We’re in a moment of tension between rapid tech evolution and the need for deeper human connection. Absorb’s 2025 Summit highlighted that the future of learning isn’t black and white. It’s blended, it’s nuanced, and it’s very exciting.
The learning paradox: fast, smart, deeply human
For L&D professionals, people leaders, and customer educators, the Absorb 2025 Summit was two full days of learning where attendees walked away with real examples of learning programs that deliver measurable impact. With representation from so many diverse industries talking about how strategic learning is driving growth, performance, and transformation at scale. The summit showcased a range of topics, takeaways, and industry thought leadership. There are a lot of takeaways, but three key themes emerged:
Innovation and learning is a strategic imperative
Skill-based roles and AI adoption are here. If you’re not embracing it, you’ll be left behind.
AI meets EQ: The future of learning is smart, scalable, and considers the human
AI-powered LMS systems have beautiful capabilities and present so much opportunity for efficiency. But adding human connection to the learning equation is a lot of untapped power.
An impactful learning journey is an ecosystem (vs a content dump)
If you’re thinking about training as one moment in time when your people consume content, you’re missing out on huge opportunities to link your learning program to measurable business goals.
This trio of themes folds into an overarching notion that, to win, organizations must embrace innovation, connection, and the breadth of a learning ecosystem.
Takeaway 1: Learning innovation is a business imperative
The pace of change has always been relentless—but the AI boom has turned up the heat. For HR and L&D professionals, who are already stretched thin, AI isn’t just another skill to learn; it’s a catalyst for your entire organization that’s reshaping how you work, learn, and grow. It’s here to stay. So if you’re not already onboard with AI, how fast can your organization adapt? And if all that’s not enough, there are big shifts right now in terms of upskilling, reskilling, and productivity, mobility, and career growth. Static job titles are giving way to dynamic, skill-based roles. Organizations that aren’t considering this shift are at risk of losing valuable employees and opportunities.
Trends driving skill-based strategy
- Skill-based hiring and internal mobility are becoming the norm, not the exception.
- Role fluidity and task-based deployment are redefining workforce agility.
- AI-powered learning platforms are enabling personalized, just-in-time upskilling.
Upskilling and reskilling are levers for retention, productivity, and resilience—and organizations need scalable, strategic ways to make all of this happen. Of course, AI can help with this. But if you’re not up to speed with AI capabilities, you’re going to be behind. And when you’re behind, how will you make upskilling a priority? (See how this might become a vicious cycle?) At the summit, presenters shared how AI is already transforming learning programs—across internal teams, partner ecosystems, and external audiences.
Examples of AI-driven innovation in action
LAZ Parking showed how a small team can punch above its weight using AI. With Absorb’s Create AI, their organization is able to build custom, high-quality training—fast. They also highlighted Absorb’s AI voice-over capabilities as a standout feature that’s helping them save time while elevating their learner experience.
Suncor Energy emphasized designing for attention spans and accessibility. They use Absorb’s gamification features and content creation tool to make immersive (fun!) training materials for learning that sticks.
Agentic AI is coming soon: Your license to skill
Craig Basford, EVP, Product from Absorb painted a compelling picture of what’s next: agentic AI—a crew of intelligent assistants embedded in your LMS.
Imagine having this crew in your corner:
- Learner agent – Personalized guidance from Day 1. No more wandering aimlessly through content.
- Authoring agent – Scale content creation. Fast, smart, effortless.
- AI coach – Real-time support, mentorship, and human connection.
- Reporting agent – ROI insights, configured your way. No spreadsheets required.
Absorb is rolling out a first iteration of an admin agent soon. Stay tuned for that! But even with all the excitement about innovative tools like AI, loud and clear, we heard a flip side to this focus on tech: AI cannot replace the business value of human connection. Sure, smart tools free up time, personalize learning paths, and deliver custom dashboards. But as exciting as it is, AI is not the panacea for organizations looking for real, measurable results from their learning programs.
