As organizations accelerate their adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI), a strategic roadmap is essential for L&D to move beyond simple experimentation and start delivering measurable value. No matter where your team is on this journey, you can continue to develop and execute an AI strategy.
There are five distinct stages of AI readiness that define a team's current relationship with the technology.
Take the AI Readiness quiz to find out where your team is and how you can help them progress.
This is the starting point for teams that do not fully trust or understand AI. They may be exploring it only because it is a top-down mandate or appears inevitable. Their primary concerns are accuracy, privacy, and quality.
Explorers are curious but not yet prepared. They are "just trying things out," meaning AI use is minimal and haphazard. While aware of current trends, they have not yet established a plan for building AI into their formal L&D roadmap.
Experimenters are actively testing AI in various pockets of the organization but still lack a cohesive, unified strategy. They have a limited vision for the positive impact AI could have if embraced and planned for, and pockets of mistrust remain.
This stage marks a shift to systemic application. Integrators have systematically introduced AI into select workflows, and it is being used consistently across the organization. They are focused on automating key functions and operationalizing a few workflows with the goal of expanding to more interactive solutions.
Optimizers represent the maturity stage, leveraging AI strategically and embedding it across HR and L&D workflows and platforms. Teams at this level understand how to use AI responsibly, and they trust its use where it has been carefully and deliberately deployed.
Understanding your current stage on this roadmap is the first step to identifying the right actions—from basic AI literacy initiatives to advanced analytics—needed to move toward optimization. No matter where your team currently stands on the AI readiness journey, from the Reluctant Explorer to the Optimizer, every stage is a critical step forward. This roadmap is not about judgment; it's about progress.
Moving from simple curiosity to a fully optimized AI strategy requires more than just an ambitious vision—it requires concrete, stage-specific action. The AI readiness roadmap provides a clear framework for L&D teams to assess their current capabilities, but the next critical step is execution.
By following these tailored 30-60-90 day plans for each of the five stages—Reluctant Explorer, Explorer, Experimenter, Integrator, and Optimizer—your team can systematically address barriers, build trust, and ensure your AI initiatives deliver measurable success.
While these 30-60-90 day plans offer clear, strategic next steps for your L&D team at every stage, they are designed as a high-level blueprint for advancement. For a more detailed, personalized AI adoption roadmap, take our AI Roadmap quiz. You will get a detailed roadmap to prepare your people, processes, and systems for AI, without sacrificing quality or accuracy.