Feature
Artificial intelligence (AI) continues to influence every corner of the learning technology and corporate training market. HR thought leader Josh Bersin recently wrote about the widespread and potentially profound impact AI will have on everyone from learning content providers to L&D professionals.
The effect of AI on learning tech providers was clear to see at the recent Learning Technologies conference held in London, where most exhibitors were talking up their AI features. Previously, we looked at how traditional LMS vendors are integrating AI with increasing focus on uses with tangible value.
In this second part, we cover how specialist providers in the learning space are taking advantage of the opportunities created by AI to make it the center of their offering.
New AI Products, Relaunches and Immersive Experiences
The learning tech space takes in more niche learning solutions, from delivering immersive virtual reality (VR) training through creating custom games for employees. Some of these solutions have incorporated AI for a while, but the generative AI era is creating a wave of fresh opportunity. The market is seeing:
- New market entrants coming into an already crowded space.
- Product relaunches or pivots to transform offerings.
- The evolution of richer, immersive and effective learning experiences by incorporating avatars.
- The fusion of AI and (VR to create hyper-personalized experiences.
- The greater use of data to deliver adaptive learning.
- The prospect of additional opportunities beyond the learning field.
While AI is fueling exciting product roadmaps, vendors are also being mindful of customer concerns around the governance, ethics and even the value of AI.
Turning to GenAI to Relaunch Product
One learning tech provider using AI to effectively relaunch its product is Adeptly, a platform that lets learning teams generate role-playing games using AI prompts to define areas such as topic, scope, aim, art style and voice narration. A game can then be customized and refined before launching to employees.
“The platform can generate an end-to-end roleplaying game built around a decision-tree within two or three minutes,” said Neil Glenister, Adeptly’s CEO and founder. “The AI will generate all the images for the game and all the steps for the scenario.” Once the learning team edits and customizes the game’s story, the whole process takes around 30 minutes, he said.
Previously, the game set-up had been largely manual, which reduced its scalability and usage, so Glenister decided to use AI to pivot and overhaul the product.
“We’re going all in on AI!” Glenister said. “We had to make a decision with the games. Customers were originally asking for templates because it's too hard to go and create all the graphics themselves. But instead of us providing hundreds of templates, with AI they can go and create images themselves that are also on brand.”
To date, Adeptly has been used in learning areas such as customer service training, cyber security, safety, leadership training and onboarding. The AI-powered product was piloted with restaurant chain KFC, which has produced training games for staff that can also be tweaked to reflect, for example, menu options which vary between markets, Glenister said.
While it is still early days, some customers who previously felt they didn’t have the time to design the games are showing interest again, Glenister said. He also believes that as AI improves, it will make the game creation process faster and the gaming experience more immersive.
“We think AI is going to get quicker and quicker,” Glenister said. “You'll be able to create complete games in five or 10 minutes and the images as well. We are also expecting you can add video-based steps, too.”
Practice Hard Conversation With AI Avatars
Unsurprisingly, AI is also driving new market entrants. Start-up Real Talk Studio, led by entrepreneur Toby Sinclair, focuses on AI video role-play where learners can practice difficult conversations with realistic AI-powered avatars in real time, which then give them feedback. The AI not only powers the experience, but also the prompt-driven set-up.
AI is well-suited for training managers to have difficult conversations with their direct reports or customer-facing staff to deal with tricky people, Sinclair said. The avatars also let users practice as many times as they like. “Having conversations with an AI-powered avatar is objective and safe and gives insights you might not get from a colleague who sometimes doesn’t want to give harsh feedback,” he said.
Using AI avatars for practicing conversations is not new and there are already well-established providers. But despite Real Talk Studio being only a few months old, Sinclair is already getting considerable opportunities in areas such as sales training. He is even talking to a matchmaking business looking to provide avatars so potential dates can improve their communication skills.
Developments in AI mean there will be rapid evolution in the space, especially as the experience becomes even more realistic, Sinclair said
“Over the next two years, we’re going to see the rise of real-time avatars who will ask you ‘what would you like to learn today?’” Sinclair said. “And it's going to be pick-your-own-adventure, real-time tutoring based upon your personal needs.”
Sinclair is already having conversations with a hologram provider and that within the next few years, realistic holograms may talk back to you, he said
Enhance VR Learning With AI
VR is another area of learning tech where AI could develop deeper, immersive and more realistic experiences.
Kiin is a VR company that delivers learning experiences designed to foster empathy and change behaviors. Typically, Kiin might deliver diversity training or coaching for more inclusive leadership.
The idea behind VR training is that a pupil learns by viewing a scenario through the eyes of someone else — for example, an older white man experiencing a work meeting as a younger, black woman.
“The learning uses a concept called embodiment, which is this idea that you can create the illusion that your virtual body is your real body,” CEO Charlie Pearmund explained. “By giving people unique, profound, impactful experiences, you can show them new perspectives and affect some sort of change at an implicit level.”
