Harnessing AI for L&D: Insights from d'Vinci's AI Journey

In this episode, we explore the practical ways AI can be integrated into learning and development workflows, from evaluating tools to establishing best practices for both internal teams and client projects. d’Vinci President Mason Scuderi and Lead eLearning Specialist Jenica Jones explore how organizations can responsibly harness AI’s potential to improve learner outcomes. 

Show Notes:

Mason Scuderi and Jenica Jones share valuable insights on how AI is used to improve workflows, enhance creativity, and streamline instructional design, while emphasizing the importance of transparency, data privacy, and human oversight. Their key take aways include:
  

• AI Streamlines Everyday Tasks: AI tools at d'Vinci are used for various tasks like drafting emails, creating some voiceovers, and writing eLearning script drafts, significantly improving efficiency and quality.
  
  
• Transparency and Privacy Are Essential: d'Vinci emphasizes safeguarding client data and being transparent about AI use, ensuring responsible implementation in both internal processes and client work. 
  
  
• AI Is a Creative Partner, Not a Replacement: AI is viewed as a valuable tool that accelerates tasks like content creation, but human oversight is crucial to make decisions, refine outputs and ensure accuracy.
  
  
• Tailoring AI to Individual Needs: Customizing AI tools like ChatGPT to fit personal writing styles and organizational goals helps d'Vinci teams get more effective results in their projects. 
  
  
• Continuous Learning and Adaptation: d'Vinci’s AI journey includes regularly testing and updating tools, sharing peer experiences, and documenting best practices to ensure ongoing improvement and innovation.

Read How AI is Transforming the Innovation Landscape in Learning & Development, by Mason Scuderi.

Read How to Customize ChatGPT to Get the Results You Want by Jenica Jones

Powered by Learning earned Awards of Distinction in the Podcast/Audio and Business Podcast categories from The Communicator Awards and a Gold and Silver Davey Award. The podcast is also named to Feedspot's Top 40 L&D podcasts and Training Industry’s Ultimate L&D Podcast Guide.

Learn more about d'Vinci at www.dvinci.com.
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Transcript

Susan Cort: [00:00:00] Whether you're just starting to figure out how to leverage the power of AI, or you're well on your way, there are ways to make the tools work for you and your organization. 

Jenica Jones: So I hear from our team members regularly about how they've done something cool with AI that either saved them a lot of time, or it greatly improved the quality of their work.

Jenica Jones: And it's these small wins that are a big part of how AI is helping us deliver better results more effectively. 

Susan Cort: That's Jenica Jones, d’Vinci’s Lead eLearning specialist and the company's AI ambassador. She and d'Vinci president Mason Scuderi share their experiences using AI and offer advice on ways you can use it to improve outcomes for your L& D department, next on Powered by Learning. 

Announcer: Powered by Learning is brought to you by d'Vinci Interactive. d'Vinci's approach to learning is grounded in 30 years of innovation and expertise. We use proven strategies and leading technology to [00:01:00] develop solutions that empower learners to improve quality and boost performance. Learn more at dvinci.com. 

Susan Cort: Joining me today is d'Vinci President Mason Scuderi and d'Vinci Lead eLearning Specialist, Jenica Jones. Both Mason and Jenica have led our team through the evaluation and responsible use of AI. Today, we'll talk about d'Vinci's journey using AI and how our best practices may impact how you and your organization leverage artificial intelligence.

Susan Cort: Well, thanks for sharing your insights on Powered by Learning, Mason and Jenica. 

Jenica Jones: Oh, you're welcome. 

Mason Scuderi: Thanks, Susan. We're excited to be here. 

Susan Cort: Well, great. Mason, let's start with you. d'Vinci invested a lot of time in learning about and testing AI tools to integrate them into the many areas of our teams and our business.Talk about what that process looked like. 

Mason Scuderi: Yes, there are a lot of new AI tools out there and it can really be daunting at first. Uh, there, there are so many. So, as a team, we made sure to [00:02:00] invest time in researching and trying out new tools, and we've logged our findings in a central location that's accessible to all employees.

