💡 Is AI making learning better, or just making it faster?

Wednesday’s Wee Thought | A little thought. A bigger conversation.

AI can produce learning faster than ever. But is it making learning better?

I’m a huge advocate of embracing AI in learning and development. I use it myself, and I can already see the enormous opportunities to make learning more accessible, engaging and efficient.

But I wonder whether we’re becoming so focused on speed and cost savings that we’re overlooking something equally important: the value of human experience.

We now have tools that can generate courses, assessments, videos and learning resources in a fraction of the time they once took.

That’s impressive. And we should absolutely embrace it.

But in our enthusiasm for saving time and money, are we overlooking what really matters?

Is learning understood, retained and applied in the workplace? Does it contribute to competence and organisational capability?

In safety-critical industries, getting that wrong can have serious consequences.

And there’s something else we must remember.

The value of human experience.

Every organisation has its own culture, challenges and ways of working. Learning must reflect those realities, not just what’s written in a procedure.

It’s understanding the bond between workmates working together on 12 week rotations in the desert. The noise of the helicopter as you head offshore. The smell of a motor that isn’t performing quite as it should. The fear of being in a confined space. The anxiety of an emergency response situation. The vibration of a platform in the North Sea.

These experiences influence how people think, react and make decisions under pressure.

That’s where experienced L&D professionals, working alongside those who do the job, bring enormous value.

AI can create realistic scenarios, simulations and opportunities to practise. But human knowledge, experience and judgement help make them authentic and meaningful.

Poor learning design existed long before AI.

AI hasn’t created that problem. But it could allow us to produce ineffective learning at unprecedented speed.

We should harness AI to enhance what we do, not simply accelerate production.

Imagine using the time saved to understand learners better, work more closely with subject matter experts, strengthen learning design and evaluate its impact.

That’s where the real opportunity lies.

I’m not worried about AI changing learning and development. I think it should.

But let’s not become so impressed by what technology produces that we underestimate the people behind it.

Perhaps AI’s real measure of success in L&D shouldn’t be the time and money it saves, but how much more effective it helps us become.

I’d love to hear what others think.

Are we using AI to improve learning outcomes, or simply getting better at producing content?