GenAI: Balancing The Need For Caution With The Pressure To Adopt
First of all, let's address the elephant in the room: Will genAI make L&D departments (and professionals) obsolete?
We're inclined to agree with our Magic 8 Ball: Very doubtful.
We're optimistic about our fellow L&D practitioners' ability to adapt and upskill to this new technology, and with 3 out of 4 knowledge workers across all generations using genAI at work, many of us have at least been dabbling. [1]
True, genAI is already transforming our lives and will continue to do so in unpredictable ways. But so did Google, smartphones, and the internet itself—and none of those technologies have made our profession obsolete.
What they have done is challenge us to hone our already-acute attention to the learners' context and reimagine learning for an audience with 24/7 access to smart tools.
That's why humility is vital: With increasing access to information, we L&D folks need to keep finding fresh ways to add value. The days of delivering learning solutions that are a straight "tell" to a captive audience are over—and rightfully so.
"AI won't replace your job, but someone working with AI will."—Cathy Hackl, Author, Speaker, and CEO of Spatial Dynamics, and Irena Cronin, CEO of Infinite Retina[2]
AI won't rewire our brains, at least not overnight. What L&D experts know about the human brain and how adults learn still holds true. In the words of Don Norman, author, user experience expert, and cofounder of the Nielsen Norman Group, "Technology may change rapidly, but people change slowly."[3]
Building Codes For GenAI-Powered Learning Strategies
We recommend approaching genAI as another tool we can use to engage learners and challenge ourselves (and our stakeholders) to offer continuous, flexible, adaptive, and relevant learning experiences.[4]
Of course, a successful genAI solution requires a great deal of surveying, planning, and blueprinting on the back end. Below are a few of the building codes we need to build genAI-powered learning strategies and solutions that benefit our people, our organizations, and society as a whole.
Value
Value is a priority for our business partners, and genAI tools can help us solve the ongoing challenge to deliver quality learning solutions within ever-tightening budgets and timelines. These productivity increases are often palpable in the near term: A recent global survey shows that organizations that invested in genAI in 2023 are already seeing a return on their investments.[5]
GenAI can also help us in our ongoing mission to scale high-touch, high-value learning experiences to a wider audience. To maximize our impact and avoid redundancies, L&D teams also need a clear picture of the genAI tools currently in use to help us recommend new solutions that leverage existing resources and create a one-stop shop for our audiences.
Data Protection And Privacy
In our eagerness to increase value for our business partners, it's tempting to grab one of the many genAI tools from the marketplace. But without a thorough understanding of how a tool—or a vendor using the tool on our behalf—will use, store, and maintain our data, any quick wins in value and productivity may carry a steep long-term cost. Vulnerabilities can put our people, intellectual property, and reputation at serious risk.
Note: This process cannot be a solo adventure! Our legal and IT folks will need to be at the table to unpack the details and assess the risks. Their involvement is mission-critical, so be prepared to embrace it and address their concerns.
Human Oversight And Ethics
GenAI has great potential, but it needs human oversight to filter out misinformation and bias. That requires regular evaluation of genAI outputs for quality and compliance with organizational values and ethics, including diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB). For example, our team conducts regular "training" and Turing Tests with genAI-infused learning and coaching solutions to ensure that their outputs meet (or exceed!) our rigorous standards of accuracy, reliability, and alliance with our values.
Authenticity
Here's something we don't hear often enough: Sometimes a genAI tool isn't appropriate.
When the human voice, experience, consciousness, or emotions are critical to the learning experience, we need (wait for it!) a real person. Human language, culture, and emotional intelligence took millennia to evolve, and it shows.
GenAI is no match for our great speakers, writers, and artists. Where it can serve a valuable purpose is when we're seeking to support a task, evaluate performance, gather information on demand, and offer real-time coaching.
In fact, when paired with virtual reality (VR), a genAI coaching experience increases emotional immediacy, on-the-job transfer, and retention and decreases time to competence. In this safe, virtual practice environment, learners are exposed to a wider range of experiences than they would encounter in several months (or years) on the job. A genAI- and VR-powered solution also supports learners' ability to learn through experience and develop resilience.[6]
Get The Ultimate GenAI Playbook
Are you ready to discover more about the ways genAI can deepen skill development, enhance the learning design and development process, and empower our people to meet the future of work? Download The GenAI Playbook: An L&D Innovator's Guide To Leading-Edge Learning Transformation for an insider's look into genAI use cases, custom learning solutions, and a people-first approach to a genAI learning strategy.
References
[1] 2024 Work Trend Index Annual Report
[2] Hackl, C., & Cronin, I. 2024. Spatial Computing: An AI-Driven Business Revolution. Wiley.
[3] Norman, D. A. 2013. The Design of Everyday Things: Revised and Expanded Edition. Basic Books.
[4] L&D Trend Spotlight: SweetRush's Learner-Centered Design Model
[5] The State of AI in early 2024
[6] Experience Required: How Virtual Reality Supports Learning and Skilling in a VUCA World
