There's a stat making the rounds right now: 61% of organizations say they've adopted AI into their L&D programs — fully, partially, or at least in testing.
That sounds like progress. It mostly isn't.
Because "we're using AI" and "we're using AI well" are two very different things. Most teams are somewhere in between; running experiments, getting mixed results, and not entirely sure what the next step looks like. That's not failure. It's just an honest picture of where the field actually is right now.
The question worth asking isn't whether your team is using AI. It's which stage you're actually in.
Stage 1 — Curious but cautious
You've played with ChatGPT or Claude. Maybe used it to draft a module outline or clean up some learning objectives. Results were okay. No real workflow change yet.
Stage 2 — Experimenting inconsistently
A few people on the team use AI regularly. Most don't. There's no shared approach, no agreed-upon prompts, no governance. Output quality varies depending on who's prompting and how.
Stage 3 — Building habits
AI is showing up in specific phases of the design process. You've figured out where it helps and where it doesn't. There's some structure; maybe a shared prompt library or a team norm around how AI gets used.
Stage 4 — Integrated into workflow
AI is part of how work gets done, not a bonus tool you pull out occasionally. There's governance, there's consistency, and the team has a clear sense of where human judgment is non-negotiable.
Stage 5 — Strategic
AI is connected to business outcomes. You're measuring it. You're iterating. L&D isn't just using AI to produce content faster — it's using AI to make smarter decisions about what learning to build in the first place.
Most teams are between Stage 2 and Stage 3. That's not a knock — it's actually the right place to focus.
The jump from Stage 2 to Stage 3 is where most of the real work happens. It's less about finding new tools and more about building shared habits: what prompts work, which phases AI fits into, and where your team still needs a human in the loop.
Prompt of the Week
Use this to run a quick AI audit with your team or just yourself:
I work in L&D / instructional design. I want to honestly assess where my team is in our AI adoption. Ask me 5 questions, one at a time, that will help me figure out which stage we're at: curious but cautious, experimenting inconsistently, building habits, integrated into workflow, or strategic. After my answers, tell me what stage I'm in and what one thing I should focus on to move to the next stage.If you want a more structured version of this for your whole team, that's exactly what the AI Readiness Audit covers. It's built for L&D teams that want to stop guessing and start moving.
Learn more at aiddie.co
-Gus
P.S. Hit reply and tell me which stage you think you're in. I read every response