Personal take of the HUSPI CMO, Zee Gimon, on corporate education and AI.
With all the talk about artificial intelligence right now from every faucet – it is more important than ever to keep hold of our humanity.
AI has been around for a while, since 1980s, but since the launch of ChatGPT in November of 2022, things have exploded and suddenly everyone had a chance to try it.
Some have tried it for smart things – work, research, increasing the speed of various processes, getting rid of mundane stuff.
Some have tried it for silly things – generating images in Miyazaki style (guilty as charged, I fell for that one too.)
And now, if you go to LinkedIn or google any business conference – chances are there would be a billion posts or speeches about AI. AI here, AI there, everywhere AI (sing it to the tune of Old McDonald.)
Great!
I mean, it’s a really cool tool and at HUSPI we use Copilot and ChatGPT and Gemini and Claude for various purposes that help us serve our clients better. However, at the same time, we value the ability to think as a person. AI can only go so far.
That said, the clip below describes one of my biggest worries – that people simply give up their humanity in favor for the “easy life” governed by technology.
And another example – a paperclip game.
It’s incredibly straightforward – your goal is to make paperclips. Can’t hurt anyone, right? It’s just making paperclips.
AI comes along, helps you figure out issues. Finds a solution to cancer for a relatively small price. Becomes your partner…
But in the rush to maximize paperclip production, you end up… transforming all the matter in the universe into paperclips.
Yes, the entire universe is just that: paperclips. Nothing and no one else.
Okay, let’s set the dramatic apocalyptic Matrix-like scenarios aside. Nevertheless, relying on artificial intelligence is something that should be done carefully, weighing the consequences.
In this article, we’ll talk about education – primarily corporate education. Besides being the CMO at HUSPI, I am also the Administrator for the Ukraine/Moldova learning center at the European Nazarene University and its recent alumni. So in my own education as well as dealing with students right now, I keep facing the AI dilemma.
Do we ban the AI completely? Doesn’t make any sense.
Do we embrace it? In a way.
Do we use it as a tool? Yes.
Let’s dive into the way corporate education is built around people – mentors, teams, shared learning experiences, and how technology should support people instead of eclipsing them.
The heart of every organization: people.
I’ve had my share of bosses, and the very first one at the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine – Jorge Zukoski – set quite a high bar for all the rest.
I came to that organization as a rookie, fresh out of university and with no official work experience, and it was in the course of the next six years that I’ve learned what being a true leader means.
We did have corporate trainings, we did have different learning opportunities, but it was the personal experience that mattered. And what’s more, it was the daily reminders of those lessons as I watched my boss treat his equals as well as those who were below him.
Besides the Chamber president, there were other key people who have taught a multitude of lessons and skills as well.
Could AI tell me how to fix the email? Yeah. But how to do it in a way that would elevate everyone involved? I am not so sure, especially when we’re talking about someone who is just starting his/her path in work. In order to benefit from pure AI, you need to understand what kind of questions to ask it, and without experience, you might not even think to ask some of the questions.
Corporate education is more than purely skills. It’s culture shaping, leadership development, and vision alignment. For that, you need relationships with people.
Nurture, don’t replace
Moving on, the goal of corporate education is to strengthen what people already have.
I understand that there are different roles within the organization, different positions, different tasks. And, let’s face it, people have different talents and strengths, so one approach cannot fit everyone.
However, what everyone can benefit from is a chance to grow, a chance to be prepared on how to thrive in uncertainty or in various business situations – taking into account ethics, intuition, and people’s contexts, and for that you need – say with me – people’s relationships.
So, where does AI fit into all of this? After all, like I’ve said before, we cannot simply say “We are people and we don’t like AI.” It’s counterproductive and would set us back a few decades.
So what about AI?
I’ve said a lot against the AI, but once again, we cannot deny its impact on every single aspect of our lives – business, personal, and global. So we have to find a place for AI in our lives, without minimizing the personal impact.
And actually, AI is a great backstage assistant, there’s no denying that artificial intelligence can deal with routine, boring things much better than people, leaving the creative tasks for humans.
We have discussed the role of AI and how to correctly embrace it in the educational setting at one of the faculty meetings at our college. After all, the students’ as well as teachers’ temptation to just skip the effort and use AI for everything is high. The primary question, however, lies in the quality.
When it comes to corporate education – there are several of the things where artificial intelligence can help (and where we’ve used it successfully):
Adapting the content that was created by teachers, HRs, mentors, and professionals. One of the major things that we’ve done for a couple of our projects is empowering microlearning – people upload their materials from the seminars, etc., and AI creates reminders and little exercises from that content.
For example, the NinjaOne onboarding prototype below. For an employee that just joined the company, especially if s/he never worked in this system before, there should be a learning curve so it doesn’t overwhelm the person.
NinjaOne has a whole department for trainings and corporate education and they are great with it. However, in order for people to benefit from the trainings fully, there should be some kind of reminders set up that would be aimed at little bits of knowledge.
While people can do that, this is the very task that can be done by AI.
What else can AI do? It became quite good at research and finding right resources – or generating practical exercises.
For example, I’ve used ChatGPT to create a workbook designed for VC mentors to use and reflect on privately or review before/after mentoring conversations.
Feel free to download the file (or generate your own using ChatGPT.)
Finally, saving the best for last – AI is great for handling repetitive admin tasks so that educators and mentors have more time to focus on people. Let technology take care of technology and people take care of people.
AI doesn’t mentor.
It doesn’t inspire.
That’s still our job as people.
Practical things
Okay, let’s get to a few practical things about corporate education or adult learning.
Every training or educational initiative should start with who you’re helping, not what tools you’re using.
“Duh,” you’d say. “That’s obvious.”
Well, not always. Sometimes people start with discussion about AI, Moodle, Google Classroom, offline/online…
That’s the wrong way to start. Education should always start with people.
Once you’ve started with who you’re helping, get people involved in designing their own learning paths.
How do you do it? Many people don’t know what they would like to learn – often because they don’t know what’s available. It doesn’t mean they aren’t motivated to learn.
Therefore, here are a few tricks:
- Ask questions like this:
- “What do you wish you were better at in your daily work?”
- “Where do you feel stuck or bored right now?”
- “When was the last time you felt proud of something at work?”
- “What task drains you the most?”
- Offer short 1-hour trainings on different topics to give employees / mentees that they can choose from.
- Offer a list of short-term goals for people to achieve, for example:
- “I want to lead a meeting confidently”
- “I want to give better feedback”
- “I want to understand AI basics”
Going back to AI – use it to highlight opportunities. It can analyze a whole lot of information and give you a whole list of things that can be helpful. However, leave the decisions to people.
Finally, the main practical tip – internal communication, practice, and mentorship are a whole lot more important than automation. Automation is easy to do and it should be done – but don’t just run after the automation because everyone says you need to automate.
The culture of education
Every educational program shapes your company culture – whether you’ve meant it intentionally or not.
Even the boring ones. Especially the boring ones.
You’re not just teaching skills.
You’re teaching what kind of company this is.
Whether people matter.
Whether curiosity is welcome.
Whether failure is fatal or just part of learning.
And people feel that long before they write it on a feedback form.
So… ask yourself – what are you really building? What are you aiming to achieve?
A culture of fear and quiet replacement? Where everyone watches their back and tries to outpace the algorithm?
Or a culture of growth and belonging – where people know they’re meant to be here, and they’re allowed to grow?
Tech can’t answer that for you. That’s a leadership decision.
And listen—AI in learning isn’t the villain. But when we use it to track clicks, measure “productivity,” or set up dashboards like they’re confession booths… we lose the point.
Learning is a deeply human thing. AI should serve that.
Quietly. In the background.
Not with a stick in its hand.
The future of learning is relational, purposeful, and deeply human – supported by tools that serve, not replace.
And one last thing: always check information. Always make sure your decisions are made by you, not AI.
Live long and prosper.