Ever wondered how your music streaming app recommends songs? Or how OTT platforms know what content or genre you like the most? Artificial Intelligence. AI has come a long way in recent years and has found various applications across verticals. The L&D industry, too, has been making great strides with the adoption of AI. From reducing manual, repetitive tasks and creating an interactive learning environment to helping learners learn quickly and effectively and enabling educators to track learners’ performance, AI is a transformative tool in the eLearning space today. 

Conventionally, computers communicate via binary codes – i.e., zeros and ones. Complex technological advancement is necessary to move from bits and bytes to a human language. Natural Language Processing (NLP), an area of AI, has made steady inroads to a point where NLP-backed apps replace human agents to a certain logical and human-centric extent. Organizations are increasingly leveraging such apps and platforms for performance support and enhancing the output of their learning and development initiatives.

Understanding NLP

NLP enables apps and platforms to effectively learn to perform processes and tasks typically performed by humans – like learning speech patterns and differences, recognizing speech, and creating human-like responses. This allows the platform to work seamlessly rather than being restricted to a predetermined set of replies. NLP has allowed learning platforms to advance from an era of programmed inputs to “cognitive computing” and enabled personalization to the next level – which is an important capability in the learning industry today.

Enhanced eLearning with NLP

NLP has been an integral part of learning apps and platforms for quite some time. Conversational AI, or Chatbots, is the most common example of an NLP-backed feature of such apps. It enables the organization to monitor their learners’ performance and make recommendations accordingly. Additionally, NLP also enables L&D platforms to

• Simplify the content creation process by identifying short pieces of content relevant to a keyword, thus fueling the micro-learning approach. 
• Draw out keywords from existing content and refine the content catalog further to optimize relevant content for learners and enable efficient search results.  
• Summarize longer texts by recognizing key ideas or themes for further clubbing descriptive content and providing relevant content to learners.

Suggested read: Enhancing Learning Experience Needs Merging Learning Content with Technology

Simplifying HR processes with NLP

In addition to learning initiatives, the HR function has also seen widespread adoption of NLP-based apps to facilitate various processes. For instance, during the onboarding and training of new hires, ‘virtual agents’ help make the journey smoother for the employees as well as the employer. The manual tasks of the HR department, such as sending out reminders for deadlines, links to forms, or helping with providing the information, are made quick and easy with the technology. Chatbots also enable organizations to automate technical support and customer service to a certain extent with automated replies to routine questions and escalate complex issues to a human if needed. 

Voice-based virtual assistants are not confined to Chatbots on mobile devices but carry out wide-ranging common administrative tasks. These voice assistants help schedule meetings and conference calls and connect members.

Conclusion

Even though AI and NLP are still believed to be in their infancy, it has become mainstream through various apps and platforms. With the hybrid working model becoming the new norm, organizations will need to double down on their technology investments to facilitate a smooth transition. 

If you’re looking to invest in technological solutions for your L&D functions, talk to our experts today to learn more.