Learning and development is moving from a back-office function to a strategic priority as organisations confront how AI is reshaping work. Chris Eigeland, co-founder and CEO of Go1, and Vesna Garnett, group chief people officer at SunRice Group, told HRD that the AI transition is forcing L&D teams beyond course catalogues and compliance modules into the centre of enterprise strategy.
Confidence grows alongside complexity
Go1's research shows a rise in L&D team confidence paired with a longer buying cycle for upskilling tools. Eigeland described this as a surface-level contradiction that actually signals a deeper shift. "There's been a broader recognition that L&D is not just that - it is actually workforce capability improvement," he said. Two years ago, functional leaders told L&D what to train on; now L&D is being pulled into strategic conversations about workforce capability.
This shift allows L&D to "elevate more to the strategic level, where they've been stuck a bit at the administrative level," Eigeland added. The function is no longer just executing training requests but shaping how the organisation builds the skills it needs to adapt to AI.
Culture anchors AI adoption at SunRice
Garnett said SunRice is still in the early stages of its AI journey, but the company has deliberately anchored it in culture, not technology. A tiered AI literacy program started with one-to-one executive coaching through learning partner Quantium, then cascaded to senior leaders. From August, the broader workforce will access a program built with a Microsoft learning partner.
"It's a cultural play," Garnett said. "It's not the tool, it's not the tech - if you don't build this into your DNA and your culture and your mindset, you're on the wrong track." The pace of change in required skills - from prompt engineering to agentic building - means L&D's job is less about fixed toolkits and more about building adaptability: "You've got to build more of the ability to be adaptable, because what they do now won't be the same as what they're doing in three months' time."
Garnett also flagged a disconnect between formal learning platforms and how employees want to learn - in the flow of work, inside tools like Teams or a CRM, rather than a separate system. For L&D professionals looking to build this strategic capability, an AI Learning Path for Training & Development Managers can help translate these cultural shifts into operational practice.
Cross-functional ownership is non-negotiable
Both leaders stressed that AI-driven L&D cannot sit solely within HR. At SunRice, the AI strategy was built jointly by the CEO, transformation lead, legal counsel, CFO, IT leader and Garnett herself. "Do not lead this with just one [function] and do not lead this just with HR," she said, relaying the advice SunRice received early on.
Eigeland linked this to a changing risk profile. "Eighty-eight per cent of IT leaders say that they want to be involved in learning technology decisions. Same for 82 per cent of finance leaders," he said. "There is a genuine risk profile here … it's moved from L&D helping me learn this skill, to actually help." The stakes are now tied to business continuity, not just employee development.
Why this matters for IT and development
For IT and development professionals, the reshaped L&D function means more direct involvement in technology decisions that affect the entire workforce. As AI tools evolve rapidly, the learning infrastructure must support continuous skill shifts inside the platforms engineers and developers already use daily. The data that IT leaders see - 88% wanting a say in learning tech - signals that L&D is becoming a shared responsibility where technical teams will co-own the upskilling agenda, not just receive training requests.
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