Unlocking human potential with AI training
It’s no secret that AI is changing the way we work. As of 2023, 77% of businesses are already integrating AI into their operations or actively exploring its implementation. But while organisations are transforming on a higher level, employees are being left behind. A 2023 survey by BCG found that 86% of workers believed they would need training in AI, but only 14% reported receiving any. One study revealed that only 1 in 10 workers had AI-specific training available to them, despite a staggering 2,000% growth in job postings requiring AI skills.
In a landscape riddled with myths – from the overwrought “robots will replace us” narrative to fears of unreliability – it’s crucial to educate your teams on responsible AI use before introducing it into your workplace. In fact, the future of your business may well depend on it. So, how can you empower your employees with AI and avoid leaving them either error-prone or afraid of the technology? The answer lies in good training that unites human and artificial intelligence to create a productivity engine greater than the sum of its parts.
Step 1: Expand capabilities with formal training
AI at work might feel like the Wild West right now – namely, because it kind of is. According to research conducted by Microsoft, 78% of AI users are bringing their own AI to work (BYOAI). Yet 52% of people who use AI at work are reluctant to admit to using it for their most important tasks, while 53% worry that using it on those tasks makes them look replaceable and puts their jobs at risk.
Providing formal, individualised training on how to use AI acceptably at work can diminish these worries, standardise processes, maximise productivity, and minimise room for error. However, it’s crucial not to provide that training in the form of boring modules that employees will click through without absorbing. To make learnings stick and instill confidence that will drive productivity, companies need to share meaningful information in engaging, versatile learning environments designed to meet your people where they are.
Step 2: Foster connection and collaboration across departments with real use cases
Especially with AI in the picture, silos have no place in a future-proof business. Your AI training should incorporate collaboration into the learning process and address firsthand what we at QA like to call the “Application Gap” – the blank space left by traditional learning models between learning alone at your computer and actually applying those skills to collaborative efforts and real-life jobs.
Good AI training has to go beyond traditional upskilling to create a common language across departments. This isn’t just good for getting things done day-to-day, but it’s hugely helpful when issues, new learnings, or big ideas inevitably arise. Dealing with a technology as nascent as AI, these are all bound to happen – and probably often. It’s an organisation’s responsibility to give its people the tools to deal with those scenarios properly.
For example: with AI implemented across your organisation, teams using the software on the ground will constantly need to work with each other and with IT and data scientists to ensure responsible use and maximum productivity. When an error message pops up on their interface, or they’ve uncovered a new insight or better way to complete a process, they’ll need to know how and when to flag those learnings to the right colleagues for the benefit of the organisation. Focusing on real, cross-team use cases like these during training helps build confidence so that when it’s time to get to work, teams can and will work together.
Step 3: Learn, learn, and don’t stop learning
It might be advancing quickly, but AI is still a burgeoning technology. The amount of computing power used to train large AI models has been doubling every 3.5 months. That means that, in as soon as the next five months, today’s AI could feel outdated – and in five years, it could be outright antiquated. Keeping up with AI and using it in the most innovative, efficient way possible requires more than one training session. It necessitates constant, continuous learning.
The best way to achieve this is to ensure you have a trusted team of learning experts on board to keep your teams up to speed – and working together.
Real-world examples: what good corporate learning + AI can look like
When AI is taught right and employees are comfortable, collaborating, and growing – the results can be game-changing, no matter the industry.
- Kry, a leading European healthcare provider, leverages generative AI to reduce administrative burdens (and clinical burnout), enhance patient care, and improve accessibility. Today, Kry’s platform supports over 30 languages and has facilitated over 200 million patient interactions with a high satisfaction rate.
- Volvo Group uses AI to streamline invoice and claims processing, saving teams over 10,000 manual hours and counting since deployment. The technology extracts data from diverse documents and translates it, allowing employees to work more efficiently and keeping customer satisfaction rates high.
- PwC transforms its auditing process with AI, distilling steps that used to take weeks into a largely automated, error-free exercise. The PwC team has massively increased its efficiency, saving invaluable time while ensuring security and compliance are consistently intact.
- IFAD uses AI to aid their support of rural communities in developing countries. With AI, IFAD can access up-to-the-minute global data, visualisations, and analytics, allowing small farmers to react quickly to changing climates and maintain sustainable productivity. Today, this technology benefits the 3.4 billion people IFAD serves, 80% living in extreme poverty.
In fact, we’re such believers in the positive impact of HI + AI with good training that we’re partnering with top-notch AI creators like Bain and Microsoft to create AI-powered learning and applications we can integrate into our own business. This includes assistants, AR avatar coaches, chatbots, dynamic skill assessments, gamified learning, and advanced analytics to help nudge learners along and keep them motivated.
It’s a new workplace world
AI’s integration in the workplace marks a pivotal moment in how we think about and create productivity. As this tech continues to develop, a good AI strategy is becoming a business imperative. The key to turning a strong strategy into strong business results? A collaborative, comprehensive, personalised strategy that puts the learner and their roles first. Because no matter how advanced AI becomes, a business’s competitive advantage will always lie in the progress, capabilities, and collaboration of its people.
The organisations that recognise that both human intelligence and automated intelligence need to work in harmony to make real progress are the ones that will win this moment.