Pearson has aligned with IBM to create online learning tools and platforms that will be infused with artificial intelligence (AI) to make it simpler to access relevant content as needed in a way that is much more personalized.
Using the IBM watsonx Orchestrate and watsonx Governance platforms, Pearson plans to add AI capabilities across its entire online learning portfolio.
Those capabilities will enable organizations, including IBM, to accelerate the pace of reskilling and retraining that will inevitably be required as AI is embedded into every task and workflow, says Matt Candy, global managing partner for generative AI, strategy and transformation at IBM Consulting.
As part of that effort, IBM is sharing with Pearson the same control plane that IBM Consulting developed to manage and orchestrate the AI agents it uses to help manage projects on behalf of customers, notes Candy.
The goal is to make it simpler for Pearson to make training available as needed by deploying AI agents that observe end users as they perform tasks, he adds. Armed with that level of insight, it then becomes possible to surface training modules that specifically address gaps or challenges as employees or customers encounter them, says Candy.
Pearson has relied on IBM for IT platforms and expertise for many years, while at the same time IBM has used Pearson to train its own employees. This latest effort extends that relationship into the realm of AI at a time when many organizations are re-evaluating the skill sets they require. The challenge is that many employees lack the time or inclination to sign up for formal training so there is a clear need to make relevant advice, insight and content instantly available when actually needed. “Everything is moving to real time,” says Candy.
In fact, with the rise of AI the way individuals historically acquired skills and expertise is becoming increasingly antiquated as more information than ever is made instantly available via a natural language, or increasingly, a speech-enabled query. Providers of learning platforms such as Pearson will need to re-engineer how they make the learnings in the current coursework more readily accessible to either a set of AI agents they develop or third-party AI agents that might, for example, access data via the Model Context Protocol (MCP) now being advanced under the auspices of the Agentic AI Foundation, an arm of the Linux Foundation.
Hopefully, reskilling in the age of AI will become more proactive than it has thus far. Many employers have left it largely up to individual employees to learn how to use AI technologies on their own, with mixed success. Organizations may work with, for example, internal human resources teams to identify the specific AI skills that employees will need to not just remain relevant but also add more business value, notes Candy.
There is little doubt at this point that AI applications and agents will change the way most tasks are performed, with in some cases AI eliminating jobs while creating others. The challenge now is making it possible for as many employees as possible to reinvent themselves at a time when many of them are simply too busy to participate in a formal training program.
