The rapid advancement of Artificial Intelligence is fundamentally reshaping the landscape of corporate learning and development. As AI tools become increasingly sophisticated, readily providing information and automating tasks, the very nature of what needs to be taught and how L&D teams operate is undergoing a dramatic shift. This critical theme was recently explored on the "Future of Edtech" podcast from Open eLMS, featuring host Emil Reisser-Weston in conversation with Adam Lacey, co-founder of AssemblyU. This discussion highlights how Open eLMS is at the forefront of understanding and addressing the evolving needs of modern corporate training.
Adam Lacey's company, AssemblyU, has made significant strides in online learning by pioneering audio-first content, recognising a gap in the market for well-designed business learning in an audio format. His extensive experience in designing and building online learning experiences, coupled with AssemblyU's innovative use of AI, positions him as a key voice in understanding how organisations are adapting to new skill requirements and the challenges facing traditional learning content. The discussion delved into the evolving skills gap, the role of human judgment, and how AI can be leveraged to enhance, rather than diminish, the quality of learning and development.
Key Takeaways from the Discussion:
- Knowledge is Commoditised: AI tools like ChatGPT make information freely and instantly available, shifting the focus of L&D from knowledge transfer to developing intangible human skills. This necessitates a new approach to corporate training.
- AI Automates Admin: AI is expected to significantly reduce administrative tasks for knowledge workers and L&D professionals, freeing them to focus on higher-value, human-centric activities and strategic learning design.
- The Rise of "Power Skills": Training must now concentrate on critical thinking, judgment, and interpersonal skills, which are increasingly vital and often less developed in digitally native generations. Open eLMS helps organisations develop these crucial skills.
- Human-Centric Learning Remains Key: Experience, practice, and human connection through stories and examples are crucial for developing these complex skills, even in an AI-powered learning environment.
- AI for Enhanced Learning Delivery: AI offers immense potential for personalised learning journeys, real-time scenario practice in safe environments, and efficient content management, significantly reducing L&D's administrative burden.
- Quality Over Quantity: While AI can rapidly generate content, human craft, design thinking, and a focus on engaging, high-quality experiences will differentiate effective learning from "crappy," forgettable content. Open eLMS Learning Generator ensures quality.
- Accountability is Human: AI cannot be accountable; humans remain responsible for the decisions and outputs of AI systems, necessitating robust guardrails and human oversight in all learning management system applications.
- Beyond Completion Rates: The podcast advocated for moving past "completion" as a primary learning metric, instead focusing on measuring actual skill development, behavioural change, and business impact through richer data and AI-driven sentiment analysis, a capability enhanced by Open eLMS's custom reporting.
The Shifting Landscape of Knowledge and Skills
The conversation began by addressing the profound impact of AI on knowledge itself. As Adam Lacey observed, knowledge is becoming increasingly commoditised. With tools like ChatGPT, detailed explanations and answers are instantly available, making the traditional notion of rote learning and simple knowledge transfer obsolete. The role of L&D is not disappearing, but rather "shifting and changing towards a set of skills that are far more intangible but far more important than they've ever been."
This shift means that the focus for corporate training is moving away from memorisation or simple information recall. Instead, L&D professionals must concentrate on cultivating skills that AI cannot replicate – those requiring human judgment, critical thinking, creativity, and complex interpersonal interaction. Open eLMS understands this evolution, providing an L&D platform that supports the development of these essential human capabilities.
AI's Promise: Less Admin, More Value
One of the most immediate impacts of AI on the workplace, particularly for knowledge workers, is the reduction of administrative tasks. Emil Reisser-Weston and Adam Lacey discussed the potential for AI to automate much of the mundane, repetitive work that often consumes a significant portion of a professional's day. This automation, as Lacey highlighted from AssemblyU's own experience, allows organisations to raise the bar on output quality and efficiency, previously requiring substantial investment.
The promise is that by offloading administrative burdens to AI, human workers can dedicate their time and cognitive energy to tasks that genuinely require a "human lens" – adding value, ensuring accuracy, and applying nuanced judgment. This aligns perfectly with Open eLMS's vision of leveraging AI to empower L&D teams, freeing them from administrative overhead to focus on strategic learning design and employee performance improvement.
Training for Intangible "Power Skills"
The core challenge for L&D now lies in how to train for these new, intangible "power skills." Adam Lacey emphasised that experience, practice, and repetition are crucial. Learning to exercise judgment, for instance, often comes from making mistakes and understanding what went wrong – a process that requires human intervention and real-world context.
The discussion also touched upon the unique challenges presented by younger generations entering the workforce. Gen Z and Gen Alpha, growing up in digitally native environments, may have fewer opportunities to develop interpersonal skills through face-to-face interactions. This creates a "double reason" for organisations to prioritise training in areas like conflict resolution, collaboration, and empathy, as these skills are not only vital in an AI-augmented workplace but also increasingly "missing" from foundational development. Human connection, stories, and examples become paramount in inspiring and resonating with learners, fostering the critical thinking needed to apply knowledge effectively. Open eLMS's comprehensive L&D platform supports diverse learning modalities to address these critical skills gaps.
AI's Role in Enhancing Learning Delivery
While AI changes what we teach, it also dramatically transforms how we teach. Adam Lacey articulated the exciting opportunities for AI within digital learning:
- Personalised Learning Journeys: AI can instantly tailor learning paths to individual needs, adapting difficulty and content, a core feature of an advanced learning management system.
