What happens when generative AI stops being a novelty and simply becomes part of how work gets done?
In episode one of the latest season of The Voices of The Learning Network, Bill Banham speaks with Donald H Taylor, one of the best-known voices in workplace learning and learning technology, about the impact of artificial intelligence on Learning and Development and the choices now facing the profession.
Don is Co-Chair of the Learning Technologies Conference in London, founder and lead researcher of the L&D Research Series, and the creator of the annual L&D Global Sentiment Survey. With almost 40 years working across learning design, delivery, technology, research and strategy, he has witnessed plenty of technologies arrive with promises to transform workplace learning. He believes the current AI shift deserves to be taken seriously.
The conversation looks beyond the initial excitement surrounding generative AI to ask what L&D should actually do with it.
Don describes the profession as reaching a fork in the road. One option is to use AI primarily to automate familiar L&D activities: producing courses, generating learning content and completing existing tasks more quickly and cheaply. But as AI makes content increasingly easy to create, content production itself becomes less valuable as a differentiator.
The alternative is potentially much more significant. L&D can use AI to remove old bottlenecks, tackle problems that were previously difficult or expensive to address, and become more closely involved in improving organisational and individual performance.
Bill and Don explore some of the practical opportunities already emerging, including the ability to analyse large volumes of workplace data such as call centre transcripts and use those insights to identify performance gaps and provide more targeted support.
They also discuss what happens when AI allows people outside traditional L&D teams to create credible learning and coaching solutions themselves. If colleagues in marketing, operations or other functions can build AI-enabled coaching tools without involving L&D, what becomes the distinctive contribution of the learning profession?
For Don, the answer is not simply about finally securing the much-discussed “seat at the table.” Influence comes from solving meaningful business problems. Whether the challenge is employee turnover, frontline performance or another organisational priority, L&D has an opportunity to demonstrate its value by focusing less on the production of learning and more on the outcomes the organisation needs.
The conversation also considers something AI cannot easily replicate: trusted human relationships. As technology becomes more capable and content more abundant, professional networks, conversations, trust and human connection may become even more valuable.
In this episode, we explore:
* What Donald H Taylor means by the “AI shock” and why L&D is entering a new phase of AI adoption * How generative AI is changing Learning and Development * Why learning content is increasingly becoming a commodity * The choice between using AI to automate traditional L&D and using it to expand L&D's role * Practical applications of AI in workplace learning and performance support * What it means when other business functions can create their own AI-powered coaching and learning tools * Why solving real organisational problems matters more than chasing a “seat at the table” * The continuing importance of trust, relationships, networking and human connection * What the rise of AI could mean for the future role of L&D professionals
If you work in Learning and Development, HR, talent development, organisational development, learning technology or workplace learning, this conversation offers plenty to consider about where the profession goes next.
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