Month: January 2026

Is AI replacing Training in 2026?

It’s 2026, and the headline everyone feared: “AI Replaces Training” may turn out to be half right.

If you’re a white collar professional, you’re going to need to continue to “upskill” and do so at an ever faster rate. We’re all leaders now. We’ve moved past the era of “learning to do” and entered the era of “learning to lead” (even if the “team” you’re leading is made of silicon and code).

Here is how the landscape of professional growth has fundamentally changed over the last 12 months.

1. You’re No Longer a “Doer”—You’re an Orchestrator

The most significant shift in 2026 is the death of the technical specialist who only performs tasks. According to PwC’s 2026 AI Business Predictions, the modern manager is now an “Orchestration Layer.” In business that are rapidly adopting AI, that looks like this.

Think of it like this: Instead of being the violinist, you are now the conductor. Training is no longer about how to write a spreadsheet or draft a contract; it’s about how to connect three different AI agents to do those things for you, then auditing their work for errors.

As McKinsey’s Skill Change Index recently highlighted, demand for “AI Fluency” is growing seven times faster than any other skill. If you aren’t learning how to govern agents, you’re effectively standing still.

2. Why Companies are Trashing the Traditional LMS

For years, “training” meant sitting through a 45-minute video and clicking a few boxes at the end. In 2026, that model is officially dead. Why? Because Agentic AI is able to deliver just in time knowledge and skills to you.

Companies realized that if a bot can pass the quiz, the quiz is useless. Josh Bersin’s 2026 Research shows a massive 40-50% drop in traditional L&D spending.

Instead, that money is going into Dynamic Enablement. This is “just-in-time” learning where an AI coach sits on your shoulder while you work, giving you real-time feedback on a client call or suggesting a more efficient way to prompt a data analysis agent.

3. The “Human Premium”: Why EQ is the New Coding

As the “hard skills” (coding, data analysis, drafting) become automated commodities, the value of being “uniquely human” has skyrocketed. We call this the Human Premium.

In short: AI can give you the answer, but humans still have to decide if the answer is right. More importantly, they have to decide if it’s ethical.

The Cheat Sheet: 2024 vs. 2026

The Old Way (2024)The New Way (2026)The Driver
“How do I do this task?”“How do I lead this agent?”PwC
Completion RatesActual Business ROITraining Industry
Periodic Seminars24/7 Real-time CoachingThe Learning Guild
Coding & AnalysisEmpathy & EthicsLinkedIn

The Bottom Line

Investment in white-collar workers isn’t disappearing—it’s just moving up the value chain. If your current training feels like a “box-ticking” exercise, it’s a relic of the past. The future belongs to those who view AI as a team to be managed rather than a tool to be used.

Posted on by davidcartwright 0

2026 Thoughts and Questions

Heading into 2026, I see some pretty big changes ahead for me. Some of those will be personal. It’s also possible they will be professional. I am likely leaving New Orleans this year. With changes to the employment landscape, the city’s well covered financial crisis, and a new mayoral administration, I may not be able to keep this job when I do leave.

As I look ahead at the intersection of Project Management, Instructional Design, AI, and Cybersecurity, it’s clear that 2026 isn’t just another year of “digital transformation.” It’s the year of major disruption. We are moving past the novelty of generative AI a phase where corporations are trying to cut costs and maximize their investment in them, a phase where these tools actually have to build and protect value.

Here is a glimpse into some things I’ll be thinking and writing about this year. Of course, as the progresses, there will be things that aren’t even currently on my radar that I’ll write about here as well.

1. Instructional Design: Moving from “AI-Assisted” to “AI-Native”

In 2025, we were all talking about how AI could help us write a quiz, an outline, or a plan faster. This year, my focus is shifting toward AI-Native Architectures..

  • Possible blog post this year: The Death of the Storyboard: Why Instructional Designers are becoming System Architects.

2. The Rise of Agentic AI & Multi-Agent Orchestration

If 2024 was the year of the Prompt, and 2025 was the year of the Copilot, then 2026 is the year of the Agent.

I may be spending some time writing about how to manage a hybrid workforce of humans and autonomous agents. This seems like the big buzz area for 2026 and itrequires a new set of skills: task decomposition, agent specialization, and coordination protocols.

2026 Role Evolution

Skill Category2024 Context2026 Evolution
Project ManagementTracking human tasksOrchestrating multi-agent workflows
Data AnalyticsGenerating reportsAuditing agentic decision-making
Software UseMastering the UIGoverning the Agent’s API access

3. Cybersecurity: Protecting “Agency” in a Zero Trust World

With great automation comes great risk. A possible cybersecurity focus this year will lean heavily into Data Loss Prevention (DLP) and Identity Security.

As agents begin to handle more sensitive data autonomously—from processing cemetery records to managing workforce platforms like ADP—the “perimeter” has effectively dissolved. Is Identity-Centric Security is replacing traditional network defenses? I’ve seen vendors say that it is and it will. If an agent has the “agency” to act, how do we verify its “intent”?

  • Possible blog idea: Securing the Autonomous Worker: Why Identity is the New Firewall.

4. Data-Driven Training: Beyond the Completion Rate

I came into training from a Business Intelligence/Data background. To me, solid data metrics have always been a key to evaluating training effectiveness. The industry really seems to have embraced this in the age of big data and AI.

Using AI to bridge the gap between training and behavior, we’ll look at how to use telemetry from the tools we use every day (like Laserfiche or asset management systems, two software implementations i worked on in 2025) to prove that improvements in process actually happened and were powered by user learning. We aren’t just checking boxes; we’re measuring how training creates efficiency in the workforce.

What’s Next?

The “Human Premium” remains our greatest asset. Even as we automate the routine, the need for human ethics, empathy, and critical thinking has never been higher.

Posted on by davidcartwright 0