From “Wow” to “How”: Experts Map Out the Future of Learning in the Age of AI

Description

Three years after ChatGPT’s debut in 2022, the initial awe around AI is starting to settle. What began as a wave of disruption and innovation has now evolved into a new normal—one where AI shapes how we work, learn, live, and even play. While tools continue to grow smarter by the day, their “wow” factor is giving way to a more grounded reality: the challenges of effective AI adoption.

The fear of job displacement remains real. Automation is changing roles and rendering others obsolete. Yet, new opportunities are also emerging. Jobs like prompt engineers, AI ethicists, and AI literacy trainers have emerged. Still, not every organisation has navigated this shift successfully.

A 2024 survey by UK-based company Orgvue found that 39% of business leaders had laid off staff due to AI deployment. Yet more than half admitted they made the wrong decision. As the report put it, “While 2024 was the year of investment and optimism, businesses are learning the hard way that replacing people with AI without fully understanding the impact on their workforce can go badly wrong.”

The story of Swedish fintech Klarna illustrates this misstep. After cutting nearly half its workforce—from 3,800 to 2,000—Klarna soon found itself rehiring, especially for roles like customer service that proved difficult to automate effectively. Even tech giant IBM, known for championing AI, faced a similar paradox: laying off staff in some functions while ramping up hiring in others.

ALX: Bringing together global thought leaders and heavyweights

The real-world challenge of harnessing AI’s potential was at the heart of the Institute for Adult Learning’s (IAL) flagship convention, ALX 2025 (Adult Learning Exchange), held from 29–30 May at the Sands Expo & Convention Centre.
 

In his opening speech, Chief Executive of SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG) and Chairman of IAL Mr Tan Kok Yam pointed out, “It seemed only yesterday that the World Economic Forum and others were predicting a sea change to jobs, industries and the labour market. It also seemed only yesterday that we were all bowled over by the poetry and travel itineraries of ChatGPT.”

But as the dust settled, it is time, as Mr Tan described, for “… the hard slog of moving from the initial wow to the more consequential how.”

ALX 2025 thus brought together global thought leaders, policy makers, technologists, educators, and industry heavyweights to explore this timely question. Over two intensive days, the participants tackled the deep transformations underway in adult learning, skills development, and the future of work. With the theme “From Wow to How: Unleashing Human Brilliance with AI,” the event offered not just inspiration, but practical answers from those already reimagining what it means to learn and thrive in the age of AI.

The challenge of wielding AI effectively

As AI adoption accelerates, it is becoming clear that there are significant barriers to effective deployment. Data, for example, remains a major bottleneck. Many organisations are overwhelmed by data that is disorganised, outdated, or incomplete, rendering AI tools far less effective than they could be.

Compounding this is a global shortage of AI-literate talent. Risk management frameworks are often missing or underdeveloped. And challenges like AI hallucinations, where tools generate inaccurate or misleading outputs, continue to undermine trust.
 

Biotech company MiRXES’s Executive Director, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Dr Zhou Lihan, shared at a panel discussion at ALX, “Is AI as accurate as we think it is? Not quite in the field of medicine. We still need human to quality check and make the final decision. AI does make our lives easier as we free humans from mundane data crunching. But AI cannot yet define the context and purpose of our research.”

UOB’s Head of Group Human Resources Mr Dean Tong further elaborated during the discussion, “With generative AI, you are 80% to the solution by asking the right prompts. We still need humans with critical thinking to check if the answers are hallucinated, and to ask the right questions.”
 

Dr Simon See, Solution Architect and Engineering Senior Director and Global Head for NVIDIA AI Technology Centre, points to a deeper, emerging problem, "As we are building robots to build robots, and developing AI to come up with new algorithms, my biggest fear is, whether we will continue to apply critical thinking to the technology developed by machines and question the work machines are doing."

Unpacking the “How” of unleashing human brilliance through AI

To answer the question posed at ALX, successful AI deployment is not about adopting the latest tools, but rather, building the right human and institutional infrastructure to make AI adoption meaningful.
 

Dr. Klara Jelinkova, Vice President and University Chief Information Officer at Harvard University, laid out this vision in her keynote address. As one of the world’s leading educational institutions, Harvard has been on the frontlines of AI adoption, experimenting early while actively shaping its own guardrails.

Firstly, developing foundational policies is critical. “Exponential change demands resilient frameworks that support innovation,” Dr. Jelinkova said. “We need to respond nimbly and successfully to both internal and external shifts.”

