Insights / AI
What AI should draft, and what it should not touch
The useful question is not whether to use AI in training. It is which specific tasks it should touch, and which ones it should never see.
By McKinley Malbrough III, J.D., MS-HRM. Published September 5, 2026.
Short answer
AI is good at first drafts of anything with a known shape: session outlines, discussion questions, practice scenarios, summary emails, alternative phrasings of a question that is not landing. It should never see employee names, complaint details, medical information, investigation notes or performance documentation. Tell participants in one line before anyone asks, because the expensive version is the room finding out mid-session.
What is AI genuinely good at here?
First drafts of anything with a known shape: session outlines, discussion questions, practice scenarios, summary emails, translated handouts, alternative phrasings of a question that is not landing.
Companies are spending on this. 91% of companies report increasing AI spend in learning and development in 2026, and 59% of global L&D heads rank AI a top priority (Gartner and iVentiv data via VirtualSpeech, January 2026).
What should never go into a general AI tool?
Employee names, complaint details, medical information, investigation notes, performance documentation. Anything that identifies a real person in a real situation.
I keep client details out of AI training on my own accounts and say so on my sites, because a promise about privacy that nobody can verify is worth very little.
What can AI not do in a live session?
Notice that the person who stopped typing at minute nine is the one who needed the session most. Decide whether a room is ready for a hard conversation. Take responsibility for a call that turns out to be wrong.
Judgment about people stays with a person who will still be accountable afterward.
Should I tell participants?
One line, before anybody asks. "I drafted these scenarios with AI and rewrote them for us." It costs nothing and it prevents the much more expensive moment where the room discovers it mid session.
McKinley Malbrough provides education and is not an attorney. Contacting him creates no attorney-client relationship. If you have a legal question or need legal advice, contact an employment attorney.
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