When you think about who’s leading the AI charge, you may think of the technology department or a dedicated AI team. However, L&D professionals should be leaders in the AI movement too, even if their company limits use of AI tools in the workplace.
During a DevLearn 2025 keynote, performance improvement professionals discovered why it’s crucial for them to lead and how to go about it. Here’s a taste of the strategies DevLearn attendees received from Yulia Barnakova, AI Innovation and Learning Advisor, Accenture:
Why L&D professionals need to lead
As AI changes the nature of work, performance improvement professionals need to be there to upskill people for new ways of working. To do this, performance improvement practitioners need hands-on experience with AI tools to train others to use these tools effectively, efficiently, and ethically. Understanding how AI works, where it adds value, and where its limitations lie is now increasingly essential for learning team members.
Additionally, employees are increasingly accustomed to getting immediate help and answers in their everyday lives and want the same experience in the workplace. AI enables L&D teams to deliver learning at the point of need and directly within the flow of work. A simple prompt from an employee could surface a short learning module, job aid, or course excerpt within platforms employees already use, such as Microsoft Teams, Copilot, or other work applications, thereby providing greater visibility for existing courses.
Strategies for leading at an AI-ready company
If your company is already on board with using AI, you have the unique opportunity to start preparing for the future of learning now by:
- Embracing partnerships – Work closely with your technology & AI teams to see if they have any tools that can help you. They may already have a knowledge bot or another existing tool that you can use in your learning.
- Creating connections – Workforce and talent teams, IT teams, and business leaders are all under pressure to implement AI. L&D is uniquely positioned to connect all these teams and help them train employees on the new technology.
- Analyzing existing content – AI can help performance improvement teams gain better visibility into their current courses. Leverage AI to identify which materials are best suited to be embedded into daily workflows to take advantage of assets that already exist, rather than creating new ones.
- Re-thinking course organization – Think about how your courses are structured and tagged to ensure they can be easily surfaced by AI-powered tools. Start small with one targeted area to test, then you can scale up once testing is complete.
How to lead even when your company doesn’t allow AI
Even if your corporation isn’t ready for AI, you can still research tools personally to stay ahead of the curve, so when organizational restrictions lift, you are ready to use AI for learning right away. Here are some tools you can test at home if they’re restricted in your workplace:
- Content generation – Start testing text-based tools to get a taste of how AI can accelerate content creation. Then take it to the next level by exploring tools that generate voices, music, and sound effects.
- AI coaching tools – Have AI pose as a customer co-worker or customer to get a taste of what it’s like to use it as a conversation coach. Next, use the voice and video capabilities in an app like ChatGPT to explore how AI can coach someone through tasks.
- In-the-flow learning assistants – Test turning documents into a conversational avatar and interacting with it to see how it feels. Then think about how the technology could potentially transform static content into dynamic learning experiences for employees.
- Vibe-coded simulations – Experiment with this technology by creating a simple, fun game. Afterwards, brainstorm some ideas on how it could quickly create simulations for your learners in the future.
The most important tool
Whether your company is using AI or not, the most critical thing L&D professionals can do is have an AI-ready learning mindset. The AI tools will change, but having a mindset that is innovative, adaptable, and ready to embrace AI will prepare you for the future.