Mason Scuderi: So it's kind of like an AI tool encyclopedia, and it acts as d'Vinci's clearinghouse. And allows us to document, recommend, and even restrict usage of certain AI tools based on their features and their usage policies. 

Susan Cort: And you also led, Maso,n d'Vinci's establishment of an AI point of view or POV. Why was that important for the internal team as well as external clients?

Mason Scuderi: Well, there are just so many different types of businesses that I can imagine and I imagine each type has its own use cases, integrations, and workflows. So, for d'Vinci, it was really essential that we created a single point of view that represented, uh, our perspective. And, uh, early on captured, uh, how we would and wouldn't use AI [00:03:00] in support of our client work.

Mason Scuderi: So, for example, it's essential that we always protect client confidential information, uh, but even more so when we're using AI technologies. Essential that we're going to be transparent. And disclose our use of AI to clients as it relates to the work we're doing. Uh, we also require the same from subcontractors and our vendors.

Mason Scuderi: Very important to always review AI generated content to make sure it's factually accurate, aligns with our learning goals, and is reviewed for any, uh, bias or misinformation that might be there. So our, Point of View lets our clients and partners know how we will and won't use AI and provides that transparency and trust for the work that the d'Vinci team is delivering.

Susan Cort: Yeah, definitely a very helpful thing for our team and our clients to have. Another part of d'Vinci's AI journey was the establishment of an AI ambassador to help our team navigate the many AI tools and [00:04:00] processes for using them. And Jenica, share a little bit what you do as d'Vinci's AI ambassador and how you work with the team to advance the use of AI.

Jenica Jones: Sure, Susan. Um, I lead the team in exploring and integrating the AI tools and processes. So I serve as the primary port of contact for anything AI related, which includes being a liaison between the leadership team. And the rest of the team, I also ensure our AI strategies align with the broader company goals.

Jenica Jones: I collaborate with the team members on new projects and consult with clients to identify how AI can improve outcomes. Another thing I also do is I organize our peer share meetings, which is where we come together every month and discuss how we've been using AI recently. Uh, we encourage open sharing of both positive and challenging experiences, as having both successes and failures celebrated encourages exploration.

Jenica Jones: And lastly, my role includes testing and recommending new tools, while offering practical tips on how AI can enhance our daily tasks. 

Susan Cort: It's such an important role, and I personally [00:05:00] love the peer shares because we get to see how we're all using AI tools, and in what you do. And showing the shortcomings is also a good thing to do because you sometimes go into thinking you're going to use a tool for x, and maybe it doesn't work well for x, but it does for y.

Susan Cort: So it's just great to get the team together. And I think too, even if you don't have a use for a certain tool today, you might down the road. So the more you can expose yourself to, uh, the different ways these tools can be used, learning through your peers, I think the better off we're going to be. 

Jenica Jones: Yeah, definitely.

Susan Cort: Jenica, share an example of how the AI Ambassador Program has helped the d'Vinci team on either an internal or an external project. 

Jenica Jones: So probably the better way to do it is rather than a specific project is the Ambassador Program has had meaningful impact on our team through a lot of small everyday improvements that add up to significant results.

Jenica Jones: So AI has become a go-to tool for a variety of tasks like crafting emails, conducting research. [00:06:00] Um, we had some of them used for writing and updating code. We also use it for creating voiceovers, recordings, summarizing ports, and even writing some of our e learning scripts. So I hear from our team members regularly about how they've done something cool with AI that either saved them a lot of time or it greatly improved the quality of their work.

Jenica Jones: And it's these small wins that are a big part of how AI is helping us deliver better results more effectively. 

Susan Cort: No, I agree. I mean, sometimes it's just a help to get some thoughts organized and to, and to and I love that we have now a little bit of extra time to be more creative, be more strategic, and of course, add more value to the client work.

Jenica Jones: Yeah, definitely. It helps with that initial writer's block too, a lot, a lot of times. 

Susan Cort: Jenica, you just wrote a great article about how to customize ChatGPT to get better results. I'll be sure to put a link to that in our show notes, but just give our listeners some high-level takeaways about ways that they can make ChatGPT work better and harder for them.

