Surrounded by an array of increasingly sophisticated artificial intelligence-powered learning and development (L&D) tools, I sometimes think we are tempted to use a sledgehammer to swat flies, as the saying goes.
How do you decide which tasks to outsource to AI—and how much human oversight is needed? How do you choose which tools to use for which L&D tasks—and which tools are the best? Of course, one solution is just to ask AI those very questions!
Talia Babel-Jones, a senior Learning, Sales Strategy, and Enablement leader at Justworks, and her team have spent the last year building a lean, AI-assisted training design workflow, and what they’ve landed on is this: “The right tools get us about 80 to 85 percent of the way there. The last 15 to 20 percent? That still belongs to us.”
She explains in “How to Balance AI and Human Expertise in Training Design” that the framing her organization has settled on this this: “We’re enabling AI to work with us, not for us. That distinction might sound like semantics, but it changes everything about how you adopt these tools. Working for you implies delegation and reduced oversight. Working with you implies collaboration, iteration, and a human in the loop at every meaningful decision point.”
GP Strategies Senior Director of Consulting Ella Richardson notes that one of the lessons she’s learned is that the organizations gaining real advantage have redesigned their workflows, getting deliberate about where human judgment lives and where AI takes the load.
“Start with what slows you down most—not the flashiest applications but the grinding, repetitive work that leaves your best people doing things that don’t require their best thinking. That is where the compounding gains are,” she explains in “Human + AI: Supercharged Learning Design from the Plateau of Productivity.” Then, she says, “hold the line on quality. AI makes it easy to produce a lot; the discipline is knowing when something is good enough and when it isn’t.”
For organizations just dipping their toes into the AI waters, it may help to start in the “quiet corners of the workflow,” as Byrnes Dean digital training expert Jessica Isaacs calls it. As she points out in “Low-Risk AI Uses in eLearning,” this includes using AI to make learning more accessible, produce transcripts and translations, draft scenarios, and highlight likely errors.
A Matter of Trust
As AI technologies continue to evolve, it is becoming more difficult to distinguish between human and AI-created content. For example, TechSmith’s AI Voices and Avatars Study found that many learners couldn’t tell whether a high-quality AI voice was AI or human, which makes transparency an important consideration. Notes Stephanie Warnhoff, a senior market research analyst at TechSmith, in “Leveraging AI Avatars and Voices for Scalable, Trusted Learning”: “Scaling training with AI is easy, but scaling trust is not. Excessive reliance on AI can cause audiences to lose trust.”
Adds Olivia Haywood, CMO of Sponge Group, “AI can insert an unnerving sense of disconnection—and this is happening in an environment where many employees are already feeling disengaged or even numb. Change fatigue, geopolitical chaos, financial stress, and digital overwhelm are huge factors in background mood, and this impacts behavior adoption.” In “When Training Behavior, AI Is Great for Consistency—But Is It Great for Authenticity?”Haywood recommends that AI tools designed to reinforce trained behaviors “should be accompanied by conscious design for the employee’s emotional experience.”
A Taste of Tech in Texas
While it seems like AI continues to dominate most L&D conversations these days, other training tools and delivery methods can be equally effective. In this issue, we also look at PechKucha microbursts, gamified simulators, workforce capability systems, and more.
And we will continue to explore cutting-edge training technology and innovation at our TechLearn 2026 ConferenceSeptember 15-17 in Austin, TX. You’ll see what’s cookin’ in the Innovations in Training Test Kitchen; discover how L&D experts are leveraging emerging technologies to enhance training and boost engagement during breakout sessions and hands-on clinics; and hear from keynoters Amy Herman, author of “Visual Intelligence,” and Rory O’Connor, creative director, Hub Games. Plus, there’s plenty of time to network and share best practices with your L&D peers during the Braindate opening reception and one-on-one conversations, Dine Around event, and Austin experience tours.
Register today to get the Super Early Bird rate at: https://www.techlearnconference.com/
Showcase Your Game-Changing Training
I’d love to know what innovative tools you are using in your training. One way to highlight your next-level training is by applying for our 2027 Training MVP Awards, which recognize excellence in employer-sponsored training and development.
The process of filling out the Training MVP Awards application is designed to create a road map for organizations to help them align the work of their L&D team with the work of the business. All applicants receive a comprehensive feedback report and qualitative scorecard, plus benchmark stats, to help identify training gaps and areas for improvement.
Download the application and quantitative and qualitative scoring guidelines at: https://mvpawards.trainingmag.com/
The submission deadline is September 1—and I’m happy to answer questions up until the deadline. Winners will be notified the last week of November 2026; they will receive crystal awards and find out their ranking at the black-tie Gala held February 22, 2027, at Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort.
I can’t wait to learn about all the amazing training you’ve done in the last year!
