Learning in the Age of AI: How AI Is Transforming Adult Learning in Corporate Contexts

This conceptual scholar-practitioner paper examines how generative AI reshapes the conditions under which adults learn at work. As AI enters everyday knowledge work, learning with AI increasingly happens in the flow of work, raising the question of what is being learned and what is merely performed. Synthesizing andragogy and self-directed learning, sociocultural learning theory, and experiential learning, the paper develops a provisional model of the depth-speed tension across four dimensions of workplace learning, namely learner agency and self-direction, learning through practice and experimentation, social and peer learning, and knowledge in the flow of work. It proposes that AI accelerates access to information and task completion but, under certain conditions, can compress the productive struggle, reflection, and human relationships through which durable skills develop. The moderating conditions, including learner expertise, AI literacy, task complexity, organizational culture, and performance pressure, shape whether AI strengthens or weakens learning. The paper identifies the cognitive and relational work that remains hard to delegate to AI, offers five propositions to guide future empirical testing in workplace settings, and outlines implications for learners, managers, learning professionals, and organizations. Its guiding principle is to get the human learning conditions right before reaching for the technology.