To that end, Harvard has been continuously evolving its policies to guide AI use across the university, striking a balance between encouraging experimentation and ensuring ethical deployment. Regular dialogue with faculty and staff ensures the institution remains grounded in real-world needs, while staying open to revision as new challenges emerge.

Secondly, empowering employees through agency is crucial. One of Harvard’s most impactful strategies is embedding employees in the AI process. Rather than imposing solutions, the university’s IT teams collaborate closely with staff to deploy bots and design new workflows. Over time, these employees not only learn to use the tools, they also take ownership of them. As Dr. Jelinkova put it, “Agency is the key word,” as Harvard aims to build confidence and competence in those who work with AI.

Thirdly, continuously interrogating the impact of AI is key. Successful AI integration also means asking hard questions. For example, in the case of AI learning tools, critical inquiry poses questions such as: Are they inspiring active learning? Do they help students to acquire knowledge more effectively? How do they help students manage cognitive load? These questions not only made sure AI is implemented well, but also meaningfully aligned with institutional goals.

Fourthly, reskilling is a strategic imperative. Mr Dean Tong shared how UOB pushed for upskilling and reskilling within the organisation. For example, staff were trained to use Microsoft Copilot not just as users, but also experimenters, so that they could the possibilities of the tool.

Lastly, ease of use of AI technology is central. Dr Simon See noted that to enable mass adoption of AI, the end user apps must be sufficiently transparent and easy to use such that humans can easily and creatively find new ways for application.

Humans and machines in harmony

Across panel discussions, keynote speeches, and breakout sessions, real-world cases showed how AI can serve to unlock new levels of innovation, learning, and problem-solving through human–machine collaboration. At the tech showcase, learning technology companies demonstrate their AI-powered solutions, from platforms to help enterprises map out skills acquisition strategies to immersive staff training.

In higher education, both Harvard University and the Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT) demonstrated how AI-powered tutorbots are enabling highly personalised learning experiences at scale. These tools can simulate human-like interactions, provide multilingual support, and adapt to each student’s learning pace and needs.

Associate Professor Karin Avnit, Deputy Director (EdTech) at SIT’s Teaching and Learning Academy, described how this transformed her work, “My job is to be human in class, to drive deep discussions,” she shared. “AI ensures the basics are covered, so I can focus on helping students develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills.”
 

Meanwhile, semiconductor company Micron Technology illustrated how they have been using agentic AI to manage internal workflows, dynamically routing issues to the most suitable employee based on skillsets and availability, dramatically improving response time.

However, as Ms. Sim Cher Whee, Vice President of People Strategy, Technology & Talent Acquisition at Micron, pointed out, this remarkable precision is the result of a harmonious collaboration between AI and human effort. “When humans and machines work together, they create something that neither could achieve on their own,” she emphasized.

The role of TAE

What then, is the role of the training and adult education (TAE) sector in this new landscape?
 

Associate Professor (Practice) Yeo Li Pheow, Executive Director of the Institute for Adult Learning (IAL), addressed this head-on. He reminded participants that the future of learning would not be shaped by one sector alone. In the meantime, careful deliberation is key, and conventions such as ALX play an important role in bringing the community together to share what they have learnt, and what they are still figuring out. He noted, “The pace of change will be fast, but our response does not have to be rushed.”

Mr Tan Kok Yam shared his thoughts on four “C’s” that the TAE sector could collectively embrace and focus on:

1. Continually Upskill – Ensure that educators themselves stay relevant in a fast-changing world.
2. Connect with Industry – Bring real-world voices and workplace realities into the learning space.
3. Collaborate Across the Community – Build partnerships, mentor others, and co-create new learning solutions.
4. Contextualise Training – Align learning closely to individual career development and aspirations.

An event created by TAE leaders for the TAE sector, ALX also created space for deep dialogue and hands-on exploration. A fireside chat with Dr Jelinkova explored the deeper purpose of education in an AI-powered world. Dr Thomas Guskey, Professor Emeritus at the University of Kentucky, led a masterclass on translating insights into action. Immersive learning journeys to workplaces like Meta, the Centre for Healthcare Innovation, and Hyundai’s Innovation Centre offered participants tangible takeaways.

What came through clearly at ALX 2025 is that the future of learning will not be AI-led or human-led. Instead, it will be co-led. Whether in classrooms, workplace upskilling, or national workforce strategy, the goal is not to automate and make the human redundant, but to elevate the human through AI.

And in that future, brilliance is not defined by who knows more, but by who learns faster, asks better questions, and is not afraid to fail forward.