Here’s a riddle for you: What costs $340 billion globally, involves 80% of L&D teams using cutting-edge AI, and still leaves 70% of organizations struggling to equip their workforce with the skills they actually need?
If you guessed “corporate learning in 2025,” congratulations! You’ve been paying attention to the chaos.
Welcome to the great learning paradox of our time. We’re spending more than ever. We’re adopting AI faster than a tech bro adopts cryptocurrency. And yet, somehow, we’re still failing spectacularly at the one thing that matters: actually preparing employees for the work they need to do.
Our new Learning Lab Report 2025 pulls back the curtain on this mess, and spoiler alert: the problem isn’t that we need more learning programs. It’s that the entire model is broken.
The Old Playbook Is Dead (But Nobody Told the LMS)
Let’s be honest about what “corporate training” has meant for the past two decades: Click through this painfully linear e-learning course. Attend this day-long workshop that you’ll forget by Tuesday. Log into this clunky LMS that feels like it was designed by someone who’s never actually used the internet.
As Josh Bersin puts it: “The paradigm of corporate training is to go on a course and go through it chapter by chapter. No-one has time for that. You compare that to TikTok or Twitter or YouTube shorts, it isn’t even in the same ballpark.” And he’s right. We’re asking employees who’ve been algorithmically trained to consume information in 15-second bursts to sit through hour-long compliance modules. It’s like asking someone to send a fax after they’ve discovered FaceTime. Technically possible, but why would you?
The data backs this up in the most depressing way possible: 51% of learners disengage within 90 days, and only 43% complete courses without someone literally forcing them to. That’s not a learning strategy – that’s a hostage situation.
The AI Mirage: Everyone’s Using It, Nobody’s Winning
Now here’s where it gets interesting. The headlines scream “72% of businesses use AI!” and “80%+ of L&D teams using AI!” Sounds impressive, right? We’ve solved it! The robots are here to save us!
Except… pull back the curtain and the picture looks very different:
- Only 36% of employees feel adequately trained in AI
- 70% of organizations struggle to equip their workforce with AI skills
- 54% of employees are using unauthorized AI tools (hello, Shadow AI)
- Only 27% of companies feel they’re effectively building the skills they need
So yes, L&D teams are “using AI”, but mostly for basic tasks like generating quiz questions or translating content. Meanwhile, the actual workforce is out there winging it with ChatGPT, hoping nobody notices they have no idea what they’re doing.
The $2.5 Billion Wake-Up Call
In December 2025, Coursera and Udemy merged in a $2.5 billion deal. In November, Workday dropped $1.1 billion to acquire Sana Labs, an AI-native learning platform that’s been cutting course creation time from four months to four days.
These aren’t just big numbers – they’re market signals. The industry giants are betting everything that the future of learning isn’t about catalogues of courses. It’s about AI-powered, dynamic, personalized enablement that meets people where they are. One Sana customer reported a 275% increase in learning engagement. Another cut their content creation timeline by 97%. These aren’t marginal improvements, they’re fundamental transformations.
From Content Creator to Growth Enabler
Here’s the uncomfortable truth that our report lays bare: In the new paradigm, content is infinite and worthless. Enablement is scarce and priceless.
When AI can generate a complete course in hours (getting you 80% of the way there), the value of L&D isn’t in publishing training modules. It’s in:
- Strategic capability building: Working with business leaders to identify what actually matters
- Learning in the flow of work: Only 12% do this effectively, but those who do see dramatically higher engagement
- Career navigation: The #1 most impactful L&D practice isn’t courses, it’s creating extensive career growth options
- Real-time skill development: Not “take this course,” but “here’s exactly what you need, right now, to solve this problem”
As Bersin notes: “In the new paradigm, the content and the platform are the same thing. The platform is dynamically creating the content for you based on your needs.”
Think less Netflix (here’s our catalogue), more Spotify’s Discover Weekly (here’s exactly what you need right now, based on who you are).
The Skills Gap That Could Cost Us $8.5 Trillion
Let’s zoom out for a second. The World Economic Forum says 59% of the global workforce will need training by 2030. That’s most people. And 39% of existing skills will transform or become outdated.
Korn Ferry estimates this skills shortage will cost $8.5 trillion in unrealized revenues by 2030.
Meanwhile, 80% of employers say upskilling is their most effective workforce strategy, but only 28% are planning significant investment.
Do you see the problem? We’re staring at an economic catastrophe while simultaneously underfunding the solution. It’s like knowing the hurricane is coming and deciding this is a great time to cancel your insurance.
What Actually Works (Hint: It’s Not Another LMS)
Our report identifies what forward-thinking organizations are actually doing:
Microlearning that respects attention spans (80% completion rates vs. the dismal numbers for traditional e-learning)
Simulation-based training that reduces workplace accidents by up to 45%
Capability academies that build comprehensive ecosystems around strategic skills
AI-native platforms that reduce content creation from months to days while personalizing at scale
But here’s the kicker: none of this works without the human element. Elliott Masie reminds us that “AI should be seen not as a threat but as a tool for innovation, storytelling, and experimentation.” The last 20% of AI-generated content still requires human expertise, judgment, and quality assurance. You can’t automate away subject matter knowledge, compliance accuracy, or the nuanced understanding of how people actually learn.
The Bottom Line
Corporate learning is at an inflection point. We can keep pouring money into the old model- more courses, more platforms, more content that nobody watches or we can embrace what the data is screaming at us:
The future isn’t learning programs. It’s learning enablement.
It’s meeting people where they are, with what they need, when they need it. It’s AI-powered, human-guided, and actually connected to business outcomes. As Donald Taylor puts it, “AI may fall from the top of the table next year, not because it is unimportant, but because it may simply become the new normal.” The revolution isn’t coming. It’s here. The question is whether you’re ready to move beyond the paradigm that’s been broken for years.
Want the full story? Download our complete report for all the data, insights from industry thought leaders, and practical priorities for 2026.