A recent McKinsey survey reports that 63% of companies that adopted AI into their operations in 2023 reported revenue increases. According to another Accenture report, AI is expected to double the efficiency of the workforce and boost profitability by an average of 38% by 2035, according to Accenture’s prediction.
Clearly, the prevalence of Artificial Intelligence is here to stay, as it presents unique advantages of operational efficiencies, accuracy, cost benefits, and better people utilization. However, this AI dominance poses never-before threats and challenges. As AI and Generative AI (Gen AI) take over routine tasks, people feel they are at risk of losing their jobs. In fact, PwC’s research brings to light how 37% of respondents expressed worry about automation putting jobs at risk – up from 33% in 2014 .
According to an IMF report, AI will affect almost 40% of jobs around the world, replacing some and complementing others. In advanced economies, that rises to 60% of jobs, with about half being negatively impacted
AI is undoubtedly transforming the skills landscape, evolving new kinds of tasks and jobs and forcing people to upskill and reskill to stay relevant. Organizations too must adapt and support their people to build new skills and work closely with machines. As the AI-Human symbiosis becomes stronger, AI has a direct impact on organizational learning and development.
AI in learning and development
As AI reshapes how people learn, work, and chart their careers, L&D sits at the centre of organizational agility, delivering business innovation and critical skills.
To keep pace with the pace of change, organizations and their workforce must engage in continuous learning. This is best done by leveraging Gen AI, digital assistants, chatbots, and machine learning, that understand, learn, and then act based on information and insights gathered. Here are some AI tools for L&D to enable data-driven learning decisions:
Learning intelligence for skills predictions: Predictive analytics tools analyse learning data and help L&D leaders predict current and future skill needs more accurately. It can also provide deeper insights on external elements like the skills market, mobility trends, and career pathways.
Machine learning for personalized learning journeys: Backed by data, AI has the capability to create hyper-personalized learning recommendations and learning pathways, suited to each learner’s style. AI can thus enable continuous learning.
Gen AI for learning content: The continuous creation capabilities of Gen AI can help L&D professionals design learning content on an ongoing basis and as per evolving learner needs and learner preferences.
AI-powered digital coaching for Leadership Development: AI-powered digital coaching platforms are the latest in leadership development and help curate personalized coaching journeys. Data-driven coaching can help leaders gain insights into their own behaviours and biases.
AI-powered workforce tools for productivity: The manager’s job is no longer manageable. More than three quarters of employees place increased importance on manager support, while managers juggle 51% more responsibilities than they can handle, according to Gartner. AI can help free up bandwidth for managers and help them focus on more value-adding agendas. This also applies in the employee development space, as AI can help managers support their teams’ learning and career priorities logistically.
AI-led career paths: To truly imbibe continuous learning, learners should be self-driven and self-motivated. AI-led, data-backed career pathing recommendations can allow more individuals to chart their professional destinies.
Organizations must work towards assimilating AI in corporate learning and integrating digital solutions to create a frictionless and highly engaging working environment that facilitates learning in the flow of work. Being digital in thought, word and deed is a must for people and organizations to become future-proof.
Cultivating a conducive culture
However, this digital readiness does not come easy.
73% of respondents, PwC reveals, think technology can never replace the human mind. Yet, only about 50% of employees trust their organizations as per Gartner’s research, in the wake of intense volume and pace of change.
Human-AI symbiosis represents a powerful partnership that can augment learning roadmaps, driving efficiency, personalisation, and innovation in employee learning development. To thrive in the AI era, companies must empower everyone to grow; leaders must equip humans to work alongside and along with machines. This begins with HR driving a culture that is supportive of data insights and collaboration, both within L&D and organization-wide.
At the same time, giving impetus to soft skills is critical to equip people to bring the ‘human element’ to the table.
It is L&D’s responsibility to make those learning avenues available, accessible and engaging for learners, and cultivate a strong data-driven yet human-led, learning culture. There is a long way to go – As of February 2023, just weeks after the launch of ChatGPT, only 5% of respondents were using AI and a further 6% were planning to. It is high time for L&D professionals themselves to become digitally curious and explore opportunities for increasing the impact of AI. At the same time, they must be aware of the pitfalls, from ethical concerns to data privacy laws, and much more, in the quest to elevate the man-machine liaison.
The way ahead
At the core of any L&D effort, is to align learning with business goals. L&D leaders must move away from measuring ‘vanity metrics’ such as employee satisfaction and number of trainings delivered, and shift towards productivity, productivity, retention, and real business impacts. This will help align individual aspirations with organizational business priorities and will help L&D reap the benefits of man-machine collaboration.