The VR-based learning marketplace is already crowded and mature. Kiin seeks to differentiate itself, not only by having founders with solid academic credentials, but also by taking a more considered and research-based approach to design and delivery.
"I see a lot of VR companies trying to do role-plays with AI and this is an unconstrained approach to learning,” Pearmund said. “You have to be careful to differentiate between learning design where the outcomes are tested and predictable versus something that sounds good but is actually more of a gimmick.”
As a VR company, AI enhances Kiin’s offering. AI has particular application in some areas, such as prototyping a solution that helps accelerate delivery, finessing elements such as lip synching and analyzing a learner’s responses to guide different paths and provide them feedback, Pearmund explained
However, AI is not used for everything. Currently, AI does not “cut the mustard” when it comes to voices, and Kiin always uses voice actors, Pearmund said
Pearmund also predicts an exciting future with the fusion of AI and VR, with the potential for immersive environments that adapt to each learner’s personal needs, which Kiin is already working on.
"One of the best use cases for AI will be in immersive environments, and adaptive learning is a very good example of that,” Pearmund said. “What you get is this very efficient learning journey where you create feedback loops that maximizes the impact on the individual learner at any moment by positioning the environment in the way that’s most likely to impact them.”
Supporting Adaptive Learning
Obrizum is already using AI to support adaptive learning. The adaptive learning and related analytics platform both acts as a standalone solution and plugs into an existing LMS. AI has been embedded into the product since it was launched a decade ago by a group of PhD scientists from the University of Cambridge.
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“The platform is built from the ground up using proprietary technology and artificial intelligence at its core, but not just large language models,” said Ben Grosvenor, chief commercial officer. “We're using the right types of AI for different parts of the process. So, the content analysis and curation, delivering the adaptive learning and then also for some of our analytics capabilities as well.”
One of the most powerful uses of AI in the Obrizum product is to analyze content to assess knowledge concepts, which in turn are used to organize, map and curate content within a “knowledge space,” Grosvenor explained. The other is to derive granular analytics about learners beyond traditional assessment approaches, including how confident learners feel about a topic and how this changes over time, he added.
By combining the knowledge space and the analytics, the AI engine can deliver a hyper-personalized, adaptive learning experience for each user. By delivering the right assets at the right time, it helps students learn two and five times faster than more traditional linear learning methods, Grosvenor said.
The Need for Governance With AI-Based L&D Tools
While learning tech vendors have an active AI product roadmap, they are also mindful of client concerns around security, risk and transparency.
For example, Obrizum’s clients are principally in highly regulated industries, so the AI governance is important and has influenced how AI is positioned and used within the product.
AI within the platform is always “explainable” and provides an audit trail so it is clear why the AI has recommended a particular information source, Grosvenor explainedLLMs are in modules so a client can use a different LLM or avoid using one for compliance or security purposes.
“We see more of our customers installing AI councils and proper governance,” Grosvenor said. “They're ensuring AI has the right level of security, as well as transparency around safety, explainability and ethics.”
AI Is Not Everything
While most vendors are promoting AI, Irish startup Slick.Plus, co-founded by Paul Conneally and Linda Hegarty, is taking a different approach.
Slick.Plus positions itself as a knowledge-sharing and business enablement platform that supports social learning by making it easier for experts and peers to share what they know using short-form video, but in a structured way that’s aligned with organizational goals.
Like other learning tech vendors, AI is incorporated into the platform, but less overtly. “We're using AI in the background — for example, for personalized search and recommendations, and for enhancing human connection around common goals and skills,” Conneally said. “Our AI product strategy prioritizes retaining and enhancing human connection and trust.”
As a result, AI hardly features in Slick.Plus’s go-to-market positioning, partly because it distracts from some of the product’s core value proposition.
"We value the transformative potential of AI in enhancing productivity and connection,” Hegarty said. “However, our primary focus remains on people — not the technology itself, but how it empowers and connects humans."
The lack of AI in Slick.Plus’s messaging has helped differentiate the product from other providers at the Learning Technologies event. The company has even had some fun around this theme, distributing stickers that declare the product as an “Avatar-free zone.”
Many attendees approved of this, with some even congratulating them on the “lack” of AI on show at the booth, Conneally said. One reason this resonates with customers is because many of them are concerned about AI, Hegarty added.
“People often tell us they are feeling left behind or a little bit overwhelmed by AI,” Hegarty said. "They also have real concerns around security and governance.”
Putting the Learning Technology AI Gold Rush Into Perspective
It can feel like AI has been let loose in the learning tech world, although perhaps that is true of every part of the software market. Traditional LMS providers are incorporating AI into their products to drive value. More niche learning providers are improving and transforming their existing products.
But for every set of opportunities, some customers want to ensure governance is included into any AI. Other people are still not comfortable with AI.
Despite the potential of the AI gold rush, i’t’s important to deliver well-designed, learning content that achieves its objectives. "AI is powerful, but if we use it to create more tick-box training, we’ve missed the point,” said learning transformation consultant Carla Prout. “Real learning starts with strong foundations: the right questions, the right approach and real human connection.”
