Survey finds a gap between AI ambition and execution

Absorb Software’s new survey found a widening split in AI in learning adoption, with 27% of organisations still not using it at all.

On June 29, 2026, the Calgary, Alberta, company released its AI in Learning Report based on a survey of more than 1,700 learning professionals.

46% of organisations started using AI in learning recently and another 27% have used it for years.

However, the remaining 27% have not tried AI in learning, and 36% of those non-users said they likely never will.

One quarter of L&D teams, or 25%, named personalisation at scale as their main AI goal.

Yet current use leans toward efficiency tasks. Content creation led at 30%, while research support followed at 21%.

Fewer than 4% of respondents named overall business performance as their main AI objective.

Stakeholder resistance and weak influence

L&D teams join organisational AI strategy discussions only 22% of the time.

Meanwhile, 37% of respondents identified resistance from stakeholders as the biggest barrier to AI adoption in learning.

Another 12% pointed to a lack of internal AI expertise.

Only 28% of L&D professionals said they feel confident integrating AI into real learning workflows without lowering quality.

Just 15% of learning professionals said they feel prepared to manage the ethical implications of AI in learning.

Cheryl Yuran, chief human resources officer at Absorb Software, said: “AI has already helped HR and L&D move faster, but speed was never the goal.”

Absorb Software released the report as enterprise AI adoption continues to accelerate across the workplace.

The findings cover personalisation, efficiency, adoption barriers, weak representation in enterprise AI planning, and uncertainty around ethics and governance.

As AI becomes part of everyday work in 2026, the report warns that uneven adoption could widen capability and productivity gaps between organisations.

Absorb launched its Absorb Aura AI engine in May 2026, and the full AI in Learning Report is now available from the company.