EdTech Intel: 6 Ways AI is Revolutionizing Online Learning

After years of steadily picking up steam, online learning is experiencing undeniable explosive growth. The market is racing toward $1 trillion, with the corporate e-learning space expected to skyrocket 250% in the coming years. As e-learning continues to expand beyond the walls of academia, another game-changing phenomenon is going mainstream in a big way: artificial intelligence (AI).

AI has dominated headlines in the first five months of 2023. Thanks in no small part to ChatGPT, the AI narrative has shifted from a story about human obsolescence to something a lot more exciting: how AI helps us complete tasks faster and, in many cases, better. Deloitte found that more than 50% of companies will utilize AI and/or automation technologies in 2023. Meanwhile, workers across industries are embracing generative AI. When one Fortune 500 firm paired employees with AI tools, those workers reported more job satisfaction.

It’s difficult to name an industry that won’t be enhanced by AI. That includes e-learning. However, the real innovation is in pairing AI with behavioral science. By doing so, we can understand what truly motivates online learners, build courses optimized for the digital realm and, ultimately, crack the code on the “completion rate problem”—raising the percentage of learners who finish a course from just 3.1% to 65% or more.

That completion rate boost means more ROI for creators, who in 2022 spent $320 billion on courses that 97 of 100 students never finished. Better completion also improves learning outcomes and opens the door to the transformative experiences that students deserve. Read on for six ways that AI and behavioral science are powering the world’s most effective online learning programs.

Using AI and behavioral science to unlock higher engagement and real ROI
Like the online learning market itself, the e-learning AI space is on a...Why the need for behavioral science? Because AI alone isn’t enough to determine what motivates someone to purchase and complete an online course. To answer that question—and solve the “completion rate problem”—the most successful people building AI businesses are leveraging open large language models (LLMs) similar to the ones you find with OpenAI. This is the foundation; the next step is building vertical solutions on top. These LLMs are then trained on aspects such as sentiment analysis and empathy categories. When layered on top of AI, this achieves a vertically integrated solution.Through this pairing of AI and behavioral science, we’re finally able to optimize courses for completion, delivering real ROI for creators and unlocking unlimited intellectual potential. Here’s how you can leverage this innovation right now to build the world’s best online learning program.With completion rates stuck at just 3.1%, brands are seeing incredibly low ROI—that is, if they’re lucky enough to see any at all. This missed potential stems from investing in the wrong curriculum. By leveraging AI and behavioral science, creators can learn what to build before spending a single dollar on course development.