We’ve entered the age of accelerated learning — where skills have shorter shelf lives and traditional upskilling programmes are struggling to keep pace. Simply stretching already overburdened L&D teams won’t bridge the training gap. But transforming learning into a shared, cross-functional responsibility can. The key to unlocking this shift? AI.

The pace of change across industries is relentless, and with it comes an urgent need for agile talent development strategies. In this environment, traditional training production models — where L&D builds and delivers everything — can’t scale fast enough to meet emerging demands.

But organisations are sitting on an untapped resource: experts embedded in every team. From product managers to HR leads — and legal specialists to IT professionals — these internal stakeholders hold the real-time, role-specific knowledge your learners need.

The catch? They’re usually not instructional designers. And creating training hasn’t historically fallen within their skill sets.

That’s where AI comes in.

 

AI removes technical roadblocks for training creation

For years, building a course required L&D to extract insights from SMEs, translate them into structured content, and design a learning experience from scratch. That process was fragmented and inefficient.

Now, modern AI-assisted authoring tools can support anyone through the course-creation process — without requiring them to become e-learning pros. These tools can:

• Prompt users to define learning objectives and audience needs
• Convert technical knowledge into easy-to-understand, engaging content
• Generate source-based assessments, summaries, and examples
• Format content into course-ready layouts with minimal effort

That means your legal team can draft compliance modules. Your sales enablement team can create product training. Your DEI lead can build onboarding content that reflects your values.

And L&D? You’re not off the hook — you’re just finally able to focus on what you do best.

 

Let L&D do the work only L&D can do

When AI helps internal teams draft content independently, L&D teams gain time and space to elevate training quality. Instead of spending your hours copy-pasting, formatting, or sacrificing learner experience for training volume, you can focus on higher-impact work, such as:

• Mentoring cross-functional contributors and up-leveling their first drafts
• Designing custom interactivity and media that drive engagement
• Tailoring learning paths to individual departments or roles
• Partnering with stakeholders to align skills training with business needs
• Iterating on content based on learner feedback, experience, and outcomes

Put simply: AI doesn’t replace L&D. It repositions L&D as an enabler, consultant, and quality amplifier across the business.

 

5 tips for setting non-L&D teams up for success

Giving non-L&D teams access to the right AI tools is just the start. To make this shift successful, you need to support contributors with structure and guidance, too. Here are a few ways to do that.

1. Provide a quick-start framework

Offer a short internal course or job aid that explains how to build great training. Cover basics like identifying your audience and learning goals, organiing content, and making it interactive. The goal isn’t to turn people into full-fledged instructional designers — it’s to give them just enough structure to create a strong draft.

2. Create templated starting points

Not every SME wants to start from a blank screen. Provide pre-built templates or examples tailored to different use cases — like onboarding, process documentation, or compliance refreshers. Built-in AI can then further personalise these templates in minutes.

3. Encourage iterative collaboration

Encourage SMEs to approach course creation as a starting point, not a finished product. With AI making it fast and easy to create a quality first draft, it’s no longer a heavy lift for L&D to take it from there. Instructional designers or training pros can quickly refine and elevate the content — without the need to overhaul SMEs’ work entirely.

4. Celebrate contributions

Recognise and reward teams who take initiative in creating effective training. Highlight successful courses in internal newsletters, share learner feedback, and build a sense of ownership across departments.

5. Have L&D act as consultants

Position instructional designers as internal consultants who are available to review SME-created content, recommend enhancements, and coach teams on best practices. Set up dedicated office hours, document a clear process for requesting feedback, or host monthly “training jam sessions” where teams can workshop content together. This not only improves course quality but also builds stronger cross-functional relationships and reinforces L&D’s strategic value across the organisation.

 

This shift isn’t optional — it’s essential

The speed of transformation in today’s workforce isn’t slowing down. The organisations that thrive won’t be the ones with the biggest L&D teams — they’ll be the ones with the smartest strategies. That means using AI to activate the internal knowledge you already have and make it more accessible, collaborative, and scalable.

AI doesn’t just accelerate training production. It reimagines what’s possible when learning becomes a shared, cross-functional effort. When knowledge flows more freely — and L&D gets to focus on excellence instead of admin — everyone wins.

For more tips on creating seamless partnerships and maximising L&D impact with AI, check out the free resource: The AI-Powered Employee Training Playbook.

 

Kat Giroux 

Senior Content Writer at Articulate