I feel a little sheepish admitting this, but I got a tattoo because of a workplace training.

It wasn’t AI enabled and there was no adaptive learning module. There wasn’t even a slide deck. Just 15 people in a windowless government training center for four days, exploring how power shows up in group dynamics. It was awkward, real, transformative.

That week literally left a mark on me. Its lessons in emotional intelligence changed how I lead and show up with others, and the wheat stalk on my arm reminds me that discomfort can be a source of growth. And yet, today, these kinds of emotional learning experiences are vanishing from the workplace. In their place? AI.

At a recent AI-in-the-workplace event I spoke at, sponsors shared a dizzying array of tools promising to make training faster, cheaper, and more scalable. But I left more worried than excited.

Yes, AI can help us learn about things: rules, systems, ideas. I get excited about tools that make cybersecurity or compliance trainings less painful or provide reminders and

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