll see 10% of global workers getting paid in cryptocurrency as the main currency.”

Ultimately, Levi envisions a “gold standard” payroll experience that seamlessly integrates every function: HRIS, ERP, payroll, contingent workforce management and even payments. This all-in-one hub doesn’t just simplify management — it enables real-time collaboration and issue resolution.

“What we see the most advanced clients ask for is one place for everything,” Levi said. “Whether I have payroll employees, contingent workers in 30 different locations, or I use 20 different in-country partners, I want to see everything in one place … If I have any issue with something that is late or data that was not uploaded correctly, I can be alerted, I can see immediately and I can ask my team to work on that.”

No more scattered spreadsheets, email chains or delays, he said. The goal is actionable intelligence, always available.

Central to this ability are advances such as Papaya’s own “cycle manager agent,” an AI tool that tracks the entire payroll process.

“It knows all of the steps in the cycle, and it’s able to identify any issue throughout the cycle. It doesn’t operate on its own yet, but it can reach out to individuals and escalate if needed,” Levi said, noting that eventually payroll may operate via a constellation of agents, each handling a specialized task and orchestrated by a master agent that directs queries and workflows.