It has been a little over a year since the public debut of ChatGPT and the waters of AI are no less murkier. Many of us are asking the important questions, but none of us have been able to offer substantial answers on what the future holds. What will stay? What will go, or grow? And more importantly, what’s in it for me?

This is where frequent conversations with our industry peers can go a long way to help us navigate the ambiguity that comes with a disruption, and to remind ourselves that we’re all in this together. This was certainly my most recent experience at a conference where the learning and development community came together to discuss “AI meets L&D.” Whereas the headlines and social media often give me a sense of foreboding about the matter, I left this conference feeling refreshed and excited about AI potential. Why? Because I talked to real humans who shared similar concerns to my own and we discussed dynamic approaches to AI integration at length. This makes whatever comes next feel more manageable.

Still murky? Absolutely. But regardless, I’m willing to get on the water because now I feel like I’m in a boat with people who want to paddle.

To that end, here are a few conversation starters you can bring to your next water cooler chat or donut match to explore AI with your peers. (Some of them are serious, and some of them are a bit snarky- because a strong sense of humor is a must when heading into the unknown.)

For your peers:

1) In what ways do you think AI will fundamentally change the nature of learning? What have you seen or experimented with so far?

2) What tasks are you doing right now in your role as an instructional designer that you would like to offload to AI?

3) Is this the death of the online course as we know it? And if so, what comes next?

4) What areas of training and development do you think are likely to remain predominantly human-centered in the age of AI, and why?

5) On a related note, what makes us human? If we’re offloading all these tasks to AI, what sets us apart that we want to hold on to? Karaoke?

6) Can/should anyone opt out of the AI age? If so, when? Why? Who?

7) Where would be an area of learning and development that you would be alarmed to see AI as the main actor?

8) If AI is so good at generating and curating content, who is going to stop us from just churning out more mediocre courses at a faster rate? Is there a superhero for the L&D world? Can we have Christian Bale?

9) So if a subject matter expert is a “SME”, but now we are using AI as an intermediate source of expertise and information gathering, does that make it a “SMAI”? (Subject Matter Artificial Intelligence) or maybe just a “SMA” (Subject Matter Agent)? Any other creative suggestions?

10) What are you doing in your organization to address privacy concerns around AI? How do you feel about AI’s ability to infer sensitive information about you from seemingly harmless data? What can we do about this as an industry?

For your boss:

1) Are we thinking about how AI might give us a competitive advantage in our industry?

2) Could we pilot a project with some AI enhancements?

3) What are the biggest challenges that you see for integrating AI into our workplace?

Next time you feel yourself getting apprehensive about AI, tap into your community and lead with a question. Stay curious. To me, what makes us human is exactly that: our collective spirit. And it’s that same spirit that will ensure AI works with us, rather than against us as the future reveals itself.

As you consider your next steps in exploring AI, ask yourself: what’s possible for you in this fast-changing landscape, and how can you adapt your skills for the future? If you’re ready to take the plunge and prepare for a fulfilling career that evolves alongside emerging technologies, IDOL Academy can help you gain the confidence, skills, and community to make that leap. We equip you not only to navigate but to lead in instructional design and eLearning, giving you the hands-on experience, mentorship, and portfolio that companies look for.

This article was written by: