The AI Learning Illusion: Why Training Programs Are Failing

I love to learn, although if you asked some of my old teachers they might disagree. For the last year, my passion has been learning about AI. Every night, when I’m cooking dinner, I’ll watch videos on the latest and greatest AI advancements, tools and capacities. It’s really mind blowing when you see what’s possible and how quickly that evolves. But it’s also overwhelming. I study really hard because I like it and I want to ensure my skills stay relevant in the marketplace, but the reality is it’s really hard to keep up.

This is why this Accenture statistic from a few months ago really spoke to me: 78% of executives say AI is moving too fast for their training programs to keep up.

Let’s look at why. Certainly a giant part of the problem is the constant innovation and iteration, but there’s another problem and that is traditional training. When a company gets a new tool or system, you want to ensure every user is trained and certified to use that system. But what does that look like with AI? I literally study ai every day and would never dream of calling myself an “expert”. If anything, the more I learn it makes me feel like I’m just falling further behind.

Here’s the problem: Businesses are rolling out AI like it’s just another software update. They do what they’ve always done—offer a class, give employees some documentation, and expect them to figure it out. That might work for a CRM system, but AI isn’t a system—it’s a revolution.

I believe the winners and losers will be determined by mentality. AI isn’t about mastery, it’s a foolish goal. How can you master something that is a constantly moving target? For me the mental shift that made a huge difference is to think like an artist. A good example is the documentary Get Back showing the Beatles prepping for their final concert. The thing that struck me in that footage was how much they screwed around. Playing each others instruments, making up ridiculous lyrics, singing in weird styles. From a logical and studio cost perspective it was a total of waste of time, but when you look at it through an artistic lens, that was part of their magic and brilliance was being unafraid to play and experiment. I truly believe this is the way we should approach ai. When friends ask how I got so comfortable with AI, a big part of that is just constantly playing with it. I use it for cooking, vacation planning, developing family activities, generating ai art. I think this will be the key for ai adoption and real transformation in corporations. If you want real employee buy in and revolutionary results you must encourage play and exploration.

Now if you’re thinking that’s a lovely theory, but how do we put it into practice here’s a few ideas to consider:

1. Start with Curiosity. How do we build organizations where asking, “What’s new in AI today?” is the norm, not the exception?

2. Encourage Hands-On Experimentation. How can employees truly understand AI if they don’t have space to test, play, and fail safely?

3. Develop AI Mentors, Not Just Manuals. What if companies had internal AI guides who could help teams adapt in real time instead of just handing them a PDF?

4. Make Learning a Daily Habit. Instead of a one-time training, what would it look like if learning AI became part of the daily workflow?

The companies that win with AI won’t be the ones that train their employees the fastest. They’ll be the ones that inspire them to explore. Because at the end of the day, AI isn’t something you master—it’s something you chase. And the real question is: are you building a team of basic AI users or a culture of AI explorers?