The Capability Era of AI in L&D?
What recent moves in HE, corporate L&D & LMS features show about AI's shift from production tool to performance tool
Hello fellow Learning Futurists 👋,
It’s been another wild month for AI in learning. If early 2025 was the age of rapid adoption, late 2025 is looking like the age of constructive AI pessimism—a reckoning with the fact that more AI doesn’t automatically mean more learning and development.
The TLDR is that adoption among learning professionals keeps accelerating, but the ask from both learners and leadership is shifting from “more AI” to make our work faster but better-designed AI that makes our work better.
In this month’s digest, I explore:
L&D’s inflection point — a deep dive of Taylor & Vinauskaitė’s latest report on AI in L&D which suggests a shift from using AI to make content to using AI to optimise work.
Pedagogy over production — an analysis of a recent Times Higher Education article which calls for education leaders to prioritise pedagogy (not profit or productivity) when building and buying AI tools.
Students & AI — an exploration of survey results which show widespread use of AI among students in UK universities but also widespread policy confusion and widening confidence gaps.
Platforms become companions — what 360Learning’s AI Companion tells us about the future of the Leaning Management System (and the rise of the 90:10 L&D operating system).
Let’s dive in! 🚀