AI & the impact on learning

Your new robot friends

As AI technology continues to advance, our typical work days will evolve in ways that are still hard to fully grasp. With new AI tools appearing every week, Melissa believes more and more organisations will start to adopt AI-driven technologies to address pain points in recruitment, onboarding, learning, people data analytics and so much more, driving efficiency, productivity and employee satisfaction. 

While AI will change the landscape of HR dramatically, many L&D (learning and development) folks are left asking themselves, 'how will this affect me?'. With the help of AI, learning and development can be more personalised, efficient, and effective. AI can help identify knowledge gaps, recommend learning resources, and provide real-time feedback to learners. 

Lane believes that AI could be utilised to create customized learning paths for employees. He thinks that the degree of personalisation would determine the success of the learning path and AI could assist in suggesting the next steps based on an employee's previous actions or responses to a question or module. This type of personalisation would provide a unique learning path for each employee, rather than a standardised one and work effectively as a suggestion engine or guide.

For designers, your visual design, videos, voice-over, text etc can all be created using 'generative AI' tools such as OpenAI Dall-E and ChatGPT. These tools allow you to focus on curating, instead of designing from scratch - enabling you to create superior content in a fraction of the time. 

Predictions from the experts

Lane says "we've had rapid access to knowledge and we've all loved having Google, right? Tools like ChatGPT is the next step. We now have even quicker access to that knowledge and a way of, rather than just seeing a whole page of results, have it curated for you. If you can use a machine to do the kind of the grunt work, the heavy lifting, then you can really get the benefits out of the insights that it provides".

Melissa believes, “In the long term, you'll see individuals lean into using AI as a personal assistant on steroids. Instead of AI embedded by a corporate for company outcomes, you will see individuals leveraging AI for their work and personal tasks. I think we have seen a glimpse of that with ChatGPT, Alexa, Google maps, Grammarly, etc. but we will see this much broader and start seeing people utilising their individual AI tools in the workplace with one AI assistant that links them all, coaches and supports them.”

By automating mundane and repetitive tasks, HR and L&D professionals can focus on strategic initiatives that require human skills and decision-making. AI can also help teams identify patterns and insights in employee data to better understand and address workforce issues.

"Tools such as ChatGPT, Google Bard and Microsoft Bing chatbot etc are just an evolution of tools to make us more efficient. It may enable a person to format their thoughts more clearly than they could into multiple exciting formats and even languages and in a fraction of the time. You are still responsible for inputting and refining the output. Focus on how it can help optimise what you do."

Think of tools such as ChatGPT as the next step of Google, instead of looking through multiple websites for an answer to your question, just ask ChatGPT to create an answer for you.

Ethics & concerns

As with any new technology, there are going to be concerns around data privacy and security. Melissa acknowledges, “My main concern is data and manipulation of a person using their data, e.g., data captured for one purpose is used for another without a person realising.

I think the solution to this is better understanding of technology, data management and security by organisations, as well as transparency to employees. Therefore, companies need to ensure that they are using AI ethically and transparently, and not simply as a way to cut corners or exploit their employees. By using AI in a responsible and human-centered way, companies can unlock its full potential and create a better future for work."

But what does this mean for the future? It means that we all need to be aware of and realise the potential of AI as a valuable tool that can help us work more efficiently and strategically. As Melissa advises, “Don’t be afraid, be excited. Read up on it and have a play with it before you judge it. Focus on how it can help optimize what you do.”

As we continue to explore the possibilities of AI in the workplace, we should also remember to strike a balance between the benefits of automation and the value of human skills and decision-making.

With the right approach and mindset, AI can be a powerful ally in the world of work.