The global corporate training market is huge. Too big to fail? Maybe, but HR expert Josh Bersin says it’s ripe for major change and is already being transformed beyond recognition
The corporate learning market is vast and well-established, far from immune to change. Traditionally, Learning & Development has followed a pedagogical model similar to academic course design—interviewing subject matter experts, identifying knowledge gaps, designing courses, creating content, and delivering it through learning management systems (LMS).
This “expert-led” publishing model supports a $400 billion industry that produces tens of thousands of courses, books, presentations, and online formats. Some content is vendor-created, while much is developed internally, with a dedicated team focused on distribution.
But this approach doesn’t align with how white-collar and frontline workers actually learn on the job. Unlike students, employees rarely have the time or motivation to complete full courses unless required. Instead, they need, and increasingly expect, quick, direct access to answers.
Generative AI tools like ChatGPT are fast becoming the go-to source for instant answers—highlighting a major shift in how people learn. ChatGPT grew from zero to a billion users in under a year, driving nearly 10 times the engagement of traditional learning platforms like Coursera, Skillsoft, or LinkedIn Learning.
Why the spectacular growth? People want to learn by asking questions, getting answers, and digging into more detail over time. Nobody has time to take a 2-3 hour course anymore, even if it’s “mandatory.”
A broken system?
Let’s be clear: the traditional course model is not keeping pace with the evolving demands of busy people who can now go to ChatGPT to answer questions. Arguably, “learning” isn’t even the end goal. The true purpose of L&D is to drive business performance and support career growth.
The traditional “publish a course” approach comes with major drawbacks. Companies need training tailored by region, language, role, and experience level—requiring multiple versions of the same course. It’s slow, costly, and quickly becomes outdated.
In all my 25+ years working in this field, we’ve never had the technology to do this effectively. But now, we do, and it’s changing everything about L&D—bottom up and forever.
The end of static, frozen content
AI enables us to move beyond static content delivery. With advanced tools for dynamic content generation, it is now possible to input videos, audio clips, documents, or datasets and use generative AI prompts to produce customized instructional experiences tailored to specific needs.
For instance, if a salesperson requires a brief explanation of a new pricing model and has only five minutes available, they can request a concise overview. AI can then generate a podcast, video, or document that delivers precisely the relevant information—eliminating the need to navigate an entire course to locate essential content.
The AI genie’s firmly out of the L&D training bottle
When we introduce this concept to organizations, the immediate question is often, “How should we restructure our training department?” Many in central L&D, and even HR, have yet to fully grasp the need for a fundamental re-engineering of roles and responsibilities, and admittedly, the path forward is still evolving.
However, it is evident that traditional L&D roles, such as course development, content testing, translation, and LMS management, are becoming less central. Content creation is now significantly faster and more cost-effective. This does not imply that content creators will vanish entirely—certain core topics like health and safety will always require centralized oversight—but their focus will shift. Increasingly, professionals will collaborate directly with the business to address immediate performance needs and ensure content is accessible at the point of need.
Furthermore, content delivery is increasingly being driven by AI-powered agents rather than static platforms. Employees can simply ask questions and receive immediate, relevant responses in the form of answers, videos, or other resources. What is particularly remarkable is the AI’s capacity to offer progressively detailed information as learners delve deeper with follow-up questions—whether broad or highly specific.
The most effective way I’ve found to conceptualize this shift is to see the role of L&D evolving from education to enablement. While teaching still has its place, the focus is moving toward empowering employees to solve real-time challenges in the flow of work.
Most learners don’t need a refresher on the basics—they need immediate, targeted support for specific tasks or concepts they haven’t yet mastered. And they need it now, not via a 1–2 hour course offered every few months or hidden deep in a learning library or corporate university.
An exciting future
At the same time, AI’s capabilities in the learning space are becoming impossible to ignore. For instance, a tool I am familiar with allows users to request, “Build me an interactive experience on these four topics, tailored to novice learners, and make it 10 minutes long.” Within 60 to 90 seconds, the system produces a polished, ready-to-use learning experience.
Manually creating the same content with tools like Articulate 360 or Camtasia could take days—requiring content development, design, localization, and graphics. AI now delivers this in seconds, vastly improving both efficiency and scalability.
This shift represents a radical decentralization of power away from central L&D teams. Instead of relying exclusively on a centralized training function, business units can now develop their own content locally. This decentralization is particularly valuable in large, global organizations where needs differ widely by region and role. For example, a regional sales team in Europe may require training tailored to local clients and regulations—details a central corporate team cannot fully grasp. With AI tools accessible at the local level, these teams can quickly create relevant, just-in-time training content themselves, saving time and accelerating performance and value creation.
An L&D revolution you definitely want to be a part of
So, to conclude, the best way to think about this is as follows: we are entering a new era in corporate learning—an era defined by speed, personalization, and enablement. While the traditional education-based approach will still have its place, AI is set to empower organizations to deliver learning in fundamentally new ways. Learning and Development must evolve from being primarily content publishers to strategic enablers who help employees perform better, faster, and with fewer barriers. In the coming years, learning technologies won’t just support centralized training teams; instead, they will become distributed tools embedded across departments, regions, and functions. Content will be created dynamically, tailored to context, and delivered on demand, marking a profound shift in how corporate learning is designed and experienced.
This is not merely an evolution, it’s a transformation. We’re calling it what it truly is for you, your users, and your content partners: a learning revolution.
