Every once in a while, someone says something so true that the entire conversation shifts.
That happened during my recent Future of Learning webinar with JD Dillon and a few other powerhouse L&D experts. He dropped a line about learning that stopped me, his fellow panelists, and, honestly, all 1,200+ people listening, in our tracks.
It wasn’t controversial.
It wasn’t clickbait.
It was simply … real.
We all paused and said:
“Okay, JD… you need to unpack that.”
And what he said unlocked something I’ve been thinking about for a few days now.
Because if we’re being honest, painfully honest, learning is not the point.
And the title Chief Learning Officer no longer reflects the actual impact CLOs must deliver in the age of AI.
Learning is not the outcome.
Learning is the input.
The real outcomes of the modern CLO role are:
- capability
- adaptability
- performance
- culture
- trust
- enterprise transformation
- human + AI partnership readiness
Once you see that clearly, everything about the CLO role, its scope, its value, its title, and its future looks different. No one hires a CLO because they “want people to take more courses.” They hire a CLO because the business needs results. Yet the CLO title has been frozen in time while the job has radically expanded.
And now? Artificial intelligence isn’t just enhancing the CLO’s role; it’s splitting it into two.
AI has already split the CLO role into two
Every CLO today is performing two fundamentally different jobs. Only one of them should be done by a human.
CLO Job #1 – The Cognitive Engine
This includes:
- workforce capability modeling
- skills intelligence
- gap analysis
- learning pathways
- content curation
- analytics
- dashboards
- sentiment reading
- pattern recognition
- predictive forecasting
- labor market signals
- competency mapping
- performance correlations
- compliance automation
These are data tasks. Pattern tasks. Optimization tasks. And with today’s AI capabilities? AI simply does these tasks better, faster, cheaper, and more accurately than any human ever could. This is not a threat, it’s physics.
CLO Job #2 – The Human Intelligence Officer
This includes:
- vision
- culture leadership
- executive influence
- ethics & governance
- change leadership
- organizational listening
- relationship architecture
- meaning-making
- political navigation
- trust
These are emotional, contextual, relational, human tasks. This is leadership. This is strategy. This is identity. This is the part no AI can do. And this is where the CLO becomes a force multiplier in the age of AI.
AI isn’t replacing CLOs, AI is unbundling them
If anyone still thinks this shift is theoretical, the data from 2025 tells a very different story. In McKinsey’s latest global survey, 88% of organizations report using AI in at least one business function, yet only one-third have successfully scaled it across the enterprise. That gap, between experimentation and real transformation, is exactly where the CLO role is being redefined.
At the same time, multiple research sources show that the capabilities organizations now need most aren’t traditional “learning objectives,” but adaptability, digital fluency, and human-AI collaboration. These aren’t skills you can course your way into; they require organizational design, cultural readiness, and a radically different approach to how people grow.
McKinsey’s workforce strategy report goes a step further: AI is increasing uncertainty around skills and readiness so rapidly that talent strategy has become a board-level concern. And according to the UN’s latest global analysis, AI and automation could reshape up to 40% of jobs worldwide, forcing businesses to rethink roles, rebuild capability, and reskill with precision, not guesswork. Put simply: in 2025, AI is no longer optional or experimental. It is restructuring work itself. And the old model of “learning and training” is not equipped for this moment.
Even with high adoption, the transformation is uneven. BCG’s 2025 findings show that frontline and non-executive employees are often the last to benefit from AI tools. Most companies still lack the workforce-planning maturity needed to anticipate capability gaps. And organizations weighed down by legacy data, outdated systems, or siloed cultures face the highest risk of AI failure.
This is why the CLO role cannot remain what it was. And it’s why AI isn’t replacing CLOs, it’s unbundling them.
One “CLO” is no longer enough. We now need a dual-engine leadership model, human + AI, strategy + intelligence, empathy + data. That’s not a nice-to-have. It’s the only way organizations will navigate the speed, scale, and humanity this new era demands.
The AI-CLO co-pilot blueprint
Every CLO should build their own AI co-pilot TODAY. A digital CLO. A cognitive clone. A second-in-command who handles the data work so the human CLO can lead at the highest level. Here’s exactly how to build it:
STEP 1: Identify the tasks AI can take from your plate
Examples:
- talent risk modeling
- skills inventory analysis
- personalized learning plans
- leadership development drafts
- behavior insights
- sentiment analysis
- LMS data summaries
- annual reports
- compliance gap scans
- content recommendations
STEP 2: Build your AI agent using this system prompt
Use your Custom GPT (or any advanced AI model) as the foundation, and start with the system prompt below. Adjust the language to reflect your organization’s culture, priorities, and capabilities.
This is how you create a true AI executive partner – not “just another chatbot.”
STEP 3: Split your CLO role into two lanes
| Function | AI CLO Co-Pilot | Human CLO |
| Skills mapping | Yes | |
| Talent intelligence | Yes | Interpretation |
| Personalized learning | Yes | |
| Leadership dev strategy | Draft | Final design |
| Culture interventions | Yes | |
| Ethical governance | Yes | |
| Executive influence | Yes | |
| Performance correlations | Yes | Judgment |
| Strategic workforce planning | Yes | Yes |
This is the future operating model.
STEP 4: Rename and rethink your role
You may still have “Chief Learning Officer” on paper. But in 2025 and beyond, your identity, scope, and executive brand should evolve far beyond learning because your real work is no longer about courses. It’s about capability, performance, culture, and readiness.
- Here is how you should start positioning yourself, internally and externally, right now:
- Chief Capability Officer
- Chief Human Transformation Officer
- Chief Talent Intelligence Officer
- Chief People Performance Officer
- Chief Workforce Strategy Officer
- Chief Culture & Capability Officer
- Chief Learning Innovator Officer
- Chief AI + Human Enablement Officer
- Chief Future of Work Officer
You don’t need a formal title change to lead this way. You need to show up as the leader who owns capability, culture, workforce intelligence, and human-AI transformation. These titles describe the real story of your impact. Here is a powerful, ready-to-use script you can give CLOs to use with their CEO, peers, board, or teams:
“I’m the CLO by title, and my mandate is at the intersection of capability, culture, and workforce innovation. Think of my role as your Future of Work Officer: I align skills to strategy and prepare our workforce for human + AI performance at scale so we are ready for what’s next.”
The future is you
AI is here to replace the part of the CLO’s job that a human should have never done.
Data work. Pattern work.
When AI becomes your CLO co-pilot, you become free to do the work that truly transforms the business:
Culture. Capability. Trust. Performance. Leadership.
The CLO of the future is not the Chief Learning Officer. The CLO of the future is the Chief Capability Officer, and AI is your new second-in-command.
About the author
Liza Mucheru Wisner is an award-winning talent development expert, author, keynote speaker, and globally recognized leader in AI, automation, and workplace culture. She curates transformative learning experiences that fuse human insight with intelligent automation – preparing organizations for the next era of work. Liza’s work has earned global recognition, including multiple SHRM Excellence Awards, and her voice has been featured across stages, media platforms, and boardrooms.