Jenica Jones: Yeah, [00:07:00] I did. So one of the ways is in ChatGPT, you can give it custom instructions. And it's a way to tell ChatGPT a little bit about yourself and about, like, what your, your tone of voice is, how you like to write. And that way, whenever ChatGPT gives you results, it'll customize its results to tailor to your needs and your, how you write in your styles.

Jenica Jones: So, for example, I like clear and concise. Um, writing with kind of a natural, more casual tone, um, especially for when I'm writing some of my eLearning projects, um, more informational. So I'll put those instructions in the custom instructions that way. I don't have to keep saying that every time I, um, give it a prompt.

Jenica Jones: I don't have to say every time. Can you be clear and concise? Can you be clear and concise? It'll just do that automatically for me. Um, it was when I first started using ChatGPT, the language was very robust and it was what they have referred to as the purple language, very colorful, very exaggerated. And it did [00:08:00] not sound like me at all.

Jenica Jones: So that helps to eliminate that kind of purple language and make it sound more natural. 

Susan Cort: That's a great tip because I think too many people get something back from ChatGPT that wasn't at all what they thought they would get and they don't know how to tailor it and that just really emphasizes the importance of the human connection to AI.

Susan Cort: I mean, I think too many people still are concerned about, uh, you know, machines taking over, but really, it's only as good as what you put in as a human being. 

Jenica Jones: Correct. Yeah, I say it gives a really good first draft, and you really have to read through it and customize it and make it personalized to you.

Jenica Jones: You know, just keep refining it, and you can use ChatGPT to help you refine it, or you can just take it and edit yourself, um, on your own time. 

Susan Cort: Yeah, sometimes I'll even write something and I'll, then I'll put it in chat GPT and say, you know, give me an alternate version of this. And I, I may not use it, but I might pick out a sentence or two that I think, oh, that's a better way of saying it.

Susan Cort: So it is a great partner, as you mentioned. 

Jenica Jones: Yep, it is. It's [00:09:00] a great partner. It's like an intern, really great intern that you have to help you rewrite things or to do research for you too. 

Susan Cort: It does whatever you want, just doesn't get any coffee for you, right? 

Jenica Jones: Yes. And you have to give it very clear instructions too, because you can't let an intern go rogue.

Jenica Jones: very clear and concise with them, with them too. 

Susan Cort: That's good advice. Well, Mason, you've spent a lot of time vetting AI tools and have a list together on a blog post on dvinci.com. Share about some of those tools and how they have the potential to help L& D teams that are listening. 

Mason Scuderi: Sure, Susan. Uh, recently we've, uh, upgraded our version of ChatGPT, uh, to the tier of ChatGPT for Teams, and that has given us the ability to create, uh, some customized versions of ChatGPT, uh, for different use cases, uh, internally.

Mason Scuderi: And, uh, it also gives us enhanced privacy and data protection. And allows us to know that our inputs are not used or not shared to trade, train the larger [00:10:00] language model. So we've really enjoyed collaborating in ChatGPT great writing assistant tool that's driven by AI and helps us create some draft copy that can then be used and build upon, uh, to create eLearning content, uh, for, uh, voice and avatars.

Mason Scuderi: Uh, we've had some experience with Well Said Voice AI, and that allows us to create a customized voice and also custom text to speech voice avatars, uh, which is pretty exciting. And then another idea starter is a solution called Magic Slides, which can generate a, uh, presentation just from a text outline.

Mason Scuderi: And that's really exciting, an exciting way to kickstart some ideas of visual presentation, uh, with an automatic slide generator. So those are just a few. And in general, the tools are really helping, uh, the instructional design and e learning design areas of [00:11:00] the company, uh, think smarter, faster, and be more effective.

Mason Scuderi: So it's pretty exciting. 

Susan Cort: And of course, this list continues to change. It's probably changed since we started recording this podcast because there are more tools all the time. With the help of the d'Vinci team, how will you continue to update it as new and better tools become available? 

Mason Scuderi: Yeah, it's something that we're always looking at, and we're, again, we're using that internal resource, our clearinghouse, to monitor, Uh, to include notes on how, uh, the use of AI tools is going across different areas of the organization.

