Generative AI’s Impact on Learning and Development

Generative artificial intelligence (GAI) isn’t new technology, but it’s suddenly become a hot topic. There are 33x as many LinkedIn posts mentioning topics like generative AI and GPT than there were one year ago.

Companies have been incorporating AI into their technology products for decades, but OpenAI has democratized it for everyone to use in both personal and work applications.

Some speculate that the impact of AI will be similar to the industrial revolution, leaving many to wonder how it will impact their jobs — for better or worse. HR industry analyst Josh Bersin estimates that 8% of jobs will be upgraded and enhanced by AI over time, while additional jobs will be created to harness it.

Learning and development teams will most certainly be transformed by this quickly expanding technology. Embracing GAI now can help you get ahead in the industry.

How GAI will impact workplace learning programs

Platforms like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and DALL-E 2 are already being widely used to draft written and visual content for a variety of use cases — including workplace learning. For example, you can ask ChatGPT: “Produce an outline for a leadership development course” or “Produce a video script for healthcare compliance training.”

Many other technology solutions incorporate GAI into their platforms as well and the race is on for more vendors to do the same.

The rapid rollout out GAI solutions has the potential to cause an enormous disruption in the learning and development space, as GAI can be used for:

• Content creation: AI is quickly advancing beyond generating text and images to create videos, audio, presentations, simulations, and assessments. Content can be easily repurposed from one format to another, such as turning text into videos and vice versa, so you can easily accommodate different learning styles.
• Adaptive development plans: Everyone learns differently. GAI will be able to create employee development plans and adjust the difficulty level, pace, and content of the learning materials to accommodate each learner’s progress and performance.
• Learning program communication: Use GAI to help you draft or refine employee communication about your professional development program and specific learning opportunities. This can include everything from course summaries and learning objectives to new course announcements and employee recognition emails.
• Knowledge discovery: AI-powered chatbots or virtual assistants can analyze vast amounts of data, such as documents, reports, and articles, to extract relevant information and generate summaries or recommendations. This will empower your team members to find and learn the right information the moment they need it.
• Skills gap analysis: Skills gaps are a common challenge for organizations and will continue to widen as jobs evolve. GAI can help you identify missing or underdeveloped skills on your team so you can build targeted development programs that address your gaps. 
• Succession planning: GAI will be able to analyze employee performance and competencies to help you identify and develop high-potential employees for future leadership opportunities. 

As GAI becomes more sophisticated and more GAI tools emerge, potential applications will continue to expand.

Benefits of GAI for learning and development teams

Using GAI for a variety of tasks can lead to higher productivity, more creativity, and better decision-making. Microsoft’s Work Trend Index found that  76% of people plan to use AI for administrative tasks, such as finding the right information and answers, summarizing their meetings and action items, and planning their day. Many also plan to use it for analytical (79%) and creative work (73%).

Automating many of your day-to-day tasks can free up your time to create more strategic, engaging learning experiences that produce better business outcomes. 

For example, you could:

• Spend more time with individual team members to learn about their strengths and interests so they can be matched to appropriate learning opportunities and career paths. Strengths-based learning can result in up to 23% higher employee engagement and 73% lower attrition.
• Broaden your employee development offerings to include elements like coaching, formal mentoring, or a returnship program. These can be particularly beneficial to employees from historically marginalized groups.
• Expand your focus from your organization’s current needs to look toward your future talent needs and projected skill gaps. Upskilling your team can help you adapt to emerging trends and future-proof your organization.

Important considerations when incorporating GAI into your L&D program

Generative AI can have an incredible impact on your organization, though it has some significant challenges that you’ll need to consider before incorporating it into your L&D program.

ChatGPT, for example, openly shares, “While we have safeguards in place, the system may occasionally generate incorrect or misleading information and produce offensive or biased content.” They continue, “Conversations may be reviewed by our AI trainers to improve our systems. Please don’t share any sensitive information in your conversations.” In short, the use of GAI comes with concerns about accuracy, ethics, and confidentiality — and these concerns aren’t exclusive to OpenAI products.

This shouldn’t dissuade you from using GAI, but rather highlights the importance of putting guardrails in place to use it responsibly. Work with key stakeholders within your organization to build guidelines for using GAI responsibly.

Your GAI policy might include:

• Which GAI tools are approved for use
• When to use GAI — and when not to
• What types of information should not be used as an input
• Prompt engineering best practices to maximize productivity
• Fact-checking requirements to ensure high-quality, accurate content

Final thoughts: GAI is transforming the world of work

Generative AI is quickly gaining traction, with 43% of professionals already using it in some capacity at work. Adoption is only going to grow as GAI is incorporated into more of the tools people utilize in their day-to-day workflows.

Embracing GAI now can help you learn to harness this technology to build a stronger L&D function that helps you future-proof your workforce. In our rapidly evolving world of work, staying on top of these emerging trends can be career-changing.