AI can fix a lot of things in L&D but it can only do so much, let’s explore exactly how you can harness it for good. 

Artificial intelligence is trending for a reason. The sector is awash with how they can use AI to improve X, Y and Z. 

Related: Biggest L&D trends 

But as a learning delivery partner, we’ve seen some interesting use cases. 

So we’re here to tell you exactly how AI can support L&D, plus how it can’t. You’ll be able to use these insights to hopefully improve your learning processes and save time, money and effort. 

TL;DR 

AI has its uses but it can also be a distraction in the L&D space. From content creation and curation to personalisation and from strategy to change management we’ll tell you exactly how AI can and can’t help you. 

What AI *can* fix in L&D

There are plenty of ways that AI is being touted in the L&D space. 

But here are a few ways L&D can revolutionise your learning strategy and delivery: 

1. Content creation & curation

With AI tools enabled within your LMS, you can get access to new tools for content creation and even curation. 

V20 of Totara brought about a few new AI plugins including a writing tool to help you refine, summarise and even create content and an AI image generation tool so you can create images for your course content easily. 

And it’s not just course creation. You can use the new AI knowledge check-in to create informal quizzes based on existing resources in your LMS. 

You can also find AI tools that can summarise long-form content into actionable microlearning content which is great for repurposing. And there are some tools out there too that can curate learning based on learner roles, behaviour and even skill gaps. 

These are really useful tools because it can help reduce content sprawl and increase discoverability without rebuilding the entire library.

2. Personalisation at scale

Personalised learning is another key trend and it’s fast becoming a route that more and more L&D leaders are taking; and for good reason. 

Related: How to deliver personalised learning at scale

AI can:

• Adapt learning sequences based on performance data
• Deliver role-specific nudges and reinforcement
• Recommend remediation automatically after failed assessments

This helps you move your LMS from being a static catalogue to being a more dynamic learning environment. 

3. Assessment & feedback automation

We already mentioned it in an earlier section, but AI can support with quiz creation as well as course creation. 

You can: 

• Generate quizzes from source material
• Provide instant, contextual feedback
• Analyse open-text responses at scale

This reduces the strain of manual grading which will give you faster iteration cycles which ultimately leads to better insight into any knowledge gaps. 

For such a seemingly small feature, this one can have huge, positive, ramifications. 

4. Learning analytics that bring real insights

Reporting in an LMS can often fall short so AI is now being used to bridge that gap. And it’s doing it well. 

Instead of just reporting on what has happened, you’ll be able to predict what needs intervention as AI will support you to: 

• Detect skill gaps across teams
• Predict dropout or non-completion risks
• Identify patterns in engagement vs. performance

What AI *can’t* fix in L&D

We know what AI can do, but what can’t it help with? 

And more importantly, what can’t it help with that some LMSs will claim it can? 

Here are some of the key ways you and your team can continue to show up: 

1. Learning strategy

Artificial intelligence is smart, but it’s not smart enough (yet) to define business-aligned learning goals or clarify competency frameworks. 

While you might want to ask your chatbot some defining questions about your strategy, what you don’t want to do is leave it to build it from scratch. 

After all, if the strategy is weak, then AI will just scale that confusion faster. 

2. Culture & motivation

AI can be used in plenty of ways to encourage learner engagement. It can be used to recommend relevant, useful content. 

But it can’t: 

• Create a learning culture 
• Drive intrinsic motivation
• Replace leadership 

Any engagement that you need to create should be organisational, not algorithmic. 

Make sure to make use of engagement features in your LMS like forums, discussion boards, playlists etc. Creating engagement online needs to be deeply invested in, it’s not an afterthought. 

3. Bad source content

We’ve talked a little bit about how AI can create courses and content creation. But one thing is really important here. If you put garbage in, you’ll get garbage out. 

AI can help you create content, but it can’t add substance to content you’ve given it. 

So for that reason, you need to make sure that when you’re using it to create content, you’re giving it clear and simple prompts.

And most importantly, you need to make sure that the documents its using as a base for content creation are correct and up to date. If a policy is outdated, AI will simply replicate it. 

4. Human coaching

Coaching and mentoring are both valuable aspects of learning and development. And while there are roles for AI to play in coaching, it can’t cover it as deeply as a human coach could. 

You can’t simulate nuanced leadership coaching, nor can AI navigate any potential political dynamics. 

When it comes to high stakes development, humans are a must. 

5. Change management

AI can assist in strategy development, but if you’re looking at change management in your business, then this is not the place for artificial intelligence. 

Behaviour change requires systems and accountability and AI cannot keep up with enforcing manager follow-through or post-training application. 

While it can create links between learning and performance, aligning it fully is not its strength. 

Start using AI in your LMS

AI isn’t a silver bullet for L&D but it can be a powerful accelerator. 

It can help you streamline administration, personalise learning at scale, surface meaningful insights, and dramatically reduce content production time. 

What it cannot do is define your strategy, build your culture, motivate your people, or replace strong leadership. 

But with the former being taken care of, that frees up time for L&D managers and LMS administrators. 

We don’t want to hand the keys over to AI, simply use it where we can. 

Not yet using AI in your LMS? Book a demo of our platform to see how you can use Totara’s AI features in your day to day.