InsightsAmplifying with AI: L&Ds Role in Scaling Collective IntelligenceMark Marone, PhDSeptember 9, 2025Qi Yang/Getty ImagesIn brief:AI is reshaping how people learn and work. L&D leaders must harness it to drive both human and organizational growth.Personalized, contextual, and workflow-embedded learning powered by AI is already amplifying performance at scale.L&D is uniquely positioned to build collective intelligence by combining AIs reach with human insight and behavior change.Artificial intelligence (AI) is poised to automate anything that can be measured, revolutionizing how work gets done. Even if AI innovation stalled today, the disruption would continue. That gives learning and development (L&D) leaders two urgent tasks: to help people use AI effectively and to use AI to enhance how people learn.Business today demands learning that is faster, more personalized, and deeply contextualized. Thats where AI comes in. In a recent Harvard Business Review article by Marc Zao-Sanders that methodically ranks 100 current use cases for generative AI, both enhanced learning and personalized learning feature among the top 20.This work of L&D today is critical. By combining AIs capacity to scale insight with L&Ds ability to shape behavior, organizations can build their collective intelligence: the dynamic interplay between people and machines that enables smarter decisions, innovation, and better performance at scale.The Amplification ImperativeAccording to Harvard Business Impacts 2025 Global Leadership Development Study, 49% of L&D leaders expect AI to improve talent development outcomes this year. Even more expect it to enhance the scalability (50%) and adaptability (53%) of learning programs.That promise is already being realized. Consider how Hilton Hotels rolled out an AI-powered virtual reality training program for front desk staff. Employees interact with a Guest Service Coach that delivers real-time feedback on tone, word choice, and service behaviors. What used to take four hours of instructor-led training now takes just 20 minutes, and the program has scaled to over 400,000 employees globally.This kind of amplification is exactly what many organizations need, but speed and efficiency arent enough. The deeper value lies in AIs ability to help organizations codify and share internal expertise, personalize development pathways, and create learning systems that adapt alongside the business and help it grow.Three Ways AI is Already Amplifying Learning1. Contextualized Knowledge at ScaleAI tools powered by internal data are helping organizations unlock and distribute tacit knowledge. For example, large language models can be trained on internal policies, playbooks, and best practices, enabling employees to ask context-specific questions and receive curated answers grounded in the organizations way of working.A multinational firm interviewed in our study represents a typical example. It deployed an AI coach that understands company values, ethical guidelines, and leadership principles, then delivers tailored coaching to first-time managers. This kind of amplification by AI is allowing organizations to streamline the work of middle managers and flatten organizational hierarchies.2. Personalized and Proactive LearningIn contrast to traditional training calendars, AI-powered systems can push microlearning or feedback precisely when and where its needed. Leaders can receive just-in-time nudges before key meetings. Teams can be prompted to reflect on recent challenges. Learners can navigate personalized development journeys based on evolving role requirements, skill gaps, and performance trends.3. Learning Embedded in WorkflowsThe best learning doesnt feel like training at all. AI makes it possible to integrate development directly into the flow of work, offering real-time guidance, simulations, and decision aids. Instead of stepping away to learn, employees learn as they work. This not only increases relevance and retention but also addresses one of the biggest barriers to learning: lack of time. Instead of logging in to a portal and searching for content, employees increasingly engage with intelligent assistants that deliver curated answers, personalized learning, and targeted support just when its needed.Why Learning Needs to LeadRight now, organizations need L&D as a strategic partner in developing collective intelligence to unlock the full potential of human-AI collaboration. Yet our study revealed an uncomfortable gap: only 36% of organizations believe their leaders fully embrace the mindset that AI must be central to strategy and operations. Just 42% describe their support for employee AI experimentation as strong.Learning leaders have a critical role to play in helping to close these gaps. This includes not only helping leaders and employees become AI literate themselves, but also leading by example, incorporating AI into how learning is developed, delivered, and measured.The most effective strategies blend AIs precision with human insight, creating a loop where machine-generated guidance is continuously refined by people and returned to the system as collective intelligence. In this way, AI doesnt just accelerate learning; it becomes part of a feedback loop that strengthens it.The Learning Function as the Leverage PointWhen business models, company workflows, and entire industries are being reshaped by intelligent machines, the ability to learn at scale becomes a competitive differentiator.Amplifying learning with AI promises to increase the velocity and impact of learning across organizations. The challenge for learning leaders today isnt whether to use AI, its how to use it well: ethically, strategically, and in the service of human growth as well as business growth.With the guidance of talented L&D teams, AI can enable not just more learning, but better learning: learning that equips people to lead, adapt, and thrive in a fast, fluid, and future-focused world.Digital IntelligenceFuture of WorkShare this resourceShare on LinkedInShare on FacebookShare on XShare on WhatsAppEmail this PageConnect with usChange isnt easy, but we can help. Together well create informed and inspired leaders ready to shape the future of your business.Contact usLatest InsightsFuture of WorkAmplifying with AI: L&Ds Role in Scaling Collective IntelligenceAI is reshaping how people learn and work. 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