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The skills algorithm: how AI is reshaping Learning & Development

From content creation to the personalisation of training programmes, AI is revolutionising the way in which companies develop skills, tackling rapid obsolescence and the growing demand for reskilling

by Carlo Biggi*

29 September 2026

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6' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

6' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

Within every large organisation, there is a department dedicated to helping people grow. It does not recruit them, pay them or manage conflicts: it develops them. It is called Learning & Development — L&D, in HR jargon — and for decades it has occupied an ambivalent position: regarded as strategic in corporate social responsibility reports, often scaled back during periods of cutbacks, and almost always poorly understood by boards of directors.

Today, that situation is changing, driven by a technological transformation that spares no one and which, in the field of corporate training, is having effects that are both disruptive and, in some respects, liberating.

What is Learning & Development and where does it come from

The L&D function in its modern form is a relatively recent phenomenon. Until the 1980s, in-house training was almost exclusively technical, often delegated to individual departments or entrusted to external consultants for one-off events. It was in the 1990s, with the spread of theories on human capital and the advent of the knowledge economy, that the role took shape: the first Corporate Learning Managers emerged, the 70-20-10 model became established (70 per cent on-the-job learning, 20 per cent relational learning, 10 per cent formal learning), and the first corporate universities appeared.

Those who end up in this profession take different paths. Some come from the fields of occupational psychology or educational sciences; others have gained experience as trainers or coaches; and others have learnt on the job, starting out in recruitment or HR management. In Italia, there is as yet no university course that directly prepares you for this role: training is gained through specialist master’s degrees, international certifications (such as those from ATD or CIPD, which are not widely recognised in Italia), and, above all, practical experience. It is a profession you learn by doing.

Make or Buy

One of the most common decisions an L&D manager faces is the ‘make or buy’ choice: whether to produce training content in-house, by building teams of trainers and e-learning developers, or to purchase external solutions from specialist providers. There is no one-size-fits-all answer. Large organisations tend to produce the most strategic content in-house — that relating to values, culture and core processes — and to rely on the market for technical and soft skills. Small and medium-sized enterprises, with a few exceptions, purchase almost everything. The result is a professional training market worth a considerable sum – over 400 billion dollars globally by 2024 – with an expected annual growth rate of 11 per cent until 2030. And within this macro-market, corporate e-learning – the digital component – exceeded 100 billion dollars in 2024, with projections suggesting it will reach over 330 billion by 2030.

The true importance of the role within the company

Despite the rhetoric about ‘people as a strategic asset’, L&D has historically struggled to gain visibility at senior management level. The reason is structural: measuring the return on training is difficult; the much-discussed ‘ROI of training’ remains one of the most debated and least reliable management indicators, because measuring it requires a long time and methodologies that organisations struggle to sustain.

And yet, something is changing, and this change is driven by a fact that is hard to ignore: skills become obsolete, ‘age’, at an ever-faster rate. According to recent research, 53 per cent of organisations report that critical skills become obsolete within three years or less, whilst 15 per cent consider them outdated in less than a year.

This rate of obsolescence is matched by an unprecedented demand for upskilling. The World Economic Forum, in its Future of Jobs Report 2025, estimates that 59 out of every 100 workers will need reskilling or upskilling by 2030, and that 39 per cent of the core skills currently held by the workforce will be transformed or rendered obsolete by that date. The most significant figure for businesses, however, is another: 63 per cent of employers surveyed by the WEF identify the skills gap as the main obstacle to business transformation — ahead of factors such as organisational culture, regulation and access to capital. In this sense, L&D ceases to be a supporting function and becomes a measurable competitive advantage.

The impact of technology: three waves in ten years

The technological transformation of Learning & Development has taken place in successive waves. The first, spanning the turn of the millennium and the last decade, was the rise of e-learning: training content was digitised, Learning Management Systems (LMS) emerged, and platforms such as Moodle and Cornerstone began to populate corporate data centres. The result was an explosion of content – not always of high quality – and the gradual replacement of classroom-based courses with online modules that were often ineffective: the infamous ‘click-next training’, blocks of text and end-of-module quizzes that tested the participant’s patience more than their actual learning.

The second, more recent wave is that of experience: the effort to link training to the participants’ real-life experiences, combined with the increasing ease of producing high-quality video content, has led to a more fluid, less prescriptive form of learning – much like a ‘Netflix’ for training content.

The third wave — the one we are currently experiencing — is that of artificial intelligence. And it is here that the role of the L&D professional is undergoing a more profound transformation than in previous waves, because it is not just the tool that is changing, but the very nature of the work itself.

AI is reshaping the profession

The figures on the uptake of AI in HR functions tell a story of rapid acceleration. The adoption of AI – in a wide variety of forms – amongst HR professionals rose to 72 per cent in 2025, up from 58 per cent the previous year. And AI is expected to be further integrated into HR processes, moving from a pilot and support phase to widespread adoption.

What, exactly, is happening in the most advanced L&D departments? At least three changes are already evident.

The first concerns content production. Until a few years ago, developing an e-learning course took weeks: scriptwriting, revisions, development on platforms such as Articulate Storyline or Rise, testing and publication. Today, generative AI tools make it possible to produce a structured first draft in a matter of hours. The instructional designer is not disappearing, but their role is changing: from creator to curator and critical reviewer. They must know what to ask the AI, evaluate the output, and adapt it to the organisation’s specific context.

The second change relates to personalisation. Adaptive AI systems can analyse user behaviour — what they have already learnt, where they make mistakes, and which learning style they prefer — and tailor the learning path in real time.

The third change, perhaps the most interesting in terms of its implications for business, is conversational simulation. AI role-plays — systems in which a language model plays the part of a customer, a difficult colleague or a negotiating partner — are becoming training tools for soft skills that, until recently, were developed almost exclusively in the classroom with real-life tutors. It is not a substitute for human interaction, but it does provide a safe, scalable and on-demand space for practice. For sectors such as sales, customer service or leadership, the applications are immediate.

The trainer’s paradox

There is a paradox in all this. The L&D professional, whose job it is to help others keep their skills up to date, finds themselves having to cope with a transformation of their own role that is perhaps even more rapid and far-reaching than the one they manage for others. Historically, only 6 per cent of the workforce required significant periodic reskilling; today, that figure has risen to 35 per cent, equating to over a billion workers globally. L&D must manage this external pressure whilst tackling its own internal challenges: acquiring skills in AI literacy, prompt engineering and data analysis — and doing so whilst continuing to deliver training using yesterday’s tools.

It is no mean feat. According to the Global Leadership Development Study by Harvard Business Impact, just 49 per cent of L&D managers believe that AI will tangibly improve the outcomes of professional development programmes – a figure that reveals just how widespread scepticism remains within the function.

Yet those who manage to make this leap find themselves in an entirely new position: no longer merely a provider of content, but an architect of organisational learning. It is a role that requires a blend of skills — pedagogy, technology, data analysis and strategy — and which has all the hallmarks of finally becoming truly strategic.

*Head of the Digital Academy, Newton S.p.A.