Episode 169

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Published on:

21st Dec 2025

Revolutionizing HR: AI's Role in Modern Learning & Development

In this episode of the HR L&D Podcast, host Nick Day sits down with John Kannapell, President and COO of Cypher Learning, to explore how AI is reshaping learning and development and what this means for the future of HR.

The conversation covers why traditional LMS models are no longer fit for purpose, how AI native learning platforms are collapsing months of work into minutes, and why personalization, engagement, and learning in the flow of work are now critical. John shares how AI agents, microlearning, and conversational learning can help organizations close skill gaps faster while protecting IP and maintaining strong governance.

You will hear practical insights on AI driven course creation, learning agents, gamification, and skills based career pathways, alongside real world examples showing improved engagement, faster onboarding, stronger compliance, and higher retention. The discussion also looks at how the role of the L&D professional is evolving from content creation to designing scalable learning systems and managing behavior change.

Whether you are an HR leader, L&D professional, or business executive, this episode will help you understand how to move from slow, compliance driven training to high impact, human centered learning powered by AI. Expect clear guidance on where to start, how to assess AI readiness, and how to build a workforce that can upskill faster and perform at a higher level in a rapidly changing world.

John's Kannapell LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kannapell/

Nick Day’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickday/

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About the Podcast

The HR L&D Podcast
Leadership, recruitment, culture. Conversations with HR's best
HR gets handed the problems nobody else wants to own. The restructure, the grievance, the engagement survey that came back badly. And then gets asked why people are leaving.

I'm Nick Day. I run an HR recruitment agency, which means I spend most of my week on the phone to HR directors and people leaders talking about what the job is actually like rather than what's written on the job spec. This show came out of those calls. I kept hearing things worth repeating, and nobody was repeating them.

Every week I sit down with HR leaders, chief people officers, L&D specialists and the occasional academic who has changed how I think about work. We get into leadership, and what happens when someone brilliant at the technical side gets promoted into managing humans.

Employee engagement past the survey score. Diversity, equity and inclusion in a climate where saying those words out loud has become a decision in itself. Pay transparency, talent management, reducing bias in hiring, HR digital transformation and the HCM systems everyone is being sold. And of course we cannot forget HR AI tools and platforms that are flooding the landscape as AI in HR becomes a hot topic every people leader is keen to understand and leverage.

Wellbeing comes up constantly, and it usually turns into the same question. Who looks after the HR team.

I'm not an HR practitioner and I don't pretend to be. I'm the person who hires them, which puts me in a useful position. I get to ask the obvious question that everyone in the room already knows the answer to and nobody says.

No script and no polite version. Mostly it's the conversation you'd have with someone doing your job at a different company, if you ever got the chance to sit down with them.

If you work in HR, people management or L&D, or you're building a career in it, start by subscribing to The HR L&D Podcast. We have had guests including Stephen Covey, Alan Stein Jnr, Andrea Wareham and Dr. Thom Mayer among other HR Leaders who are shaping the future of work and leadership.

Need HR staff? I run JGA Recruitment, an HR and payroll recruitment agency. www.jgarecruitment.com or info@jgarecruitment.com

Want to be on the show? Nick@jgadigital.com

If payroll is closer to your world, I also host The Payroll Podcast, the most listened to payroll show in the world.

Topics include HR leadership, people management, employee engagement, diversity, equity and inclusion, DEI strategy, AI, talent management, HR digital transformation, HCM, staff wellbeing, pay transparency, reducing bias, L&D and HR recruitment.

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Nick Day