How AI Tools are Accelerating the Design and Development of Learning

AI is here… and in a big way. Seven years ago, Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google claimed “We are moving from a mobile-first to an AI-first world” and he couldn’t have been more right. Its rapid expansion and mass-scale adoption is today’s hottest topic and its momentum continues to gain speed. 

AI is quickly being integrated into apps and applications, making software personal and reaching mainstream audiences where it matters to them most – on an individual level. From personalized help with daily activities and Google assistants to increasing productivity with Microsoft Office and tools that create bespoke learning content, AI is making a massive impact on learning and development.

In this blog post, we explore how AI is creating rapid change in how we work and learn, and why learning leaders should care.

Types of L&D AI-enabled tools

There are three major categories of AI tools for L&D:

Content Creation

Content tools that accelerate the creation of content (text, images, videos, podcasts, animations, graphics) to create learning materials.  
This category is where the most growth is happening.  Content creation tools are commonly used for: 

Image Creation

Many tools create amazing images based on a simple prompt (e.g., /imagine two diverse professionals having a heated discussion near a water cooler) and their capabilities have come a long way. Our favorite, MidJourney, generates beautiful images and provides several options you can add to your learning content.

AI Video

AI video tools can be used to: There are three types of AI video tools to produce or enhance  

• Improve video and audio quality
• Create video scripts by analyzing provided photos and images, and 
• Convert text to video, complete with images, music, and text animation.  

At The Regis Company, we’ve been testing some powerful tools for both video/audio quality and creating video scripts and are pleased with the results. For example, for video/audio quality, you can change a video by deleting filler words in the text output, and the AI will regenerate the video. It’s a serious time-saver.

One of our favorite tools is Synthesia.io. With this tool, you can choose from over 40 realistic avatars, upload a script, and get high-quality video at a fraction of the cost of live actors.  These avatars are fantastic for introducing storylines, giving feedback, serving as guides, and setting up situations.

Copy Creation

With OpenAI’s ChatGPT and soon LaMDA (Language Model for Dialogue Applications from Google), the number of tools used to create high-quality content for blogs, websites, articles, homework, and learning is rapidly exploding.

With a good prompt (a natural language description that acts as input for the AI), the tools do a great job generating creative content for writing cases, scenarios, or storylines. And while the output is not perfect and does require a human to check for references and accuracy, these tools significantly reduce the cost and time to produce content.

To this aim, we developed a powerful tool, ReX Co-Pilot. Working in concert with our SimGate design platform, it produces everything from assessments to eLearning and simulation-based learning content.

Learning Optimization Tools

Currently, there are only a few tools in the category, but we predict we’ll see some great examples by mid-year, with Learning Management Systems (LMS) and Learning Experience Platforms (LXP) vendors leading the way. 

One area that we’re excited about is behavioral analytics. New technology, such as SimGate, captures all the decisions, rationale, branches, resources, and perspectives learners provide. This data serves as the basis for improving personalized, adaptive, and just-in-time learning. As the data grows, AI will become more beneficial in optimizing the learner’s experience. For example, large data sets for each learner can be analyzed and used to generate customized learning paths. Therefore, instead of wasting valuable time, learners will be directed to the content and experiences that they need.

Learner Experience Tools

Experience tools make the learner experience more engaging and effective. This category of tools is great for enhancing the learner experience.  As with optimization tools, they’re limited, but we anticipate some cool apps coming from Google and others soon.

Here are a few examples of this category.

Text-to-Speech and Translation Tools

These tools improve the learner’s experience and keep costs down. For example, having a text-to-speech icon anywhere content is presented and when clicked, reads the text to the learner in their language of choice.

Equally cool is having AI translators convert screen text on-the-fly to another language, providing context and more culturally relevant examples. 

One of our favorite text-to-speech tools is Prime Voice AI by Eleven Labs. While the default voice is robotic, it can mimic a host of voices when provided with a short sample.

Coaching Assistants

Socratic questions have been used for thousands of years for probing, clarifying, and driving more critical thinking, today AI coaches can challenge the learner to think more deeply by responding to text entries, open-ended responses, and decision rationale.

For instance, with our newest offering, ReX Co-Pilot, we’ve created an AI-enabled experience helping managers deliver tough feedback to employees in an empathetic, “human” way.

We anticipate Google Bard revolutionizing AI assistants and coaches, so keep your eye out for their upcoming public release.

What’s Next? A lot.

AI’s impact on L&D is just starting, with new tools launching daily. In fact, we believe AI-enabled apps could see the same growth this year as when the App stores were open for business in 2008.  

Learning leaders need to understand how these tools are changing the learning landscape, and how to adapt learning programs to maintain relevancy and stay competitive.