First, I open up ChatGPT. Then I enter in this prompt:

“Please write a brief article about using AI in Learning and Development that will be used in a blog post for hospitality trainers. The article topics must include a one paragraph overview of the inputs AI will use to provide content. Those inputs are speaker, audience, and format. Include one paragraph about the frameworks used in learning and development, include the topics inspiration, planning, creation, and analysis. Provide some examples of prompts that are too vague and prompts that are more specific. The tone should be professional, engaging, and inclusive. Do not exceed 700 words.”

And now I hit enter. And now this article is done. Thanks for the opportunity to write a blog, CHART!

I joke, and of course, I’m writing this blog myself, but creating a prompt like that, with the level of detail and attention to inputs, will help you harness the power of AI and save you a lot of time and effort when creating training materials.

Brea Watkins Charlotte Conference 2024

Rachel Nemeth of Opus and Brea Watkins of Levity Live led a great breakout that centered around leveraging AI in Learning and Development. We began our time together with a discussion about who was using AI and at what level. The room consisted of people who were using it quite regularly, people who had dabbled, and people who had not used the tool at all.

We then moved into a discussion about how to use AI. While AI is a great tool, it can’t make great training on its own. In order to get the best output from an AI generator, you must provide detailed input. You have to consider:

  • The speaker (who is asking for the content? An instructor? A learner?)
  • The audience (who are you doing this for? Executive committees? Hourly food runners?)
  • The format (do you want an outline? Do you want a script with examples? Do you want a picture that looks like a cartoon or something more realistic?).

The more specific you get with your inputs, the better outputs you’ll have. We also discussed the frameworks that must be considered when using AI: Inspiration, Planning, Creation, and Analysis. AI can help you greatly in the creation process (you’re still on the hook for planning, inspiration, and analysis!).

Rachael Nemeth Charlotte Conference 2024

We did a really great exercise using the AI tool Dall-E. First we practiced asking AI to create an image, which was very enlightening. The more specific we got, the better the image became.

Then we were tasked with writing a Dall-E prompt to create an image of sexual harassment in a restaurant setting. When we used the prompt written exactly as the prior sentence, we received a message from Dall-E saying “I’m sorry, I can’t create that image.” We tried asking it various ways to create an image about sexual harassment but kept getting the same response. The reason being is that AI has a set of guardrails in place to ensure that its outputs are not harmful, disrespectful, racist, etc.

So, we needed to get more specific, and tell the AI exactly what we were looking for. When we changed the prompt to include language that was about “PREVENTING sexual harassment” Dall-E was happy to help. And we got an image that, with a few tweaks, would be great to include in harassment prevention training.

In conclusion, it’s important to remember that AI is not human, or a substitute for humans. It is a tool that can greatly help trainers create training quickly and efficiently, but it needs our help to create the RIGHT training. Start small, create a free account on a few AI generators like Chat GPT, Dall-E, Canva, etc. Work to refine your inputs: speaker, audience, and format. And then join the next level in training by leveraging some great AI tools!