AI will not replace the value of human connection and growth for individuals and organizations.
Takeaway 2: AI-powered LMS tools need to enhance human potential
AI is an amazing tool in strategic learning. In the Brandon Hall Group session at the Absorb Summit it was emphasized that, “Social learning will help move us from content to connection, from the transactional to the transformational.” But social learning is vastly underutilized and undervalued and the organizations that don’t embrace it are missing out. In fact, in Absorb’s State of Upskilling report, 43.6% of their respondents said they’re not using any people-focused learning and have no plans to. And just 12.8% use apprenticeships.
There’s an incredible body of research that showcases the ROI of social learning.
Harvard Business Review reports that mentorship—a key form of social learning—correlates strongly with employee satisfaction, with 90% of mentored employees reporting happiness at work.
Gartner’s 2024 survey shows that 85% of leaders anticipate increased demand for agile, socially driven learning due to AI and digital disruption.
McKinsey’s 2025 report finds that employees want to adopt AI-enhanced learning, but only 1% of companies are deploying it effectively. This includes social learning tools that amplify human agency.
Part of it is rooted in our biology. Traditional training is great as a foundation, but science says our brain is wired for social learning.
Powerful learning that sticks
Learning approach and how it works | Why it works | L&D team example |
|---|---|---|
Observational learning | Activates mirror neutrons and builds a shared understanding through story. | Shadowing a high-performing team member during training. |
Social reinforcement | Social validation boosts motivation and memory. | Peer-to-peer learning circles or cohort-based training. |
Contextual learning | Increases relevance and helps transfer knowledge to real-world situations. | Simulated sales pitch role-plays in training sessions. |
Emotional connection | Emotion enhances encoding and recall. | Sharing personal success stories during a leadership development workshop. |
Mentoring and coaching | Builds trust, increases engagement, and reinforces learning through repetition. | Regular 1:1 sessions tied to career development goals. |
Of course, there are barriers to the implementation of robust mentoring and coaching programs. There were live polls in the Social Learning Absorb Summit session, and lack of time was something that came up repeatedly.
The Brandon Hall Group had some great solutions to the most common obstacles that L&D and HR leaders cite when it comes to social learning programs.
- Short on time? ----> Integrate microlearning
- People in different locations or remote? ----> Use virtual communities and digital tools
- Leadership not interested? ----> Start with pilots and quick wins
- Impact hard to measure? ----> Use SMART goals to kick things off
- Tech too complex? ----> Start with existing platforms like Slack
The future of learning is human-centered—powered by AI
AI can accelerate access, personalize pathways, and surface insights. But it’s the human layer—mentorship, emotional connection, and shared experience—that transforms learning from a task into a catalyst for growth.
To truly enhance human (and organizational!) potential, AI-powered LMS tools must be designed with empathy and innovation in equal measure. That means:
- Embedding social learning into the flow of work—not just as a feature, but as a philosophy.
- Using AI to reduce friction, freeing up time for coaching, feedback, and connection.
- Designing for trust, where learners feel safe to ask, explore, and grow.
When learning systems are smart, scalable, and deeply human, they don’t just deliver content—they unlock capability.
Takeaway 3: The full learning journey matters more than just content
Learning isn’t just about content delivery. It’s about context, connection, and continuity. From onboarding to career mobility, the full journey drives transformation.
Your LMS content is not the starting line—or the finish line
Static courses and stagnant training programs (for internal training, external training, customer training) don’t spark dynamic change. They might inform—but they rarely transform.
To get results that can be measured and that translate into lasting behavior change and KPIs, your organization needs a learning ecosystem that can evolve. PGA TOUR Superstore hosted an Absorb Summit session and talked about how they approached their own organization’s summit as an exciting experiment from which to iterate, learn, and grow.
They reimagined their training, making it modular, with vendor-driven content for role relevance. It meant some planning upfront and some meetings with Absorb representatives to set up the kind of dashboards that could prove results. But it paid off. What PGA TOUR Superstore saw was engagement at scale. More, 475+ associates voluntarily opted into extra training and they could directly tie training to increased store revenue.
