Why Taggart McCurdy thinks “AI is a very powerful thing for humanity and a beneficial thing for the learning community.”

In Leaders in Learning, we sit down with influential guests and dive deep into the world of learning to discover the qualities that define exceptional leaders. Through these collective stories, we’ll piece together the bigger picture of what it means to be a leader in learning.?

This episode, we sit down with Taggart McCurdy .

Taggart’s currently part of the enablement leadership team at Databricks , a leading AI company, where he’s played a critical role in evolving training for internal and external audiences.?

His deep understanding of big data and AI, along with his big-picture thinking (honed on the field as a college football coach at UC Berkeley), and passion for user success come together to provide a unique perspective on a wide range of topics, including the role of data in measuring business impact, the connection between scaling e-learning and business growth, and how to personalize the learning experience.?

You can get it all in the full episode, but here are the highlights, starting with what’s on everyone’s mind these days: AI.

The benefits of AI

In Taggart’s words, “AI is a very powerful and beneficial thing to the learning community.” It has the ability to drive operational efficiencies on the backend. (Think: Personalized learning experiences, 24/7 real-time support through chatbots, content creation, integrations, etc.) And on the front end, the combination of AI and Large Language Models (LLMs) can turn chatbots into TAs, enabling a single instructor to reach thousands of people. All of which can help organizations massively scale their learning programs to customers and partners.?

He goes on to explain how it’s the human touchpoints peppered throughout the AI-powered learning experience that add value, attract the end user, and get learners to interact with the product more. If you read between the lines, that means less churn, higher adoption rates, and increased customer lifetime value. That’s just one of many reasons why he believes blended learning (the combination of in-person and online learning methods) is the future.?

During our discussion, Taggart muses about a future with autonomous learning, where “a fully automated AI learning experience might become the next version of e-learning.” But, as much potential as AI and technology holds for the industry and the learning experience, he still believes there will always be a place for people in learning.?

Roles will change, but “there’s value in being an SME. There‘s value in being an instructor. And I don’t think that will ever go away. I don't think that the learner wants to interface solely with a machine.” (Yet another reason why Taggart believes the future of learning is blended.)

The challenges

But Taggart’s an AI realist with a pragmatic and balanced view. He acknowledges that AI isn’t without its challenges and digs into two in particular.

1. Consent: When it comes to personal data (even if it’s to improve the learning experience), organizations need to ensure they’re processing and using it in an ethical way. According to Taggart, consent should be opt-in only. “Any tool nowadays…should have a way to notify someone how companies are leveraging and using their data. You'd be surprised how infrequently this happens.” In his opinion, this is one of the few pitfalls to using AI for learning.
2. Bias: As Taggart points out, “There's no algorithm that's going to make up for bad data. So if you have a bias and that's the data that you're relying on, then that's what's going to be reflected in the tool that you're using.” Part of the problem is that AI has been in the hands of the few. He notes, “AI in the hands of just individuals or corporations, that's where you run into a little bit more bias.” As an advocate of all things open source and community, he wants to change this.?

Which leads us to our next highlight…

Democratizing AI

For the most part, the behemoths have “been able to leverage [AI] for their benefit only while everybody else is working on traditional data warehouses, which is a 40-year-old technology.” This has given them a huge competitive advantage, enabling them to predict behavior and the future, which Taggart thinks is “a valuable thing for any business and any institution to be able to leverage.”?

Companies like Databricks are playing a significant role in leveling the playing field by democratizing AI and empowering organizations of all sizes to leverage advanced analytics and machine learning capabilities.

BONUS! Taggart and the Terminator

No discussion on AI is complete with a Terminator/Skynet reference! And Taggart’s was too good not to share!

“I don't think that we should be too concerned with all the talk around Skynet and the Terminator. We should be focused more on, ‘Hey, this is actually a very powerful good thing for humanity.’”?

All joking aside, as AI becomes more integrated into our everyday lives and learning experiences, Taggart sees “humans being more of the stewards and caretakers of AI to make sure that we use it properly and that the data sets are non-biased.”

These are just the AI highlights. We talked about so much more, including the importance of measuring business impact, how to scale learning programs, how AI and humans will work together, and more. You can catch it all in the full-length interview.?

If you’ve got questions or thoughts about anything we covered in this highlight or in episode 2, let us know in the comments. And, if you haven’t already, be sure to subscribe to Leaders in Learning so you’ll never miss an episode.