Artificial Intelligence (AI) has firmly established itself as more than a buzzword.
At the 2025 BIAPAC L&D Leadership Summit in Melbourne, Monica Nowell, Senior Manager, La Trobe Professional, and Rebekah Taka, AI Specialist and Managing Consultant, Unicorn Studio, addressed attendees and shared insights into how L&D professionals can build an unshakeable strategic case to executives for integrating AI into their business ecosystems, and leverage it as a transformative force in workforce learning.
Why Learning and Development Needs AI
For organisations to remain competitive in a rapidly evolving market, continuous learning is a non-negotiable.
“In Australia, companies like Telstra, Australia Post and Westpac have each implemented hundreds of AI-driven processes over the past five years - reshaping job design and day-to-day work at scale, impacting thousands of employees.
“But what’s even more telling? It’s not just enterprise. Small and mid-sized companies - who employ more than 68% of Australians - are adopting AI even faster than government or corporates,” says Rebekah Taka, Unicorn Studio.
AI offers L&D leaders the opportunity to upgrade their organisational learning models. By customising learning experiences, predicting skill gaps, and creating scalable solutions, AI helps businesses move from reactive learning initiatives to proactive capability development.
“Integrating AI into L&D initiatives delivers tangible benefits. Think heightened employee engagement through personalised learning experiences, or increased workforce agility as employees acquire skills more rapidly - and improve their ability to adapt to market shifts. It also allows for maximised ROI on training, as AI tailors programs to ensure businesses allocate resources where they generate the most impact,” says Rebekah.
As digital innovation accelerates globally, the demand for new skills and adaptable teams continues to rise. AI thrives in environments rich in data and patterns, excelling in tasks that don’t require deep situational judgment, emotional intelligence, or high-stakes decision-making. So, it makes sense that its impact is especially evident in:
Efficiency
By automating routine tasks such as scheduling training sessions or grading assessments, AI enables L&D professionals to focus on strategic initiatives.
Scalability
AI-driven models design personalised learning programs tailored to individual employees, making them effective regardless of company size.
Data-driven insights
AI enhances accuracy in identifying trends, assessing learning outcomes, and pinpointing skill gaps far more effectively than conventional methods.
Getting Started
AI isn’t just about creating smarter tools; it’s about building human systems that adapt and thrive in changing environments. L&D leaders have the opportunity to use AI to move away from managing processes and focus on growing human capabilities inside these systems.
Adopting AI doesn’t have to be daunting. Here’s a practical 5-step roadmap to introduce AI into your processes.
- Build organisational ‘AI fluency’: Before using tools, employees must understand what AI is, its strengths, and its limitations. Leveraging online courses like La Trobe University’s AI Foundations for Innovation can help. Boosting AI literacy is a strategic first step for L&D departments aiming to embed AI sustainably into their workforce
- Collaborate across departments: AI adoption isn’t solely an L&D responsibility. Collaboration with technical teams and senior leadership ensures alignment with broader organisational goals. You’ll gain the technological infrastructure and executive buy-in needed to leverage AI effectively and become the enablers for your organisational transformation
- Start with small pilots: Resist the urge to launch complex AI projects all at once. Instead, focus on a narrow pilot program. For example, start by using an AI-powered tool to enhance onboarding experiences for new hires or an adaptive learning program for leaders of frontline teams. Find a real problem your business needs to solve, leverage the technology to help you solve it and prove its worth. Generating real value for your organisation from the tools at hand
- Partner for acceleration and impact: If your expertise with AI is still growing, consider working with external consultants. Partner with universities, learning and AI scientists, data experts and other vendors. Their support can help you build momentum and lower the risk of going it alone
- Use AI in the work you do and reframe learning for your organisation: Start leveraging AI in your own work today to automate repetitive tasks such as meeting transcription, email template creation, and content drafting. Then, rethink how, where, and when learning happens in your organisation by embedding it seamlessly into the tools people already use in their daily workflows.
The most pressing concern for L&D leaders is finding the “why” behind AI adoption. Think about reframing AI as a critical capacity-building tool that supports industrial transformation, risk mitigation, and long-term workforce resilience.
Contact us
If your organisation isn’t yet exploring AI, now’s the time to take action. Need support in creating AI-powered learning solutions? Explore La Trobe University’s AI Foundations for Innovation short course – also available in a streamlined One Day Workshop (in-person).
Contact Monica Nowell, Senior Manager, La Trobe Professional
m.nowell@latrobe.edu.au
0491 877 760
9479 2323