Hidden heroes of the learning journey
From planning to ROI, the real impact of learning lives in the full arc of the journey. In your L&D programming, content is important. But is it queen?
Many of the sessions at Absorb’s LMS 2025 summit were great reminders that in the race to prove learning ROI, we may forget that there’s more than one star of the show when it comes to L&D. Of course, content is important—but it’s not the whole story. So many LMS conversations orbit around the consumption of content—content libraries, course catalogs, and authoring tools.
But we heard from several professionals who focus on skilling, upskilling, training, and growth of their teams and it’s apparent that there are big benefits from zooming out to see that the real transformation happens on a continuum: how learning is discovered, personalized, applied, reinforced, and measured. Because measurable business outcomes are born on this continuum.
Dani Johnson, Cofounder and Principal Analyst at RedThread Research sees learning as a system that feeds the culture of an organization. “L&D’s job is ensuring a skilled workforce, in designing [an ecosystem] so that certain behaviors in the organization happen.”
Planning, discovering, consuming, experimenting, connecting, and performing are these behaviors.
“Most L&D organizations focus on the ‘consume’ bucket. It’s the thing that’s most easily measured. Consume is important, but L&D should be encouraging behaviors in the other buckets.”
Considering your learning program as an ecosystem
Plan: Onboarding and activation
- Insight: SHRM reports that a positive correlation between engaged employees and a company’s profitability, rate of turnover, safety record, and more.
- Why it matters: Onboarding sets the tone for engagement, culture, and performance. A strong start builds trust and accelerates time-to-productivity.
Discover: Curiosity-driven exploration
- Insight: Organizations that include intent-to-learn metrics in their analytics frameworks are 30% more likely to report positive ROI from L&D initiatives.
- Why it matters: Discovery is where learners begin to explore what's possible. Smart LMS platforms surface relevant content, making learning intuitive and self-directed. Organizations can align business goals and agility by creating skills taxonomies.
Consume: One size doesn’t fit all
- Insight: Forbes says 93% of high-performing organizations agree that personalized learning helps employees reach professional goals more efficiently
- Why it matters: Personalized pathways meet learners where they are—boosting relevance, retention, and motivation.
Experiment: Feedback loops – real-time nudges, peer reviews, and manager input
- Insight: Manager input combined with peer feedback creates a more holistic view of learner progress and increases accountability and motivation.
- Why it matters: Feedback isn’t just about correction—it’s about connection. It encourages self-reflection and metacognition, builds confidence, and reinforces learning in the moment.
Connect: Mentorship and coaching – Human connection meets AI support
- Stat: Employees learn 70% of their skills on the job and just 10% through formal training.
- Why it matters: Coaching and mentoring drive emotional engagement, belonging, and career growth. AI can help scale these programs—but human connection is the differentiator.
Perform: Measurement and ROI – Dashboards that tell stories
- Insight: According to a 2024 Fosway report, only 14% of organizations feel confident in how they measure the business impact of learning.
- Why it matters: Dashboards should go beyond completion rates. They should connect learning to business outcomes—like retention, performance, and revenue impact.
Wrapping up Absorb Summit 2025
The future belongs to organizations that treat learning as a core capability—not a checkbox. Are you in?
This year’s Absorb Summit had some incredibly exciting themes, resources, and practical magic that left us thinking about the various pushes and pulls of our landscape. The things in tension—AI vs human connection, content vs a learning ecosystem, time to upskill and reskill vs the reality of our wild workloads—may not be such a battle after all. The future of learning is continuous, connected, and compound. Absorb can help you build your own learning journey that's:
- Strategic: aligned to business outcomes
- Empowering: personalized, intuitive, and inclusive
- Transformational: driven by data, elevated by human connection
A huge thank you to all our Absorb Summit presenters, analysts, and thought leaders who generously shared their time, expertise, tips, tricks, and best practices.
