The Rise Of AI In L&D

How AI impacts business outcomes and future endeavors

L&D is undergoing a major transformation because of the rise of artificial intelligence. AI is actually revolutionizing talent development. And if you want your organization to remain competitive, you have to be on pace with today’s rapidly evolving tech.

But how do employees feel about the current training opportunities that are offered? And, are they willing to get deep into AI to prepare for the future? In eLearning Industry’s The State Of Employee Experience report, we’ve unraveled shocking stats about employee engagement, AI fears, company culture issues, and onboarding fails. Plus, we got a better idea about what’s making employees want to leave a business for a better workplace. And it’s not just pay.

To give you a glimpse of the survey results, 1 in 4 respondents worry that new technologies will replace their job or change its requirements (39%), while the prospect of learning how to use them is overwhelming for 40% of workers. Also, employers may want to re-evaluate their orientation programs, as 1 in 3 employees said they came to regret joining the organization during their onboarding phase. 

What about your workforce? Can you improve your training programs with the use of AI?

Let’s see how AI is transforming L&D and in what ways companies can incorporate AI into their training strategies. 

How AI Is Impacting Employee Digital Learning

There are plenty of benefits of AI for L&D, for example, it can be used to increase efficiency and scalability or even offer personalized learning experiences based on the skills gaps that each learner needs to cover. Also, AI can help L&D increase ROI. By using AI effectively, you can create more customized content faster. 

To add to the above about personalized experiences, AI in learning tech can help an employee receive the required training at the point of need. It doesn’t have to be event-based anymore. Nor do you have to develop a one-size-fits-all method. Moreover, consider that many of your employees might want more training on AI tools before using them for work.

L&D and HR professionals have started noticing the significant challenges that come into play when the skills gaps cannot be closed. In fact, maintaining this gap is not good for businesses in the future. 

Thus, all companies and HR departments can utilize AI to close the skills gap. AI can be part of the answer to solving this problem, and you can use different types of AI technology to do it. 

How Companies Can Incorporate AI into L&D Strategies

There are many ways companies can incorporate AI into their L&D strategies. Let's see some examples.

●  Implement AI-Powered LMS Tools 

LMS tools out there have come a long way, so now your learners can utilize L&D programs on demand. Allowing your employees to tune into content when and where they want is even easier with AI. You see, new AI tech serves learners with the right training at the right moment. 

Also, modern LMS tools help you monitor learner progress and even keep track of their career journey by using trackers and mapping career paths. What's more, AI helps predict employee learning and development needs and aids you in making decisions for career advancements. Thus, deciding who is better suited for specific projects. 

Finally, AI is a handy tool for offering personalized learning experiences. You can go beyond the traditional one-size-fits-all learning program. Such tools allow you to create customizable training, be it language, learning style, or communication preferences, you can give learners control over their learning.

●  Leverage Workforce Analytics

For starters, you can use AI to dive deep into workforce analytics and boost your HR reporting confidence. 

Getting better reporting can help you improve business return on investment. At the same time, you get to save time and money and can even improve company culture. 

In addition, AI-enhanced workforce analytics will have a more significant impact on employee performance and engagement as you'll know more about your learners and their behavioral patterns.

●  Try Out Artificial Mentoring

Artificial mentoring is another solution where you can deploy AI. By doing so, you can initiate personalized and engaging experiences not only for certain learners but you can roll out artificial mentoring for your entire organization. 

There is no doubt that we will soon be able to use AI to provide virtual coaching on-demand. Training can often be costly, but making artificial mentoring and virtual coaching more accessible will be convenient for employees. 

Not saying that AI in its current form can compete with highly experienced certified coaches, but in the near future, things will change, and AI will be able to exhibit more conversational skills, empathy, and critical thinking.

●  Use Augmented Content for Engagement 

Take advantage of new tech like virtual reality-enabled content to create more engaging training for your learners. It's a great solution to improve internalization. Plus, with VR-enabled content, employees can apply what they learned in skills and behavior in their day-to-day work more effectively. 

Being able to create interactive simulations and gamification will certainly pump up your training initiatives. Use AI to create interactive simulations for your learners. When you gamify learning, you can make it more engaging and have more chances for your learners to remember what they were taught. 

Also, try out role-playing scenarios. Till now, doing so with peers was a common tool. With AI, you can enhance role-playing scenarios and help your employees practice new skills by customizing them in real time. AI can be used to offer engaging training content to your teams when and where they need it. Not just during mandatory training or group workshops.

Key Takeaway

Business is changing. And AI is gonna play a big part in this equation. So, whatever you think about AI, be sure that it will undoubtedly change the way we live and work. And this change is going to happen in multifaceted and complex ways, particularly in human resources. Start preparing for the coming years because it’s a change we won’t be able to avoid. 

One thing is certain, poor training, combined with a lack of transparency and communication, are contributing to toxic and disengaging workplaces. And this is something smart business owners want to avoid. 

Incorporating AI into your L&D strategies can help fix that! Organizations worldwide have to start paying notice to what employees want and need. 

Most importantly, leaders must take action and start planning for the future. 

Christopher Pappas is the Founder of eLearning Industry. Christopher, who holds an MBA, and an MEd (Learning Design) from BGSU, is an eLearning blogger, EduTechpreneur, eLearning analyst, speaker and social media addict. Connect Christopher Pappas Follow @cpappas