“Combine Human and Artificial Intelligence.”
“Is Your Team Ready for AI?”
“No Tricks, Just AI Treats for Business.”
If your inbox looks anything like mine, it’s overflowing with AI-themed emails. The world can’t stop talking about artificial intelligence—and sometimes it feels like the robots really are taking over.
So when asked to write about AI for our certified community, I’ve wondered: what can I share that adds clarity, not noise, to this cacophonous cultural conversation?
For us at Crucial Learning, it comes down to humanness.
We’ve spent thirty-six years researching and influencing human behavior. Our mission statement is that “we believe in a world where all human beings can be great at being human.” We accomplish this mission with help from our partners like you who share the crucial skills within your spheres of influence. Those crucial skills are the product of decades of social science research and consulting with organizations across the globe. And we’ve found the best way to share them with learners and trainers is through our world-class solutions.
Our commitment to humanness also guides how we approach new technologies. In the age of AI, safeguarding intellectual property might seem like a Sisyphean task, as computers rapidly absorb works of literature, art, and science into large language models. Yet at Crucial Learning, we remain steadfast in maintaining the integrity of our programs and materials through rigorous research, quality control, and careful stewardship of our content.
While we’re exploring how to leverage AI to also accelerate our own work and yours, we’re committed to prioritizing people and human perspective in all we do. We’re still a team of real humans researching real data and writing from years of experience and credibility in a world that is sometimes disingenuous, and increasingly loud and confusing.
Safeguarding Crucial Content
To ensure our intellectual property stays secure, last year we added a new section to our certification agreement. It prohibits running any of our content through AI applications:
Use of any of the Crucial Learning training, Product materials, related materials, or modifications to any Crucial Learning Proprietary Property outside of the parameters set forth in this Agreement, is strictly prohibited and will be deemed a material breach of this Agreement and a violation of copyright and/or trademark laws. In particular, the Certificant is cautioned that use of any artificial intelligence applications may violate this Agreement by creating derivative products and making them publicly available. Use of artificial intelligence tools to capture, store, process, record, summarize, analyze, access, or translate Crucial Learning Proprietary Property is strictly prohibited. The Certificant shall promptly notify Crucial Learning in the event that any Crucial Learning Proprietary Property has been or is likely to be disclosed and/or used in violation of this Agreement.
(If you’re wondering what constitutes Crucial Learning Proprietary Property, please review the Intellectual Property Usage Guide.)
These guidelines are in place to protect the integrity of our work—and yours too. The credibility of our courses and your association with us relies on adherence to these policies. Like us, we know our certified community has poured their heart and soul, not to mention years of experience, into becoming the type of facilitators that can change lives and secure results. Let’s work together to ensure the partnership of our skills and content with your dedication to influencing behavior remains potent and credible.
Our Approach to AI
That doesn’t mean we’re anti-AI. Far from it! You’ll see this reflected in our recently launched series of articles tying AI to our Crucial Skills, ranging from how to leverage the skills in organizational AI adoption to fostering accountability and building trust while in a workplace that’s leveraging AI. And, yes, there’s a GTD-focused article on how to leverage AI to enhance your GTD® system.
The Crucial Learning product team is also actively exploring ways to responsibly integrate AI into our solutions. The goal: to help you learn and master our crucial skills without compromising trust, accuracy, or quality.
We feel a tremendous responsibility in contributing to the larger AI conversation. Our own research, coupled with the trends we are seeing around AI adoption rates, reveals that the human skills we teach are more relevant than ever. In fact, they are critical to the successful implementation of this valuable technology.
We recently studied 1,400 professionals and found that while most people report neutral to positive impacts from AI, there is a minority that expresses concerns about its impact on trust, collaboration, and skill development. Specifically, one in four say trust in each other’s integrity, competence, and work ethic has decreased as people use AI more in their work, and one in five say it appears colleagues reach out to coworkers to discuss work and challenges less often since using AI. These are early warning signs that in the age of AI, communication, performance, and leadership skills cannot be ignored.
Our commitment is—and will remain—to the human side of learning. We’ll continue developing ways to harness technology responsibly while preserving the integrity of the skills that make us uniquely human. We want this to be an evolving partnership because we recognize the need, and we want to meet it in the right way while also protecting our assets. We appreciate your help in that mission and look forward to sharing more news on the AI front soon!