- High-Fidelity Practice Environments: AI can create safe, realistic scenarios where learners can practice new skills, make mistakes, and receive real-time feedback without high-stakes consequences. This fills a crucial gap where traditional digital learning, limited by multiple-choice tests, often falls short.
- Reduced L&D Admin: AI can automate tasks for L&D professionals, from content development to tracking and chasing learning, freeing up time for strategic design and human-centric interventions.
- Embedded Learning Principles: AI can support the embedding of effective learning techniques like spaced repetition, ensuring knowledge retention and skill mastery.
This transformative capability allows platforms like the Open eLMS Learning Generator to go beyond simple content creation. By leveraging AI to generate custom eLearning courses, videos, podcasts, and gamification in minutes, L&D teams can focus on the strategic design and human oversight that ensures quality and relevance, making Open eLMS a leading AI course creator.
The Art of Quality Content in an AI World
The ease of AI-generated content raises questions about quality. Adam Lacey predicted a "messy bottom of content" created quickly and cheaply, contrasted with a "premium layer" where "thought, effort, human craft" have been invested. He drew a parallel to art forms, arguing that education materials, like books or paintings, benefit from nuance and human touch. The goal, he asserted, should be to create learning that people want to engage with, rather than content they merely have to complete.
This distinction is crucial for fostering a positive learning culture. Organisations that invest in human-led experiences, interviewing experts, and crafting inspiring stories will reap rewards, while those relying solely on generic AI-generated content risk widening the gap between positive and negative associations with learning. Open eLMS understands this, which is why its AI-powered Learning Generator focuses on creating engaging, high-fidelity virtual learning worlds, ensuring that the technology serves the art of learning design, rather than replacing it, solidifying its position as a top online learning software provider.
Modalities and Maintenance: The Practicalities of Learning Content
AssemblyU's success with audio-first content highlights the importance of meeting learners where they are. Lacey noted that while audio is excellent for behavioural skills and "dead time" learning (commuting, exercising), technical skills often require visuals. AssemblyU's library reflects this, with a mix of audio and video content. The key is to make learning "as easy for a learner as possible," pulling down barriers and giving them "something worth coming back to."
Maintaining the relevance of learning content, especially in rapidly evolving fields like AI or compliance, is another area where AI proves invaluable. AssemblyU uses a cloud application to audit its extensive library, flagging outdated references or potential issues. This allows human intervention to update content efficiently, ensuring accuracy and continued value. This proactive approach to content curation is critical for any robust learning management system, especially for compliance training where out-of-date information can have serious consequences. Open eLMS, established in 2003, leverages AI to ensure its 4,200+ CPD-accredited courses and client-generated content remain current and effective, making it an ideal employee training platform.
Accountability: The Uniquely Human Imperative
A central theme of the podcast was the indispensable role of human accountability in an AI-driven world. Adam Lacey firmly stated that AI is not a person; it cannot be held responsible. If an AI automation makes an error, the fault lies with the human who set it up. This means that despite increased automation, humans must remain "in the loop," taking responsibility for decisions and understanding the processes.
This "accountability piece" is a significant challenge for organisations adopting AI-first approaches. As reliance on AI grows, there's a risk that humans may become less fastidious in checking outputs. Therefore, L&D and EdTech providers have a crucial role in helping people understand how AI works, the guardrails required, and the importance of human oversight. The ability to practice in "psychologically safe environments" – created by AI – allows learners to develop judgment and experience without real-world risk, bridging the gap between theoretical knowledge and practical application within a corporate LMS.
Redefining Success: Beyond Completion Rates
To conclude, Adam Lacey passionately argued for a fundamental shift in how learning effectiveness is measured. "Completion is a completely useless metric," he stated, highlighting that it only shows intent and activity, not actual skill development, attitude change, or impact. He expressed hope that as businesses gather more data, it will become easier to attribute learning and development efforts to "causal events" within an organisation, moving beyond the limitations of SCORM and traditional compliance metrics.
Emil Reisser-Weston echoed this sentiment, noting that AI, through tools like sentiment analysis and comprehensive data integration, makes it possible to gather richer insights from across the business. This allows L&D teams to move beyond simply tracking "how much crappy learning has been completed" to truly understanding its effectiveness and impact on performance and behaviour. Listening tools, for instance, offer an enormous bank of data for self-improvement and identifying tangible outputs from human interactions, providing a pathway to more meaningful measurement. Open eLMS LMS, with its powerful custom reporting with Power BI integration, is designed to help L&D managers measure training ROI and demonstrate real business impact.
The future of EdTech, as this discussion highlighted, is not about replacing humans with AI, but about empowering them. It's about leveraging AI to automate the mundane, free up human potential, and focus on developing the uniquely human skills that will drive success in a rapidly changing world. Open eLMS is proud to be a trusted partner in this transformation, offering a one-supplier solution for all your learning and development needs.
Ready to transform your organisation's learning and development with cutting-edge AI?
Discover how Open eLMS LMS provides a comprehensive, one-supplier solution for all your training needs, from personnel management and live learning to advanced skills monitoring and custom reporting with Power BI. It's the best corporate LMS for modern businesses.
Unleash the power of Open eLMS Learning Generator to create custom, engaging eLearning courses, videos, podcasts, and gamification in minutes, leveraging AI to save time and elevate content quality. It's your ultimate AI-powered course generator.
Visit https://www.openelms.com to explore our AI-powered solutions and join the future of corporate training.