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AI & Automation In Learning Tech: How It’s Changing Talent Needs

30 May 2025

In this blog:

Ever since the 2000s, technological advancements have gathered in momentum, but in recent years, it’s the arrival of robust artificial intelligence (AI) software that has excited and frightened businesses in equal measure. While AI’s promise of effortless automated digital learning is irresistible on the surface, the implementation of this technology presents its own challenges, not least the changing talent needs of industry job seekers.

As a specialised learning and development recruitment agency, we can help your business find the professionals you need to streamline your operations. Contact us and submit a vacancy for your eLearning job, and we’ll do the legwork for you, connecting you with the industry expert who can elevate your operations. Able to organise an eLearning hire for you in just 24 hours when searching for on contract employees, at Instinct, we are here for your needs.

Learning management systems (LMS) are already making AI digital learning technology more accessible, moulding the technology into practical tools that make for engaging teaching solutions. But to find out exactly how AI is changing talent needs, read on.

What does the digital learning industry currently look like?

Recruiting for LMS jobs and other eLearning positions in the digital learning industry has become increasingly difficult thanks to the widening skills gap between hopeful candidates and AI knowledge. Indeed, business executives estimate that approximately 40% of their workforce will need to reskill within the next three years, thanks to the adoption of complex AI technologies.

While the need for more AI specialists has risen, so too has the demand for eLearning solutions, with the industry estimated to reach $686.9 billion by the year 2030. This rapid growth in both areas has made eLearning recruitment an extremely competitive industry, with there not being enough AI specialists to fill the necessary digital learning roles. It’s quite clear that the digital learning space is in a period of transition, with an eagerness to embrace AI’s potential and the wishes of consumers, without the necessary professionals to facilitate this change.

How AI & Automation are changing how digital learning operates

AI and automation have already substantially changed how students study in just the past two years, offering more intuitive and adaptive opportunities for learning in comparison to traditional teaching methods. This has allowed students to become more independent in their learning experience, with AI intelligently tailoring skill levels to the needs of the learner. But this is just one way in which technological advancement has begun to transform digital learning.

  • Automation makes the grading of papers and the tracking of student progress streamlined, allowing teachers to better prioritise their time.
  • AI allows eLearning to advance beyond a rigid, linear system, offering an adaptive model that provides tailored learning journeys and different formats of study, from quizzes to video content.
  • AI chatbots can provide learners with constant support, allowing students to stay engaged with a 24/7 course guide.

Challenges that AI & Automation are posing to digital learning

While AI and automation options may mean that digital lessons are quicker to produce and more personalised in their delivery, they do pose several challenges that will upend the normal order of learning. These challenges include:

  • The death of the traditional classroom method of learning. Teachers may feel redundant with the emergence of intelligent AI platforms. To avoid this, AI should be incorporated into the classroom rather than shunned.
  • AI is still imperfect and prone to mistakes; therefore, it should not be relied upon as a source of absolute fact exempt from verification.
  • Thanks to the level of data they collect, AI-enhanced digital learning platforms raise significant GDPR issues
  • As previously discussed, the rapid rise of appetite for AI tools in eLearning doesn’t match the number of qualified industry professionals, with this skill gap becoming an increasing concern.

How is AI and automation changing talent needs?

As eLearning tools become more reliant on AI technologies, there has, understandably, been a growing need for industry experts in the sector. The increased data analysis and content delivery required to deliver such solutions may mean a decrease in more traditional L&D roles and an increase in the need for more technically proficient specialists. No doubt, this has led to quite a significant skills gap.

AI demands in the eLearning sector require the need for specialists with a blend of specific skills that range from technical proficiency to business intelligence. Thanks to the specificity of hiring for these roles, many companies are instead turning to internal upskilling, where the following eLearning abilities are being prioritised:

  • Comprehensive AI understanding: A knowledge of how AI platforms work, with experience in interpreting learner analytics that could be gathered from such platforms.
  • AI automation and integration experience: Experience and knowledge of managing and integrating AI content into LMSs while ensuring quality control. 
  • Fusing AI into instructional design: Instructional design jobs will demand experience incorporating personalised AI elements into a varied eLearning content platform.

As a result of these changing talent needs, new roles have emerged in the eLearning sector that have been built to attract a new kind of technical professional. Such roles include:

  • Learning Experience Designers (LXDs): Using insights from AI, LXDs create personalised learning pathways with engaging, innovative solutions.
  • KOL/Content Creator Managers: Key opinion leaders (or KOLs) and content creator managers essentially oversee the work of educators and creators, ensuring content is engaging and adhering to educational guidelines.
  • Community Builders For Learners: These experts use AI tools to maintain engaging and energetic learner hubs where users can support each other’s learning.

But, talent needs in the eLearning sector have always evolved

The sector of eLearning has been evolving all the way throughout the new millennium, with the emergence of new technologies making it an increasingly engaging and viable option for educators. Indeed, such innovations as the CD-ROM in the 1990s through to the popularisation of mobile learning in the 2010s forced changes in the eLearning sector, encouraging the demand for new skills and job roles, just like AI.

While it may seem like a turbulent era in the eLearning sector with AI, automation and the emergence of new, innovative technologies changing how learning is experienced, in reality, it’s merely another challenge for the industry to embrace. Your own business should follow suit, using changing eLearning demands to evolve your strategy rather than retreat from its menacing appearance.

Case Studies: Where has AI already been integrated into eLearning platforms?

With 47% of education leaders using AI every day, eLearning creators have already begun integrating automation and AI into their practices. Such companies have taken advantage of a clear trend in the market, seeking specialists with a comprehensive understanding of AI to transform how their platforms operate. Let’s explore how these companies have harnessed the versatility of AI across their platforms.

Absorb LMS

Claiming to be able to quickly close skill gaps, Absorb LMS has integrated AI to help fulfil compliance training requirements and much more. Trusted by the likes of Sony and Samsung, the platform uses AI to improve learner engagement while making administrative tasks far more streamlined. By wildly enhancing the administrative experience and making interactive formats of eLearning, Absorb LMS was named the number one corporate LMS by G2.

SC Training

An eLearning platform optimised for mobile learning on the go, SC Training gives employees a dynamic space where they can fulfil their training expectations. For course leaders, the platform includes an AI creation feature that allows lessons to be generated with ease and simplicity. This helping hand when designing and delivering eLearning courses allows thought leaders on the platform to spend more time incorporating innovative interactive elements.

Thinkster Math

Based in America, this maths platform, built for primary school and secondary school-educated children, uses AI to enhance learning. It does this through offering lessons that are tailored to the student’s skill level and their own preferred format of interpreting information, using automation to provide immediate feedback. With innovative feedback options for course leaders, Thinkster Math has become a leading competitor in its field.

How Instinct Resourcing can make sure you get the talent you need

As we’ve established, the increasing need for AI integration in the eLearning sector has led to a significant skills gap – but this is where we can help you. A multi-faceted eLearning recruitment agency that specialises in everything from securing digital roles in the public sector to recruiting for the NHS, at Instinct, we can connect your business with the exact eLearning expert that you need.

Offload your recruitment responsibilities to us, and we can utilise our impressive talent pool to allocate the exact digital learning expert to fulfil your needs. In such a competitive market for talent, we can quickly and efficiently find the AI-literate candidates for you, allowing you to focus on the jobs that matter in the meantime. From our initial consultation with you through to our aftercare offerings, we can lead the entire process.

Elevate your eLearning services by reaching out to Instinct today.

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