Learning and Development as We Know It Has an Expiry Date

By Allen Francis Mathias, DGM – Customer Experience & Learning & Development, Chai Point

Let me say something that might make a few people in Learning & Development uncomfortable: L&D, as we know it today, could look very different within the next six to eight months. This is not a prediction that learning will become irrelevant. It is a warning that the way we deliver, measure and manage learning is changing faster than many of us are prepared to acknowledge.

When someone recently asked what was on my L&D plate, my honest answer was that AI is rapidly reshaping how organisations make decisions, develop talent and build capabilities. L&D sits at the centre of this transformation. The real question is whether we will actively shape it—or become spectators in our own obsolescence.

Using AI to create presentations, training material, multiple-choice questions or dashboards is only the beginning. For decades, L&D has relied on scheduled programmes, static content libraries, annual calendars, Training Need Analysis (TNA), feedback forms, audit reports and completion percentages. These measures tell us how much training we delivered, how many people attended and whether participants liked it. They do not always tell us whether the business became better because of it.

We often struggle to link training directly to business outcomes because performance is influenced by many factors. That difficulty, however, should challenge us to improve how we diagnose problems and measure impact—not give us a reason to avoid the question.

AI is challenging the assumption that employees must wait for a structured programme to acquire knowledge. Today, an employee can access relevant information, practise a skill or solve a problem in the moment. A salesperson preparing for a client negotiation may need a quick framework, not a workshop next Tuesday. An operations manager who needs process guidance late at night may not be able to wait for a trainer to respond.

Does this mean formal training is dead? Absolutely not. It means that training without a clear business purpose is becoming harder to justify. I discontinued an e-learning subscription from a reputed provider despite its excellent content and reviews because usage over nine months was only 3%. Paying for a platform that 97% of users were not using made little business sense.

If a five-minute, AI-enabled intervention can solve a problem that once required a two-hour classroom session, we should be willing to use it. Our responsibility is not to defend familiar formats; it is to choose the right intervention for the problem. Sometimes that will be a classroom programme. At other times, it may be a job aid, a short digital lesson, guided practice, manager coaching or real-time AI support.

The pace of change will vary by industry. IT, BFSI and operations-heavy environments are already seeing AI support routine knowledge transfer, documentation, entry-level analysis, process guidance and basic coding. In such settings, L&D must ask what distinctive value it brings when technology can explain, personalise, assess and reinforce knowledge quickly.

Hospitality and Quick Service Restaurants (QSRs) may experience this shift differently. These industries depend on human interaction, physical execution, emotional intelligence, service recovery, situational judgment and the ability to understand a customer's needs in real time.

AI can teach a hotel associate the principles of handling a distressed guest. It cannot guarantee that the associate will demonstrate empathy when the guest is angry or disappointed. A QSR employee can complete a digital module on service standards, but delivering those standards consistently during a peak-hour rush requires practice, coaching, feedback and the right workplace culture.

AI can prepare people for important moments; it cannot automatically ensure how they will respond when those moments arrive. The future of L&D will therefore be determined not by how much content we create, but by how effectively—and how quickly—we translate knowledge into performance.

I recently attended an L&D conference where I saw a demonstration of how AI could potentially manage large parts of the talent management lifecycle for an organisation of more than 5,000 employees, with minimal human intervention. The system could help set KPIs, recommend development programmes and conduct video-based assessments.

I found myself questioning my own 18 years of experience. Had I spent nearly two decades building expertise in work that an AI system could potentially perform in minutes? The thought was uncomfortable. Training programmes, frameworks, assessment methodologies and development interventions—all seemed vulnerable to automation.

Then I realised I might be asking the wrong question. The issue is not whether AI can perform tasks traditionally associated with L&D. It is whether we have defined our value so narrowly around those tasks that we cannot see what comes next. If our contribution is limited to calendars, sessions, reports and assessments, we should be concerned. If we understand business problems, diagnose capability gaps, influence leadership behaviour, strengthen culture and improve performance, our role becomes far more strategic.

AI may automate many of our activities. It is our responsibility to ensure that it does not make our contribution irrelevant.

During my time in the Maldives, I observed something that fundamentally shaped my thinking about learning. Butler training is an important part of luxury hospitality and is often repeated year after year. I began to question the assumption that exceptional hospitality could be developed simply by teaching the same standards and sequences again and again.

Maldivians have a remarkable tradition of hospitality. Warmth, generosity, attentiveness and an instinctive desire to make guests feel welcome are deeply reflected in the culture. You can teach the principles of luxury service, explain presentation standards and demonstrate how to anticipate a guest's needs. But genuine hospitality is not merely a checklist. It is also instinct, cultural strength and personal connection.

