The AI revolution is coming to L&D

While this shift can be challenging, it offers corporate learning and development (L&D) teams added impetus to build a more skilled and adaptive workforce at scale and speed.
Generative AI (Gen AI) can create learning content to support a range of evolving learning needs. When trained on company data, Gen AI allows for personalised learning, firm-wide knowledge sharing, and real-time career mapping as skills are acquired.
All of this will enable L&D professionals to drive transformative change, as Gen AI democratises knowledge and employers prioritise human talents and skills as the true currency of work. Yet within this opportunity, there’s a challenge: 58% of executives currently agree that digital innovation is outpacing their firms’ ability to retrain employees.
C-suite leaders value AI and L&D separately, yet many do not see how one is affected by the other. While three in four executives would keep or increase their spend on AI and L&D in response to financial pressure, most executives think that Gen AI will inhibit learning (58%) rather than enhance it (42%).
Increasingly, the legacy model of corporate L&D teams taking weeks (or even months) to produce and deliver content (often in a one-size-fits-some format with a limited shelf life) is no longer fit for purpose. However, thanks to AI, a more dynamic and flexible future beckons.
AI use cases for corporate L&D
AI will transform the L&D function
For L&D professionals, AI offers an opportunity to become more efficient and strategic. It will also allow them to promote learning and development as key strategic drivers for their organisations.
A recent Mercer analysis found that AI and automation will likely augment some L&D activities, such as programme design and programme delivery, while leaving corporate learning strategies to the people. This shift will allow L&D experts to evolve beyond the busy work of traditional training, and to focus instead on learning enablement, curation and governance.
Time by task: L&D versus AI and automation
AI will empower the L&D function to support strategic workforce planning through skills-related insights and interventions. This will help organisations shift from costly “churn and burn” strategies to more cost-effective and sustainable reskilling and upskilling programmes.
L&D professionals will also be able to use predictive AI and analytics to find and anticipate skills shortages. They will then be able to use Gen AI to build skills internally to meet demand — especially the digital and transferrable skills required for the jobs of the future.
HR Leaders: What approaches have been most successful in ensuring you have the skills you need in your organisation? (Select all)
The future of corporate learning
Senior Partner, Global Transformation Services Leader
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