Reality may have you feeling like you’re in the plot of a science fiction novel lately. But that’s just because AI (artificial intelligence) has been written about for over 150 years in some sense or another, whether as a dire fictional warning or a vision of something to aspire to. Today, with the advent of programs like ChatGPT showing the world what AI can do, it’s just a matter of time before we start incorporating more and more of it into our work.
What Is AI in Business?
So, how is it being used in the business world? According to McKinsey, AI adoption in the corporate world has more than doubled since 2017, going from just 20% of surveyed companies utilizing AI to 50% of surveyed companies using it. Businesses are clearly understanding the for many of their more mundane or even complex tasks.
AI in business can help with everything from hiring to training to upskilling and more. Machines and programs can take over many human tasks that would otherwise be too complicated or take more time, lowering accuracy and productivity. By using AI tools, workers are able to perform better and produce tangible (read: financial) benefits for the company.
How to Use AI for Employee Training
AI can be particularly beneficial for learning and development (L&D) or what we might today call “upskilling.” Employees need to continue learning and development to remain proficient at their jobs and keep performing at higher and higher levels. Workers may need to be trained in leadership techniques for the possibility of future advancement. There are plenty of applications of AI for upskilling. Here are some big ones.
Personalized Learning
AI systems can create personalized learning experiences for each employee based on their needs, preferences, and learning style. This helps increase engagement and retention of the information, making the learning more effective.
Adaptive Learning
Programs for employee training may have options to adapt a worker’s training on the spur of the moment. Dynamic and complex systems can adjust the difficulty, change up the sequencing of content, and keep employees learning at a steady pace.
Skill/Knowledge Gaps
AI programs can easily use simulations, automated grading, and adaptive questioning to test employees’ knowledge and proficiency at their work tasks and suggest customized learning solutions to help fill gaps.
Content Curation
When it comes to knowing what to study, AI programs can help curate content for workers for their particular needs. These algorithms can sift through thousands of articles and web pages to suggest only the most up-to-date and relevant sources for continued learning.
Virtual Assistance
Workers learning and developing skills through AI programs might run into problems or questions. Other AI coaching can supply answers by way of automated chatbots or virtual assistants.
Data Analytics
AI programs are great for processing data—large quantities of it. When you look at the data from L&D activities, you can see where employee performance or knowledge is lacking the most. You can also see learning patterns and judge the effectiveness of the training.
Where Is AI in Learning and Development Going Next?
Like in using AI for HR purposes, you can’t fully remove humans from learning and development activities. Upskilling is for human advancement and must be monitored by humans as well. This is why it’s critical to integrate workers with these AI systems, not use AI as a replacement, no matter how advanced programs get. AI is not an employee; it is a tool! That being said, AI can significantly enhance the way your employees perform, and it’s worth giving it a try.
How Can I Start Incorporating AI for Training?
Dale Carnegie’s research says that “managers and learning and development professionals can build strong partnerships between humans and new AI technology by focusing on three key areas of development for employees: fostering resilience in the face of change, building an agile workforce, and recognizing and rewarding emotional intelligence.”
Fostering resilience means overcoming obstacles, hardships, and failures that inevitably come with change. Building an agile workforce means having quickly and easily. Recognizing and rewarding emotional intelligence means finding and training potential leaders and putting them in empowered positions to manage others.
There are many benefits of artificial intelligence in learning and development—if you know how to harness them. But remember, the human element can never be erased. To keep the human aspect alive in upskilling, check out all the courses from Dale Carnegie.
Tsvetelina is a Digital Marketing Lead at Dale Carnegie and shares valuable international thought leadership research and studies' on the topics of creativity, innovation, remote work, social capital, employee engagement, leadership, and corporate culture.