Automation, Efficiency, Simplicity: Why 360Learning is Betting Big on AI for L&D

If you’ve been paying attention to the world of AI lately, you’ve heard it all. More specifically, you’ve seen the range of reactions to the potential uses–and misuses–of tools like ChatGPT. 

“It’s the biggest leap forward since the Internet.” “It’s just weird and creepy.” “It’ll be the end of L&D as we know it.” “It’s only speeding up existing trends.”  

So, should we in L&D pop the champagne, or sound the alarm? What do sophisticated tools like ChatGPT really mean for L&D teams? And how can we channel this powerful technology to help people to develop the right skills at the right time?

In this article, we’ll help you tune out the noise and understand the true promise of AI for L&D, skills, and talent. We’ll show you why we at 360Learning decided to be the most advanced learning platform leveraging AI, and how our early investments are already paying dividends through innovations like our new AI-powered question generator: QGen.

Tune out the noise: AI can help us do more of what matters

Given all the hype around recent developments in AI, it’s tempting to imagine a techno-dystopia where we’re all replaced by super efficient robots. But in reality, the only thing we should be worried about is missing the huge opportunities AI presents for L&D to do more.

Just as the advent of the PC and the Internet helped people unlock greater efficiencies and focus their time on more critical tasks (for the most part, anyway), recent advances in AI can help us save time and focus our energies on what really matters: skills. 

Let’s think about course creation. If we diagnose a learning gap around GDPR basics, for example, generative AI tools could help us create a course in a fraction of the time it would have taken before. That’s because we can use a tool like ChatGPT to suggest a course outline based on our proposed course title; summarize course content into key takeaways; and even generate questions or quizzes capturing key pieces of information.  

In this example, we can see how AI tools can help us lift our focus from rudimentary or repetitive tasks, freeing up time we can put to better use. For example, we could spend this saved time working with teams across the business to identify important skills gaps and curate learning experiences to match these.

Of course, generative AI tools can’t develop courses entirely on their own–at least, not yet. That’s because tools like ChatGPT still make plenty of mistakes due to their inability to account for context or correct factual inaccuracies in the data they’re using. So, while we can use these tools to speed up and automate elements of course creation, it’s still far better for L&D leaders to work alongside subject-matter experts to develop, review, and improve learning content.

Now, let’s dig a little deeper on how we can use AI to solve the skills puzzle. 

Looking for new ways to put AI to work? Check out our free cheat sheet: 5 ways to leverage AI tools in your L&D workflow.

How AI can help us solve the skills puzzle

Ask any L&D Director, VP of Talent, or CHRO about the biggest organizational challenge they face right now. Nine times out of ten, it’s understanding the skills they’ll need to thrive in the future.

At present, organizations set learning priorities through a mix of learner requests, top-down directives from company leadership, and manager or coach suggestions. But setting these learning priorities can be subjective, and doesn’t always provide the right balance between individual ambition and the skills your company will need to stay on top in the future. 

AI technology has the potential to balance out this subjectivity by offering neutral assessments of learning priorities based on quantifiable skills gaps and market information. This can help L&D teams everywhere shape engaging courses, and prescribe the right learning experience to the right learner and the right time. It can also assess actual learner improvement post-training.

This technology also has the potential to diagnose skill gaps within an organization, analyze the market to establish future needs, and help L&D teams and talent leaders develop and source the people with those skills. Over time, we think AI has the potential to shape the way we think about the capabilities our organizations need–and maybe even solve the skills puzzle for good.

We can think about these AI applications within different types of learning tools: 

• Learning Platforms: Within learning platforms, AI has the potential to automate many compliance and instructor-led sessions, helping to optimize delivery costs, speed up repetitive tasks, and free up L&D teams to create bigger impacts elsewhere.
• LXPs: By using AI to analyze learning needs and prescribe learning content to support skills development, we can create learning experiences tailored to match the needs of each learner and nurture the skills our organization will need in the future. 
• Capability Academies: Capability Academies are dedicated learning centers supporting functional or topical areas, offering the right combination of skills, knowledge, and experiences people need to succeed within a company. AI technology can help L&D curate the right mix of expert-driven content they need within these Academies.

And speaking of learning tools, we’ve got some exciting news to share…

Introducing QGen - our new AI-powered question generator: tailored content, faster

At 360Learning, we bet big and early on AI for the benefit of learners everywhere, incorporating this powerful tech into our recommendations and search features. Now, we’re thrilled to announce a big step forward with our new AI-powered question generator: QGen. 

With this feature, authors within our platform can now create custom quizzes with a single click by selecting their preferred course content and letting our generative AI automatically suggest questions for them. And because no one knows your content as well as you do, once the questions are ready, you can review or modify them as needed. With our AI-powered question generator, we propose and you approve. Simple as that.

This new feature helps to save both time and creative energy, freeing authors up to focus on creating more impactful learning experiences. And because we’re never done innovating, we’re also working on new ways for our users to harness the power of AI in suggesting course outlines and descriptions, and tagging keywords within learning content. So, stay tuned for more news! 

And if you’d like to see our QGen feature first-hand, you can sign up for a free trial of our platform.

Conclusion: We’re betting big on AI for L&D

At 360Learning, we were early investors in the potential of AI tools to transform L&D and help learners develop the skills they need to stay competitive. Rather than being afraid of the future of L&D with tools like ChatGPT, we think L&D leaders should be excited about the potential to create more impactful and efficient learning experiences.

But to do that, we need to remember why we’re here in the first place: to give people the support they need to do bigger and better things. And with tools like our new AI-powered question generator feature, we can offer this support in a faster and more responsive way.

AI as a field is changing rapidly, and this incredible pace of recent developments in AI has the potential to reshape L&D a lot in the next two to five years. At 360Learning, we’re always looking for better ways to put this technology to work for learners everywhere, so look out for more exciting updates from our team.

Bonus: How ChatGPT would have written this article

It’s all well and good to discuss AI tools in the abstract–but what does this look like in reality? We decided to put this to the test and ask ChatGPT to write this article on its own.

Here’s what it churned out. Look closely, and you’ll see some of the promising applications of AI technology in action–and some of the biggest limitations.

Not bad, right? Here, we can see how effective text generation tools such as ChatGPT can be at assembling basic information quickly and logically. This response covers off a lot of promising features of AI in L&D, including personalized learning recommendations and instant feedback. It even touches on how tailored learning can increase motivation and engagement.

However, as sophisticated as this tool may be, it can only ever act as a conduit for existing information. In other words, it’s like talking to Google: you can get a helpful summary of the basics–but there’s no originality or improvisation, and a limited ability to adapt to context. 

This is why, as powerful as AI technology might be, it won’t be replacing L&D teams anytime soon. Instead, we can use this technology to automate a lot of grunt work and freeing ourselves up to diagnose business problems, leverage internal subject-matter expertise, and increase business impact through upskilling from within. 

Looking for more insights on what AI really means for L&D leaders? Join David James for a discussion on how AI can elevate L&D and create space for more impactful roles in the profession.