Who owns AI upskilling? Survey insights on AI skill adoption shaping a modern L&D strategy

L&D traditionally sits at the center of executive-driven learning strategies, which are mandated by leadership and then communicated to employees.

So, how can L&D professionals strike a balance between executive mandates and learner autonomy? 

We surveyed over 2,000 L&D professionals and learners to understand how learner preferences and L&D strategies align or diverge in the era of AI. We examine the tension between self-directed and executive-driven approaches to see how L&D can bridge the gap between these two forces. 

And why is this critical right now? The urgency and advantage gained by quickly and ethically upskilling will enable companies to secure a competitive edge in both productivity and employee retention.

Here's what we found.

Professional development keeps employees engaged. Training not only enhances job performance but also increases the likelihood of staying in the role. While professional development is broader than just asynchronous learning, it allows L&D to scale programs more efficiently. It provides employees with the training they need to pivot, upskill or reskill for their jobs on their own schedule, seamlessly integrating it into their workload.

The value of asynchronous learning multiplies when delivered and personalized through AI. Fifty percent of workers in our survey say they're comfortable with AI tailoring their learning paths. The most significant benefits they see are using AI to find answers faster (37%) and find more relevant content (19%). In fact, employees show a growing ease with AI, with nearly 50% saying they feel somewhat (28.3%) and very comfortable (21%) with it. 

AI is becoming an essential part of asynchronous learning, strengthening self-directed learning. Still, AI-driven learning works best when it augments, rather than replaces, the human touch — especially in areas such as feedback and mentoring. To create effective learning programs that balance learning mandates with self-driven discovery, L&D professionals must understand how employees use AI in their personal development.

With increased exposure to AI in their professional and personal lives, many employees view AI as a boon and utilize it regularly to enhance various aspects of their jobs. Rather than seeing AI as a threat to their jobs, 47% believe in AI’s power to save them time on routine tasks. Employees value the way AI relieves the administrative tasks that slow them down, such as repetitive work (38%), approvals (36%), and searching for information (33%). And adoption isn’t evenly distributed. For instance, technology and data roles report the highest AI usage and confidence, while service-based roles remain the most cautious, often unsure how AI connects to their daily work. This uneven landscape underscores why AI learning maturity depends as much on context as capability.

But AI is more than just an operational tool. It's transforming professional development, turning employees into engaged learners. Employees grow more familiar with features such as conversational AI, personalized content recommendations and smart notifications. As a result, AI is and will be one of the most popular topics for self-directed learning in our generation. Learners want to engage with it because they're curious and motivated.

Self-directed learning is strongest where individuals require specialized, rapidly changing or career-shaping skills. Employees trust AI for building technical skills and exploring new topics. Remarkably, 74% believe that AI personalization is as effective as or more effective than human-designed experiences. By enabling just-in-time discovery and adapting to their context, AI tools empower employees to deepen their knowledge and upskill, staying ahead in their work. 

Still, while AI adoption is mainstream, confidence and consistency vary. With nearly 7 in 10 professionals using AI on a weekly basis, employees show an increased comfort level in experimenting with AI. Yet, only 56% feel confident selecting the right one for the task. Also, only 14% consider themselves advanced, indicating a broad but shallow adoption curve. Companies that invest in upskilling employees to integrate AI strategically are well-positioned to convert experimentation into efficiency gains.

Where self-directed learning prioritizes upskilling and just-in-time discovery, the ‘executive mandate’ focuses on consistency, scalability and alignment in areas such as compliance, culture and enterprise skill development. Executive-driven learning comes from the C-suite, setting the vision and expectations for organizational learning outcomes. 

Leadership plays a crucial role in fostering AI confidence throughout the organization. Only 50% of workers report that leadership has communicated an AI strategy, and even fewer (45%) say their team has established usage expectations. When executives clearly articulate the company's expectations for AI adoption in learning, they create the foundation for successful implementation. Transparent governance also ensures that AI is used responsibly, with fairness and privacy safeguards guiding the application of data and personalization across learning experiences.

L&D professionals are positioned at the crucial intersection of this executive vision and learner needs. They see the potential for upskilling, with 69% agreeing that this is where AI can deliver the most value. Personalization at scale is the path forward: Striking a balance between measurable outcomes and the learner experience. However, governance and responsibility for AI in learning remain fragmented. Only 23% say AI ownership is "very clear," while 25% agree that it's "mostly" or "completely" unclear. Without clarity from leadership, L&D faces significant challenges in implementing AI integration, even with high adoption rates.

When it comes to AI ownership, L&D may not play a dominant role, but they do play a strategic one. 28% say they drive an AI learning strategy with executive support, while 31% collaborate closely with leadership. L&D is at the crossroads of organizational alignment — close enough to influence, but not yet empowered to lead AI transformation independently.

The question remains: How can L&D professionals strike a balance between executive mandates and learner autonomy? This is where L&D plays its most pivotal role — translating leadership vision into scalable learning strategies that connect with what learners really want and need.

Executive mandates empower leadership to establish the vision and strategy that drive the organization's overall outcomes. While centralized programs keep the whole organization aligned, AI unlocks learner autonomy. Instead of solely relying on guidance from executives, employees utilize AI to minimize the friction of finding the "right piece of content" within the workflow.

Focusing singularly on executive-driven programs can create blind spots in learning strategies. To start, 62% of organizations see discrepancies between planned and actual learner engagement. Learner behavior often does not align with company expectations, as centralized programs may not cater to the diverse learning styles of employees. Almost half (49%) of employees want more control of personalization, while 44% want more human interaction.

There's an opportunity here for L&D professionals to strike a balance between guidance and autonomy through structured AI adoption. For one, by driving true integration. While the majority of L&D professionals (82%) say their organizations use AI in learning, over half have less than 30% of their content powered by AI. 

L&D teams are uniquely positioned to create clear frameworks that guide employee usage and create blended, learner-centric AI adoption strategies. By setting the learning strategy that bridges executive vision with learner needs, L&D can help build the AI confidence employees need while meeting the expectations leadership has established.

A winning L&D strategy aligns executive mandates with self-directed learning. Through unlimited access to expert-led courses across numerous categories, L&D professionals can provide centralized training for employees and track their engagement.

Moreover, personalization promotes self-directed discovery tailored to each employee's specific job function and role. Rigid guidelines no longer constrain employees; instead, they can personalize their learning paths based on their responsibilities and quickly find the information they need. With curated playlists and diverse content tailored to different learning styles and varying levels of AI literacy, employees can engage in a learning experience that perfectly suits both their professional context and their current skill level.

Go1 helps L&D professionals launch and measure executive-driven initiatives with confidence. Our platform enables L&D to set strategy and co-create outcomes with learners, translating leadership vision into scalable, personalized learning experiences. Find more data from the learners' and L&D professionals' surveys in the Keeping Pace: Leading Learning in the Age of AI report.