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What does practical AI application in L&D look like?
Ross Stevenson
February 6th, 2024
Today’s Thoughts ☠️
Hey there 👋,
This has been on my mind recently.
→ The practical and meaningful application of AI in L&D.
As normal, I see a lot of chatter online trying to find a one-size-fits-all to adhere to. The thing is life doesn’t work that way, and as I keep telling too many people, context matters.
Today, we’re going to unpack why practical and meaningful applications of AI (or any tech for that matter) are all determined by your specific context.
Think of this as a guide to cut through the BS.
Get your tea 🍵 or beverage of choice ready. We've got lots to discuss!
(Much love to today’s newsletter sponsor - Sana 🙏)
In today’s chat👇
Est reading time: 10 mins
🤘 The AI For L&D Crash Course 2.0 is here!
More exciting times.
I’ve spent a chunk of January updating the AI Crash Course for L&D pros like you.
Every course purchase comes with the added exclusive bonus of my AI For L&D Toolkit. You can use this to build your skills and your company's internal AI skills programmes too.
THE BIG THOUGHT
What Does Practical AI Application in L&D Look Like?
I read a great devil’s advocate take on AI in L&D from Ross Dickie in the L&D Dispatch.
My fellow namesake focused on the lack of (current) meaningful applications in L&D.
This got my old neurons firing.
→ FYI, read Ross’s take in the Dispatch newsletter - don’t forget to subscribe.
The question of "AI being practically and meaningfully applied in L&D" is very contextual.
Practical applications could be those that streamline mundane time-consuming tasks. Whereas meaningful ones might provide deeper understanding of performance effectiveness through data analysis.
Both can co-exist in the same task.
Contextual Considerations
The application of AI in L&D isn't one-size-fits-all. It's crucial to evaluate:
What constitutes practicality and meaningfulness?
Are these measures universally agreed upon?
How does a meaningful AI application look in different scenarios?
For instance, a large enterprise company may find little meaningful application in using ChatGPT for copywriting, whereas a solo L&D professional in a growing start-up might find it invaluable for enhancing their work. It’s all about perspective – each organisation views technology through its unique lens.
Generative AI tools present a new set of opportunities to enhance human capabilities.
However, too much thinking is finite right now. The natural human decision is to find ways to do more things, not necessarily better things.
The possibilities for practical and meaningful applications are endless given your specific context.
Prompt: douche with a Ferrari on driveway
The Ferrari Dilemma
Imagine owning a Ferrari but only driving it up and down your driveway.
Firstly, why would you do this?
More importantly, this is what most teams do with GEN AI tools today. We're equipped with powerful tools (akin to a Ferrari) but frequently fail to explore their full potential.
This is not new for our industry.
Many incredible digital tools have arrived over the last 30 years. Some we’ve maximised well, whilst many others we’ve hardly scratched the surface with.
Hopefully, you don’t let GEN AI fall into this abyss.
(A certain someone has a course to help you with that 😉)
Tailoring AI to Your Needs
In integrating AI into L&D, consider the following:
Understand your context: Not every tool, methodology, or framework fits every situation. What works for others may not suit your specific needs.
Assess tasks for AI Collaboration: Focus on tasks in your workflow and identify where AI can genuinely add value. It’s about task-first, not tool-first. Here’s a 2 minute video showing you how to assess your tasks for AI collaboration.
Avoid unnecessary comparisons: Your journey with AI in L&D is unique. Don't get sidetracked by industry benchmarks if they don't align with your context.
Experiment to try
I picked this up from the latest series of reports from MindTools For Business.
If you want to run a small experiment with practical AI applications in your team, or your workforce, give this a try:
Identify a common business problem
Select an AI tool to support the solution.
Create two groups: One gets the AI tool, and the other doesn’t
Measure the output.
A joint research study between Boston Consulting Group and Harvard deployed a similar experiment with 700 BCG consultants. Learn about that here.
Final thoughts
In sum:
Applying meaningful AI in L&D is less about chasing the latest trends and more about understanding and leveraging these technologies within your specific context.
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If you answered yes to both of these questions, you should join Sana's evening event on February 22 at Neue House Madison Square.
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DATA THOUGHT
The Performance Impact of GEN AI Tools in the Workplace: Key Takeaways
Here’s a breakdown of the National Bureau Of Economic Research’s report on how Gen AI tools can improve workplace performance. You can download a copy here. These are my personal takeaways.
AI’s impact on customer agents’ performance
Here's the TL;DR from NBER’s research:
This study focused on evaluating the impacts of a generative AI-based conversational assistant on job performance across 5,179 customer support agents.
The introduction of this AI tool boosted performance by 14%, as measured by the number of issues resolved per hour.
Interestingly, the productivity gains varied significantly across different skill levels. Novice and low-skilled workers experienced a substantial 34% improvement, whereas experienced and highly skilled workers saw minimal impact.
This disparity continues to underscore the nuanced effects of AI tools in the workplace.
We’ve seen this backed by other reports featured in the newsletter previously.
1️⃣ GEN AI tools enhance the performance of low-skilled workers
The report unveils a significant improvement in productivity among novice and low-skilled agents working with a GEN AI conversational assistant (ChatGPT).
These agents experienced a 34% increase in the number of customer issues resolved per hour.
The research team attributed this to the AI tool's capability to disseminate best practices and effectively guide less experienced workers down the learning curve more rapidly than traditional methods.
It enables the surfacing of the right information at the right time for the right level of expertise.
2️⃣ But it didn’t do much for experienced agents
I saw similar findings in a co-authored report from BCG and Harvard.
For their experiment, they analysed 800 consultants. Like with this research we’re highlighting now. They discovered it was incredibly powerful for low-skilled consultants but the more experienced only found a 5% performance improvement.
The NBER team observed that while AI can replicate and transfer the knowledge and best practices of skilled workers, it offers less in terms of enhancing the performance of those who already operate at a high level.
See, we still need humans to grow together.
3️⃣ The potential to enhance learning and customer satisfaction
We might not be customer agents, but we all have customers to keep satisfied.
What I found promising from these results was AI's role in facilitating worker learning and improving customer sentiment. The report suggests interacting with AI allows workers to better internalise best practices, leading to durable gains in productivity, even in the absence of future AI assistance.
They were retaining what they learnt because they had already put it into practice in real time.
SMART THOUGHTS
Content that will make you smarter.
🤔 Nintendo CEO didn’t believe layoffs were the way
I’m a bit of a video game nerd.
When I see something that collides with current cultural movements such as layoffs everywhere right now. My interest is piqued.
A leaked internal email from former Nintendo CEO, Satoru Iwata deploring the use of layoffs to save company funds has spread like wildfire online.
The TL;DR is he didn’t believe layoffs were ever the answer. He was a man of his word when he took a 50% pay cut as CEO when the company experienced rough times. I think we could use many more people like him today.
💡 How to design human learning in the age of AI
In case you’re burnt out from the AI-apocalypse.
Sink your mind into this to discover why being human is still your biggest advantage in the digital world.
🔥 Why context matters as an L&D pro and how to leverage it as your superpower
Screw content, think context.
Let AI build all the cookie-cutter content it wants. It shall never defeat us, friend. This is why ←.
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