On 3 April, the Innovation Training Summit 2025 in Rome, organised by Ecosistema Formazione Italia (EFI) hosted a 90-minute workshop entitled ‘AI for Corporate Education’. Three global learning and development professionals co-facilitated this workshop; Natalie Cernecka, EIT Deep Tech Talent Initiative Manager, Jeanne Meister, Best Selling Author, Speaker, Consultant, and Managing Partner, Jeanne Meister LLC, from the US, and Dr Ashwin Mehta MBA FLPI, Chief AI Strategist, The LPI (Learning & Performance Institute), Co-Founder, AI Collective, from the UK
Founded in 2022, EFI is a non-profit association designed to help grow and strengthen the training sector in Italy, creating a synergistic network among various organisations in the field. It also works to make the transition between the education and training sectors smoother and more effective.
Open to all professionals and enthusiasts in the training sector, the Innovation Training Summit is EFI’s reference event, and the four thematic pillars for this year’s Summit were technological innovation, sustainability and wellbeing, training methodologies, and business development.
The ‘AI for Corporate Education’ workshop covered three themes:
- Human-AI interaction, including biases, fears, and resistance to change;
- Uniquely human activities in the age of AI;
- Leveraging AI to improve corporate education.
Jeanne’s discussion centred on “the human side of AI”, including the fears and worries workers have as AI is integrated in the workplace, and suggestions on what to do about this including organisations having clear and concise guidelines on usage of AI as well as creating opportunities for employees to share their usage with their peers and include the results AI is having in their job role. Ashwin debated the question: In the age of AI and automation, with many activities that were previously completed by people now possible with AI, what should people do?
The conclusions drawn from discussing this question, were that humans would still be needed for the following activities:
- Human validation and acceptance of AI-generated content.
- Managing the change brought by AI integration.
- Encouraging human engagement and validation to effectively use AI.
- Overseeing and managing AI systems.
- Upholding trust and ethics in AI applications.
- Lobbying and decision-making regarding AI-related policies and practices.
- Creating and maintaining AI frameworks.
- Producing real, innovative, and artistic content that AI can’t replicate.
- Person-to-person interactions, such as coaching and mentoring.
The workshop participants discussed whether these skills were already present in organisations or whether work would be needed to develop them. The consensus was that such skills were not usually available, meaning a talent strategy would be needed that included upskilling and seeking expertise from non-traditional routes. One example might be that where skills are required in performance coaching, then professional coaches, who are not usually considered within the corporate environment, such as sports coaches, might bring a new skillset.
Natalie’s discussion focused on how AI can be leveraged to improve corporate education so that it achieves its goals, namely, enhancing employee performance and productivity, addressing any skill gaps within the organization, and boosting employee engagement.
We were delighted that EIT Deep Tech Talent Initiative Pledger, Clust-ER Innovate, an association that supports education initiatives and empowers tech talent, was also present at the event and participated in the workshop.
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