In a rapidly developing world, it is becoming increasingly important for organizations to keep up with the latest advancements in technology. One of the most buzzed-about technologies today is artificial intelligence (AI). We have been discussing AI and wondering what implications it may have on learning and development (L&D).
Artificial intelligence has the potential to revolutionize nearly every industry, including L&D. But what exactly is AI? And how can it be used in L&D? This blog post will attempt to answer these questions and more.
What is AI or Artificial Intelligence?
Wikipedia defines it thus: “Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines.” Any task which involves the computer to predict, study patterns, voice recognition, translate between natural languages, and automated decision-making, can be termed AI.
If you are an instructional or learning designer, it is important to stay up-to-date on the latest trends and understand the growing role of AI in L&D. This will help you to create more engaging and effective learning experiences for your learners. We can take the help of AI to:
- Create more immersive and interactive content.
- Develop content that is tailored to the individual learner’s needs.
- Use analytics to drive the development of more effective content.
- Create content that is aligned with learning objectives to make it more focused.
- Apply design thinking to develop more creative and innovative content.
- Generate realistic images and backgrounds – you are no longer dependent on searching for the perfect image; you can create one. You do not need to be an expert to do this!
- Create AI-based mentors to drive your courses along with AI-generated human voiceovers. No more paying hundreds of dollars to get this done!
- Create assessments aligned with learning objectives to reduce the time invested by subject matter experts, and provide feedback instantly to the learner.
- Create innovative activities for face-to-face training.
AI can be a great tool to create more efficient and consistent learning experiences. However, there are some potential drawbacks to using AI in L&D.
- It might lead to higher costs of creating or purchasing an AI-based system.
- Content created by an AI-based system may be generic rather than tailored to the industry.
- Results would not have the human touch and sensitivity to guide the content and its design.
- AI-generated content might not be error-free and might require manual review.
- AI cannot create high-level assessments based on Bloom’s Taxonomy, nor is it able to rate the answers written in response to these assessments.
- Perfect images created by AI might not look natural or suit the overall formatting and standards.
- Reports may be biased depending on the students’ overall performances.
- AI does not encourage the learner to think critically and independently. Rather, the students start depending on the AI-based system to help with their studies.
At the end of the day, you must consider whether using AI in your content development is a worthwhile investment or not.
Weigh the pros and cons for yourself and make sure that any AI-generated content you use meets the highest standards of quality before you integrate it into your learning experiences.
Using AI in L&D does not have to be intimidating; with careful consideration, you can leverage this technology.
Stay ahead of the curve by incorporating these trends into your L&D activities.
Authored by – Chaitali Pal Chowdhury
Solutions Architect