Companies recognize the value of training and upskilling, but many struggle to get programs off the ground. Despite 46 percent of companies increasing their training budgets in 2024, the average number of training hours per employee dropped from 57 to 47 compared to the previous year. This decline suggests that even with more financial investment, logistical hurdles are slowing implementation.
When it comes to developing training courses, HR and learning and development (L&D) teams often lose valuable time formatting materials, aligning content across platforms, and managing approvals. These delays can slow rollout and reduce impact. When programs stall, employees miss out on key skills and companies struggle to keep up with changing workforce demands.
AI-powered content platforms help remove these barriers. By automating time-consuming tasks, these tools make it faster and easier to create, update, and distribute training materials. Instead of spending months rolling out new programs, HR teams can focus on delivering meaningful training experiences that keep employees engaged and businesses competitive.
Less Time on Formatting, More Time on Impact
Creating effective training programs takes time, and HR and L&D teams often find themselves stuck in the logistics of content development rather than focusing on higher-impact initiatives. Compiling input from subject matter experts, structuring materials, and ensuring consistency across multiple platforms can be an overwhelming process. At the same time, training must stay up to date with compliance requirements, evolving policies, and diverse employee learning preferences.
Training content often needs to exist in several formats, including slide decks, PDFs, video lessons, and learning management system (LMS) modules. However, manually adapting materials for each platform leads to duplicated effort and unnecessary delays. Teams can spend hours reformatting the same content—time that could be better spent improving the learning experience or supporting employees more directly.
Instead of building materials from scratch every time, HR teams can enter training objectives, policies, and brand guidelines into an AI platform and let it take care of the rest. The platform generates content that’s already structured and formatted across multiple outputs, ensuring consistency while cutting down on development time.
What to Look for in an AI Training Platform
As AI becomes a larger part of HR operations, choosing the right platform is critical. According to a 2024 McKinsey survey, 78 percent of organizations now use AI in at least one business function, showing its growing role in workplace technology. However, not all AI-powered training tools offer the same value. The most effective platforms do more than generate content. They help HR teams work more efficiently, improve engagement, and use data-driven insights to make training more effective over time.
Training programs also need to be adaptable to different learning preferences. Employees absorb information in different ways, so platforms should offer features such as captions, transcripts, and translations to make training materials more accessible. Whether employees prefer reading, watching, or listening, an effective AI-powered platform ensures they can engage with content in a way that works for them.
HR teams also need visibility into learner progress to refine training programs as needed. The right AI platform should track completion rates, engagement levels, and knowledge gaps, helping HR teams spot problem areas. If employees consistently struggle with certain topics, AI can highlight those areas and suggest adjustments, ensuring that training materials remain relevant, clear, and aligned with business goals.
Overcoming Barriers to AI Adoption in HR
Integrating AI into HR offers clear benefits, but several challenges can hinder its widespread adoption. For many organizations, concerns about job loss, data security, and content accuracy often slow down progress.
- Worries about job loss: A 2024 SHRM survey found that 24 percent of HR professionals worry AI eventually could replace roles. However, the same study found that HR professionals already using AI are 16 times more likely to say it’s transforming jobs (32 percent) rather than eliminating them (2 percent). In practice, AI is handling repetitive work, such as formatting documents or managing workflows, which allows HR professionals to focus more time on the parts of their jobs that require strategy, communication, and empathy.
- Keeping training accurate: Training materials need to reflect current policies, meet compliance standards, and align with company branding. For HR teams to trust AI-generated content, they need assurance that it’s accurate and grounded in approved language and standards. It’s important to look for platforms that utilize fine-tuned models and proprietary datasets, drawing from approved company documents and compliance guidelines to ensure content meets internal expectations.
- Protecting sensitive data: Data security is another important consideration. HR departments handle sensitive employee information, and using public AI tools can pose risks if data is stored or shared externally. Privacy-first AI solutions that operate within secure and closed-network environments are essential to keep training materials confidential while enabling automation.
Start Small and Build Confidence
Adopting AI doesn’t have to be an all-or-nothing decision. Many HR teams start with manageable use cases, such as using AI to generate training outlines or track learner progress. Once the team sees how these tools save time and reduce repetitive work, they’re more open to expanding the technology’s role. Offering brief training sessions on how the platform works—and reinforcing that AI is there to support HR teams, not replace them—can help reduce hesitation, build trust in the technology, and increase adoption across the organization.
