In 2026, AI isn’t an option; it’s a mandate. Companies recognize that it’s not a question of whether to adapt AI, but the risk of not adapting it relative to competition, innovation and related seismic changes taking place. We’re seeing AI take the world by storm, and L&D is no exception.
In many ways, AI has helped transform traditional learning and make microlearning more accessible. In this blog, I’ll explore the challenges of traditional learning and the impact AI is having on the learning industry — and beyond.
The challenge with traditional learning
Traditional corporate learning technology is incompatible with how people learn and acquire knowledge today. Methods that rely solely on long-form training that requires significant time away from normal work responsibilities aren’t compatible with our AI-accelerated world. And their effectiveness — beyond tracking whether a lesson was completed — is notoriously difficult to measure.
These methods were built on a slow, linear process: waiting for information to be available, turning it into training through costly instructional design, reviewing and refining the content, and finally delivering it to employees. This is the past; the future is AI-powered microlearning.
How AI is changing access to information
AI in general, and LLMs like ChatGPT in particular, provide unprecedented shortcuts to acquire information. This is different from the way people have used search engines like Google for years. A range of answers were provided, with links to drill down into for information.
Now, AI often spoon-feeds information in a highly consumable form, which can create a false sense of confidence. When people don’t invest time exploring the details, information erosion happens and things get lost. Additionally, the race to get a fast answer dulls people’s ability to interpret information and think critically, affecting their ability to make good business decisions.
This only increases the L&D mandate to harness this power for accuracy and learning performance. Otherwise, the risk of AI spreading misinformation — or its own narrative on the correct information — is delivered at a pace faster than traditional communications can keep up with. In essence, AI presents this L&D challenge: take control of your communications or AI will.
Why information alone isn’t knowledge
Some perceive that the further evolution of AI could be a substitute for learning — it is not. Information isn’t knowledge. And while machines will help us access and organize information faster, learning itself will never be completely outsourced. Companies still need their professional, knowledge-focused employees.
For learning to be effective, it must happen in the flow of work through channels that reach learners like SMS, email and Microsoft Teams, be delivered in short, engaging bursts and be accurately measured. This has always been our core value proposition.
We have continued to innovate and now leverage AI to infinitely expand this.
The future of AI and microlearning
We’re evolving corporate learning, propelled by AI. Short, direct, mobile-first formats work. Repetitive, impactful headlines work. And speed is no longer optional.
Using our AI Author Assistant, you can take a document that was released yesterday and run a training tomorrow, skipping the instructional design and manual content creation tasks that take a long time to make.
What makes Qstream’s AI different
Our effort to design the right microlearning AI began at the very early stages of — and even before — the adoption of mainstream AI. It included testing to confirm how the content worked, careful modifications of prompts and output and refinement.
Our model delivers the unique and proven learning experience that Qstream offers, which includes ensuring it follows the science and best practices that make Qstream highly engaging for our customers’ learners.
Qstream AI dramatically shortens the time it takes to transform existing content into our format, which is still unique to Qstream. This not only strengthens the product in the AI age but also further sets us apart from traditional providers and new entrants alike.
See how Qstream AI works
AI helps talented L&D professionals move faster than ever before, helping them to keep pace in our AI-accelerated world. Qstream’s AI and future AI plans are designed to make L&D teams’ lives easier, training more impactful and overall learning effective without wasting countless hours creating microlearning from scratch.
If you’re ready to modernize your training and save time in 2026, contact our team today. We’re always ready for a demo and chat!
