You need more people using Gen AI, and content alone won’t get your team there.
The key to AI workforce transformation isn’t just learning. It’s doing. Gen AI confidence is architected via carefully orchestrated learning experiences—a mix of content, practice, feedback, and community. Targeted, blended experiences is how critical skills are forged. And AI is finally in a place to help get your people there.
According to recent research done by Degreed and Harvard Business Publishing, those who are most confident in Gen AI are nearly twice as likely to use it daily and are four times more likely to apply it to real problems. These employees are your Gen AI Practitioners. They are the engine of your transformation, and as leaders, your mandate is to intentionally design the systems that enable them. Fast.
Who Becomes a Gen AI Learner?
Employees who passively consume the AI content you put in front of them aren’t growing confidence the same as those who take skill development into their own hands. Look to the most confident Gen AI users. Once you examine their habits, it becomes clear that regular usage is a key factor in strengthening Gen AI skills.
Some people will be natural adopters of AI. They’re already seeking it out. These are your early Gen AI learners. Others will need encouragement, and internal motivation is only one piece of the puzzle. The rest can be directly influenced by business leaders.
How Do You Enable the Creation of More Gen AI Learners?
The early hype of Gen AI has faded. The technology and adoption is maturing. We can no longer mistake speed and content consumption for depth. Leaders must urgently shift their approach from simple awareness of AI to deep capability in AI. Your people need more than motivation—they need support and infrastructure.
Let’s talk about support first: When AI was first emerging, content seemed like it was enough. You could share what AI was and even quick courses on how to use it. But we’re past that foundational stage.
Now, your people need exact guidelines like:
- What’s your organization’s policy on AI?
- What AI platforms can they use at work?
- What can they use those platforms to do?
- Who can they go to with questions?
- What are teams across your business using AI for and who is communicating that?
Support for this transformation demands cross-functional alignment. When CIOs and CHROs align on AI upskilling, cross-functional collaboration, and ethical governance, their companies are three times more likely to build a Gen AI-ready workforce. Let that sink in.
CIOs, CHROs, and CLOs need to be working in lock-step. Your employees need to see and feel a cohesive strategy, and they need to know that while each team is operating in their specialty, you’re all simultaneously rowing toward the same goal.
How Can You Use AI to Create Diverse, Personalized Learning Experiences?
Employees with access to advanced Gen AI infrastructure are 18 times more likely to become confident users, according to the How the Workforce Learns Gen AI report. A critical piece of that is having the right AI tools and using them for the right purpose.
The real level-up will come when your people can learn about AI while using AI—and generic LLMs aren’t in the place to reliably support that. Your people need more than answers. They need practice, discussion, and content that fits their needs. Without access to your people’s skills and your company goals, generic LLMs don’t have the context to operate effectively.
The way of the future is AI that is designed specifically for corporate learning. It’s content that’s tailored to jobs, skills, and roles. It’s an AI-native coach that’s available 24/7 for practicing the tough conversations, sales pitches, and high-impact presentations in a low-risk environment. It’s adaptive AI learning experiences that keep the full context of your workforce, its skills, and your business goals in mind.
With this setup, people learn AI alongside other business-critical skills, like leadership. With the right AI, “learning” is also “doing.” AI fluency is no longer about knowledge transfer, it’s about empowering capability in-flight. Technology is finally catching up to create the learning in the flow of work that L&D has been striving for for years.
Create the blended, AI-native learning experiences and your team will become primed to operate and lead in this AI moment.
Susie Lee
Advisor & Chief Learning Officer
Susie Lee is a transformative leader in workforce innovation, serving as Advisor and Chief Learning Officer at Degreed. With over 25 years of global experience across human capital technology, financial services, and loyalty marketing, Susie brings deep strategic expertise in reimagining how organizations develop, engage, and future-proof their talent.
At Degreed, she plays a pivotal role in guiding enterprise clients through workforce transformation, while also leading the company’s Client Advisory Board. Through this executive community, Susie amplifies Degreed’s thought leadership brand, fosters innovation, and connects forward-thinking leaders to accelerate shared learning and best practices across industries.
Previously, Susie was Senior Vice President at Bank of America, where she led Global Learning Product Management and Technologies. She was instrumental in launching Degreed’s platform enterprise-wide – impacting 300,000 employees and revolutionizing the bank’s learning ecosystem.
Susie holds a Bachelor of Arts from Queen’s University and postgraduate certifications from the Schulich School of Business at York University. Based in Canada, she brings a global perspective shaped by extensive leadership across North America and the Asia-Pacific region.