Mason Scuderi: So, we will continue to, to invest the time to monitor and watch to really see which ones are working well and, uh, which ones maybe we, we want to, to move away from and find other solutions. 

Susan Cort: And we'll put a link to the list that you created, um, on our website in the show notes. So people can check that out.

Susan Cort: Jenica, what do you think are some of the most impactful ways L& D teams can leverage the power of AI? You use it [00:12:00] every day. 

Jenica Jones: Right. Yeah, one of the most impactful ways that I use it is in the writing process, uh, tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity can provide a solid draft, first draft for almost any kind of content.

Jenica Jones: So you really, you just give it your core ideas, what you're thinking, what you want it, the end result to be, and give it a tone of voice. And it will produce a draft that you can refine and personalize, whether you want to, you know, sometimes I like to add a little humor to my emails when I send it out, or if I'm writing, or I want to add a reference to a classic film, or just, I just want a couple options.

Jenica Jones: It can give me that and handle it with ease. Another way is brainstorming. Brainstorming is great. Use for AI. I love using it to generate ideas quickly, and you can present it with a problem or an idea, and in seconds, it'll come back with 10 more creative options. It's like having a perfect brainstorming partner who's always ready to go.

Susan Cort: Yeah, definitely a tool to lean on, for sure. Mason, do you have any advice for our [00:13:00] listeners on how to get started on their AI journey or how to evolve if they're already using AI tools but don't know where to go next? 

Mason Scuderi: Sure. Well, now is the time to begin. Tools are being introduced every day. And the tools that are gaining momentum, you know, more investment is being put in them to make them better and more proficient.

Mason Scuderi: So things are expanding at an exponential level, and we're going to see more and more, uh, Solutions come forward. So I think the important part is don't let, um, if you're feeling behind, don't let that stop you from, from diving in. Now, the important part is to start, uh, today and to dive in some of the things that we've learned, uh, along our journeys, just to be aware of, um, especially on the job in the professional setting is be aware of safeguarding personal and proprietary information.

Mason Scuderi: Uh, there's a lot of different tools and they all have different usage policies. So we want to be extra [00:14:00] cautious about our inputs, uh, into AI and just be aware of proprietary information. Also, um, just that transparency, uh, make sure that you have consent, you know, from, from your supervisor, from your company, uh, from your clients.

Mason Scuderi: And, you know, make sure to communicate clearly. Uh, how you're using AI, so it doesn't become a surprise, uh, after the fact. I encourage everyone to be sure to review AI outputs with heavy scrutiny. Again, the, the machines are getting better, but there are, have been well documented cases of bias and, uh, even racism and unintended, but coming out of, uh, AI prompts.

Mason Scuderi: So we want to be careful there. Uh, and then, uh, I think one of the biggest things we've learned is just important to catalog your journey. So, as a company, we're documenting, uh, every step that we take with AI, and I think that could translate to an individual where, uh, you just want to take really good notes on, uh, the things that you're using, document, Catalog what's working well [00:15:00] and use those notes to reference as the next generation of tools gets released.

Mason Scuderi: It will be a helpful part of your journey. 

Susan Cort: Such great advice, and I think especially the part about, you know, checking the output that you're getting from AI. You know, whether it's something that is not correct or, you know, they call it the hallucinations of AI. So you definitely need to check. Before you adopt that work as your own, because it's your name and your company's name behind it.

Mason Scuderi: Absolutely. 

Susan Cort: Well, thank you both for sharing d'Vinci's journey with AI. It's so exciting to see how far we've come as a company using AI. And I'm definitely looking forward to more peer shares and more learning from each other. Uh, so that we can explore how to use AI tools even more in the future. 

Mason Scuderi: Sounds great, Susan.

Jenica Jones: All right, thank you. 

Susan Cort: Well, if you have an idea for a topic or guest, please reach out to us at poweredbylearningatdvinci.com. And don't forget, you can listen to Powered by Learning by asking your [00:16:00] favorite AI tools, Siri and Alexa, to play the latest episode.