For decades, learning and development (L&D) operated within an outdated framework: linear e-learning courses, in-person training sessions, and pricey LMS systems. Most organizations continue to rely on costly, oft-clunky, tools that don’t meet business or workforce needs, and their use has never impressed those with the purse strings.
That model, and all the challenges that came along with it, is primed to change, and change dramatically, according to global HR industry analyst Josh Bersin in a new study on AI in L&D.
“The infrastructure that was created was the learning experience is a course and the platform is an LMS, and the platform doesn’t know what the course is doing, and the course doesn’t know what the platform is doing. So the platform gives you very little personalization in your learning experience because of the architecture,” Bersin told HR Brew at the Cultivate Talent Summit in Southern California.
Instead of slide decks, expensive video content or scheduled training sessions, employees increasingly desire learning experiences that mirror how they consume content online in their everyday life.
“I think young people have been conditioned to learn through TikTok videos and small snippets and not sitting down for eight hours, 10 hours, 12 hours, to go through a linear course,” Bersin said.
AI is allowing learning platforms to shift into responsive assistants that are capable of creating custom learning content, answering real-time questions, and adapting to each employee’s pace and needs.
“In the new paradigm, the content and the platform are the same thing,” Bersin said. “The platform is dynamically creating the content for you based on your needs…it can give you an AI tutor; it can give you an AI assistant; you can ask it questions; it will ask you questions.”
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AI-powered learning platforms can meet employees where they’re at. He means that literally too: whether it’s transforming learning content to a podcast to listen to along a morning commute or right inside the flow of work allowing the learner to ask questions on a topic as they’re performing their tasks.
“There’s still a need for what you might call long-form content, but I think the long-form content gets consumed as you need it. We don’t force people to spend three hours clicking through stuff. I don’t think that’s gonna happen very much,” he said.
L&D is no longer just about skill-building, according to Bersin. It’s about equipping workers to respond quickly to change, accessing support in the flow of work, and taking control of their development.
“How do you measure the ROI of AI-based learning? You’re never going to be asked for that anymore, because [learners are] going to get the answers to their questions,” he said. “The reason you’re measuring ROI is because you spent $500,000 on a bunch of courses, and you don’t know if anybody’s using them, and you’re a little worried that somebody’s going to take your budget away.”
Bersin in May launched Galileo Learn, the Josh Bersin Company’s new learning solution and first offering for entire businesses, rather than just the HR org.
“We’re wired as learning creatures,” he said. “If we can stimulate that natural thing, [learners are] going to be happier, they’re going to be more productive, they’re going to be more successful.”