An AI-generated programme can demonstrate what exceptional service looks like, and a skilled trainer can reinforce the standards. The real magic happens when a person brings those standards to life authentically. That led me to a different question: instead of repeatedly asking, “How do we train our people in hospitality?”, should we ask, “How do we build on the strengths our people already possess and help them deliver hospitality that the world recognises as exceptional?”

The first question begins with a perceived deficit. The second begins with human potential. L&D must move from delivering standardised content to understanding people, unlocking their strengths and building capabilities that create competitive advantage.

I believe the answer lies in redefinition, not retreat. The future of L&D is not about creating more content; it is about designing systems through which people become more capable, confident and effective at work. AI should increasingly handle transactional activities such as content generation, knowledge retrieval, personalised practice, routine assessments, learning recommendations and administrative reporting.

We must stop thinking primarily as course creators and start thinking as architects of organisational capability. That also means recognising the limits of automated decision-making. At the conference, I saw how AI could potentially recommend performance improvement plans, hold confirmation decisions or generate warning and termination letters. The technology is impressive, but the implications for people are profound.

AI can analyse performance data, identify patterns and recommend interventions. But data may not reveal the full story. A performance issue might stem from a manager's behaviour, inadequate training, personal circumstances or an organisational failure. An employee may need coaching and support rather than a formal warning.

These are questions of judgment, accountability, fairness and human dignity. AI can inform a decision, but it should not absolve a human decision-maker of responsibility. As AI becomes more powerful, human judgment becomes more important. L&D, Talent Management, HR and business leaders must work together to build digital fluency, ethical awareness, critical thinking and the confidence to question AI-generated recommendations.

Employees may fear that AI will replace their jobs. Managers may be unsure how to lead teams whose work is increasingly supported by intelligent systems. Leaders may invest in technology without fully understanding the capability shift needed to make that investment successful.

L&D can help employees build confidence in using AI and working alongside it. We can help managers redesign roles, identify emerging skills and support people through transitions. Most importantly, we can create environments where employees feel safe to experiment, ask questions, challenge assumptions and learn from mistakes. Technology adoption is not just a technology challenge; it is a people and capability challenge.

Traditional L&D departments will likely be restructured. Some activities will be automated or outsourced; some organisations may integrate L&D into broader Talent, Capability or People functions. Others may build smaller, specialised teams combining business consulting, learning science, AI-enabled capability development and performance analytics.

The structure and name may change, but organisations will still need people who understand what employees must be capable of doing, why performance gaps exist and how to turn capability into business results. The professionals who thrive will understand the business as deeply as they understand learning.

Training hours, attendance, TNA completion, feedback forms and audit reports can still serve a purpose. But they cannot be the purpose. L&D must be able to answer more meaningful questions: Did customer satisfaction improve? Did employees demonstrate greater competence? Did service become more consistent? Did productivity or quality improve? Did managers become better at developing their teams? Did the organisation build the capabilities required for its next stage of growth?

These outcomes are not always influenced by training alone. That is precisely why L&D must work with business leaders to establish baselines, understand other contributing factors and evaluate whether an intervention made a meaningful difference. The goal is not to claim credit for every improvement; it is to understand our contribution honestly and improve the way we work.

I do not believe learning is becoming obsolete. I believe the old definition of L&D is running out of time. The six-to-eight-month timeline I mentioned at the beginning is a deliberately provocative warning, not a guaranteed deadline for the disappearance of the profession. The pace will differ across organisations and industries, but the direction is unmistakable.

We can continue defending traditional processes, counting training hours, celebrating completion rates and producing reports that show how busy we have been. Or we can become business partners who understand performance, capability architects who build future-ready workforces, and talent professionals who combine the speed of AI with the wisdom, empathy and accountability of human judgment.

After 18 years in this profession, I find that prospect both unsettling and exciting. Perhaps our greatest test is not whether we can teach others to learn, but whether we are willing to learn, unlearn and relearn what we thought we knew about our own profession.

If we are not part of the solution, we risk becoming part of the problem. And if L&D does not help shape the future of work, someone—or something—else will.

About the author: Allen Francis Mathias is an accomplished HR and Learning & Development leader with over 17 years of experience across hospitality, QSR, healthcare, and corporate sectors. Currently serving as DGM – Customer Experience & Learning & Development at Chai Point, he focuses on building customer-centric cultures, strengthening organisational capabilities, and driving impactful learning and talent development initiatives. An award-winning L&D professional, Allen is passionate about transforming people, elevating customer experiences, and creating a lasting impact through continuous learning and leadership development.

Images: courtesy of Allen Francis Mathias