How AI Is Shaping the Future of Learning Technology

Emily Gerson

Jueves, 19 de Febrero de 2026

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Learning technology wasn’t designed for the world we’re operating in now.

Most platforms were built for stable roles, predictable skills, and linear change. Today’s reality includes mid-year strategy shifts and monthly AI tool evolutions. Expectations are changing before teams have fully come up to speed on previous standards.

In this environment, it’s no longer enough for learning to simply deliver information. Learning has to help people adjust quickly, repeatedly, and in-flight. 

This era of constant change has been amplified into a pressure point by the growing accessibility and innovation of AI tools, which are evolving how we work. AI isn’t the main character of this story, though. Change is. Constant change is what’s pushing learning technology to move beyond content toward something more practical, more experiential, and more aligned to how work actually happens.

In a Degreed webinar on The AI-Powered Future of Learning Technology, leaders from Boehringer Ingelheim and Fosway Group shared what’s actually changing (and what’s working) as AI moves from experimentation to execution.

1. AI can finally bridge the gap between business strategy and L&D.

Business leaders know where they want to go. What’s often missing is a clear, shared view of which workforce capabilities need to change to get there.

Martin Hess, Chief Learning Officer at Boehringer Ingelheim, described a simple but powerful approach: Use AI to analyze business strategy documents and produce a first pass at the skills required to execute them. 

Suddenly, instead of having abstract conversations about transformation, learning leaders can walk into the room with something tangible that builds the initiative’s momentum: “Based on your strategy, here are the ten skills that look critical. Let’s pressure-test this together.”

The result is faster alignment, stronger engagement from leaders, and adaptive learning that’s anchored to real business priorities, instead of generic capability frameworks. AI doesn’t replace human judgment here. It removes friction and gets everyone on the same page faster.

2. Virtual Reality (VR) and AI tools are making realistic practice possible and scalable.

For decades, L&D has talked about the importance of practice to cement capabilities, especially for those “soft” or intangible skills that come into play during sales conversations, leadership moments, and difficult feedback interactions.  

Most employees rarely get enough safe, repeatable opportunities to try a skill before it matters. Personal coaching is effective, but expensive. Role-play works, but only for small groups. Most employees never get enough practice to build real confidence.

AI and VR tools are opening up practice opportunities in ways we’ve never seen before. AI-powered simulations and VR environments now allow people to rehearse real-world scenarios like sales pitches, high-stakes negotiations, and performance conversations. Not by watching a video or reading an article, but by actively participating, responding, adjusting, and trying again. This leads to faster time-to-readiness. 

“No company on this planet, I believe, can afford to provide a personal coach to everyone,” Hess said. “Now this becomes suddenly affordable and feasible, and we can provide a very hyper-personalized experience to pretty much everybody at scale, which is revolutionary.”

This sets work up for two major changes:

1. Practice is finally scalable. What used to require expensive one-to-one coaching or small-group role plays can now reach more people without sacrificing relevance.
2. Psychological safety improves. Employees can experiment, make mistakes, and build more confidence when they can practice without fear of being evaluated by another human. The stakes are lower. 

In essence, all employees can now practice repeatedly for business-critical moments, in context, and without fear of judgment.

Practice stops being a privilege for a few and becomes part of how capability is built across the organization. These kinds of tools give more people a safe space to build confidence before it matters, so real conversations go better.

3. The future of L&D relies on teams upskilling themselves in this evolving learning technology.

Instead of depending on legacy and manual processes, organizations are redeploying talent and relying more heavily on AI-enabled workflows. This is as true for learning and development as it is for every other function in the organization. The implication is unavoidable: Learning teams need to be as fluent in AI as the workforce they support.

At Boehringer Ingelheim, the response was decisive. The learning function went “all in” early by upskilling not just L&D, but senior HR leaders and executives, as well. Leaders weren’t expected to become technologists, but they were expected to understand what AI can do, how it works, and where it creates risk.

In L&D departments, this is a moment of choice: The acceptance and application of AI can either erode L&D influence or expand it, depending on whether teams step into the opportunity that this new operating model offers.

Leteny advised learning pros to pick up the pace in their AI upskilling so that they can help lead the movement and dictate how it shapes the tech stack: “You need to run quick now if you’ve not already gotten there, because the business is doing it already and it might be imposed on you from the business perspective as to what tools you can use.”

This is more than a moment of deciding which tools will be used. It’s a moment for transforming how L&D performs its role through the use of AI. And a lot of professionals are looking at content creation. 

4. Using AI to support content creation is a growing goal for L&D teams.

Content creation is easily one of the most common AI use cases for learning technology solutions. According to research Leteny cited from the Fosway Group, 71% of respondents say they are going to use AI to support content creation..

This process looks different depending on the need. For example, new AI capabilities can support content by:

• Converting dense or static materials into more engaging, multi-modal formats
• Refreshing outdated content quickly as policies, tools, or priorities change
• Simplifying complex information into clearer, more digestible learning moments

However, it’s important to note that this is supported. Humans will still need to be in the loop to ensure quality, expert-driven content. It means that some learning professionals will be able to focus on more strategic, expertise-driven tasks instead of tedious, manual work.

5. Proactive governance and intentional compliance will streamline learning technology.

AI-powered technologies have opened the door to the new security practices and standards that have to be addressed as part of any tech implementation. More guidelines are coming out around AI each year. The European Union was the first to introduce a comprehensive AI law, and in the U.S. alone, hundreds of AI-related regulations emerged in 2025. 

Due to constant AI evolution, legal teams are under immense pressure. They are encountering many AI tools and learning technologies for the first time, and yet, need to keep the company safe and compliant. But things are improving. The longer legal teams operate in this AI-driven environment and the more familiar these tools become, the faster these governance conversations happen.

In this new era of learning tech, it’s essential to treat legal and governance partners as collaborators, instead of blockers. Involve them early. Give them space to learn alongside L&D, provide input on security and guardrails, and help minimize the hurdles that would otherwise come later. 

Hess put it best: “Bring the legal people along. If you have work councils, bring them along. Take them on the journey because they are also at the beginning. Appreciate that, and have mercy with those people. That’s very, very important.”

A more grounded future for learning technology

There is no definitive end state for learning technology. It must continue to evolve alongside organizational needs and workforce capability. But one thing is for sure: Learning teams and the technology they employ must help organizations continually translate shifting priorities into skills. It’s essential that they create space for applied practice, scale capability without scaling teams, and evolve responsibly alongside governance, regulation, and trust.

That kind of change doesn’t happen in isolation. It’s leaders, vendors, and employees in learning, HR, and IT who are building this new reality. As Leteney put it, “It’s conversations between the vendors and the corporates that are the most powerful here, so that you can together figure out what the future does.”

For organizations and L&D teams that are willing to learn fast, embrace AI, and bring people along, that future of learning technology is already taking shape.

→ Watch the entire AI-Powered Revolution webinar and two other corresponding sessions.