AI in L&D and Talent: Craig Friedman in The AI Journal

The personal computer, the internet, and the smartphone each began as new technologies before reshaping how organizations worked, how industries operated, and how people participated in the economy. Writing in The AI Journal, Craig W. Friedman argues that artificial intelligence represents the next transformative wave—and that its effect on learning and talent will follow similarly expansive patterns.

The first effects of AI in L&D are already visible in efficiency, capacity, and speed. Learning teams can automate administrative work, shorten development cycles, respond to changing needs more quickly, and make sophisticated experiences available to broader audiences. These gains create strategic choices: organizations can use AI to reduce the resources required for established work, expand what existing teams can accomplish, or redirect capacity toward solutions that were previously too costly or complex to scale.

Craig’s analysis then moves beyond productivity. As AI and skills-based talent practices become more pervasive, the surrounding ecosystem begins to realign. Subject-matter experts may create more content directly, increasing the need for curation and quality standards. Simulations, adaptive learning, talent marketplaces, and performance support may become more common, changing the capabilities required of learning professionals. At the same time, learning, staffing, performance management, career development, and skills intelligence may increasingly converge around shared systems and data.

The longer-term implication is not simply a better learning model but a new operating model for capability. Craig describes a future in which coordinated AI agents may help translate business demand into capability needs, assess internal and external skills supply, route development, validate performance, and continuously improve outcomes. For L&D and talent leaders, the opportunity is to help architect these human-AI systems deliberately—shaping how work, skills, and performance connect across the enterprise.