Corporate learning is undergoing one of its most profound shifts in decades. As AI moves from experimentation to embedded practice, organizations are rethinking how learning happens, how performance is supported, and what skills define the modern workforce. For learning leaders, the challenge is no longer about building content at scale — it’s about creating systems that continuously adapt, personalize, and keep pace with the speed of work.

Brandon Carson, Chief Learning Officer at Docebo, has spent more than 20 years at this intersection of technology, data, and learning. From leading global academies and future-of-work initiatives at Starbucks to directing leadership development at Walmart, and now guiding Docebo’s AI-first learning strategy, Carson has seen firsthand how learning must evolve. He is also the author of Learning in the Age of Immediacy and L&D’s Playbook for the Digital Age, and the founder of L&D Cares, a nonprofit mentoring community for learning and HR professionals.

In a recent conversation with Robert Daniel, Chief Revenue Officer at Data Society, Carson shares his perspective on how AI is redefining learning and development — and why this moment represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity for L&D leaders to shape the future of work.

3 ways AI will transform L&D

Carson believes AI represents a turning point for learning leaders. He outlines three fundamental shifts that will change how organizations design, deliver, and measure learning.

1. Breaking the one-size-fits-all model

“At Docebo, we’re focused on using GenAI not to replace learning, but to revolutionize it,” Carson says. “The first way it will do that is by breaking the ‘one-size-fits-all’ tyranny that corporate learning has relied on for decades.”

He explains that the old model — what popular management consultant and author John Hagel called “scalable efficiency” — treated workers as interchangeable, delivering standardized training at scale in the name of consistency and cost control. That approach may have fit the industrial era, but it fails to meet today’s need for agility and personalization.

“Now, with AI, ‘one-size-fits-all’ must evolve to ‘one-size-fits-one,’” he continues. “We have to build more personalized systems that feel more like conversation than curriculum. Instead of just completing a course for compliance, employees will be able to explore ideas in ways that match their goals, roles, and curiosity in the moment.”

For Carson, the shift is as much cultural as it is technological: “This is the primary gift AI gives us — we can finally start making work better for humans instead of making humans better at work.”

2. Closing the application gap

Carson’s second point focuses on performance. “AI will close the application gap,” he says, “so people don’t just know something — they can do it in real time.”

He describes AI as an agentic performance engine — a guidance system that enhances work without interrupting it. “That’s when learning truly becomes performance,” Carson noted.

To illustrate, he recalls his time in the airline industry: “We had 27 different types of vehicles employees might operate at any given airport. Traditional training meant building courses and job aids for each, but they were often outdated or too narrow.”

With AI, that model flips. “The intelligent sidekick I have will give me exactly what I need to operate that specific vehicle at that moment,” he explains. “It knows I don’t use forklifts often, so it provides more background. It also knows I was just checking inventory and next I’ll be delivering to a customer — so it can guide me through all of those contexts seamlessly.”

For Carson, this is the move from scalable efficiency to scalable learning: “The workforce will be continuously augmented, able to learn and adapt across multiple contexts throughout the day.”

3. Freeing humans for higher-order thinking

The third shift, Carson argues, may be the most profound. “By handling the mechanical parts — summarizing, suggesting, organizing — AI gives humans more room to focus on higher-order thinking, judgment, empathy, and creativity,” he says. “That’s what we should be developing: not just how to use tools, but how to think and act with wisdom in a more complex world.”

He points out that human curiosity has always driven progress — fire, electricity, flight, the internet — and believes AI will unlock the next wave. “Unleashing curiosity at scale will create a competitive advantage like we’ve never seen before,” Carson adds.

“Ultimately, I see AI making learning more immediate, more personalized, and more human. We’re not just creating smarter systems — we’re creating more capable, connected people.”

Redefining work: HI + AI

Carson emphasizes that AI’s impact will extend beyond learning into the very structure of work itself. “We are in the early stages of the single largest job transformation in human history,” he says. “The separation between physical and cognitive work is disappearing. Every worker — from janitor to scientist — will need technical acumen to succeed.”

His framework for the future is what he calls HI plus AI: Human Innovation combined with Artificial Intelligence.

“It’s about maximizing the strengths of both and building work systems where motivation to learn is embedded directly in the flow of work,” Carson explains.

That means redesigning teams, performance measures, and job structures with AI augmentation in mind. “As we re-architect jobs, we have the chance to reframe what humans expect from work and how we define success — for both people and intelligent systems.”

A call to learning leaders

Carson urges L&D professionals to seize this moment. He recalls working at an airline during COVID-19 when the CEO told employees, “We don’t have a playbook for a global pandemic. Now we need to become a learning company.”

“Instead of being cut, learning teams became critical,” Carson says. “We were relied on to drive business continuity. That was when I realized: we don’t just need a seat at the table — we are the table.”

For him, the takeaway is clear: “This is our moment to embrace AI as business infrastructure and ensure the humanity of work stays central. Learning leaders must be principal voices in how organizations implement this technology, because it goes directly to competitive advantage and workforce relevance.”

Conclusion

Carson’s vision blends optimism with urgency. For him, AI is not about replacing people but amplifying them.

“AI will make learning more immediate, more personalized, and more human,” he concludes. “If we embrace it wisely, we won’t just build smarter systems—we’ll build more capable, connected people.”

CDO Magazine appreciates Brandon Carson for sharing his insights with our global community.