AI Renaissance: Elevating human ability in the new industrial revolution

by Susan Brattberg, Founder & Chief Customer Officer at GeT

Throughout history, the most transformative innovations have fundamentally changed how knowledge is created, shared and applied. The printing press expanded access to information more than 500 years ago. The internet made knowledge instantly available on a global scale. Today, AI is driving another transformation, and we are now in one of the most significant shifts of this century.

Change is happening faster than we have ever seen, but every major revolution follows the same pattern: it unlocks access to knowledge. Access alone, however, is not enough.

It is not knowledge until it is understood, it is not valuable until it is learned, and it does not drive outcomes until it is applied in real work.

History shows that transformative technologies do not create advantage on their own. The value of the printing press came from literacy. The value of the internet came from the ability to find, understand and apply information. The same is true today. Access is expanding rapidly, but the organizations that succeed will be those that can turn information into capability and capability into action.

This is where organizations are struggling today.

The real gap: Capability, not technology

Across industries such as AECO and manufacturing, the challenge is becoming increasingly clear, demand is growing yet the biggest constraint is not opportunity, but people. 

According to the KPMG Global Construction Survey, more than 55% of construction leaders identify skilled labor shortages and capability gaps as one of their top challenges , even as organizations continue to invest heavily in BIM, AI and digital tools to meet future demand.

Despite major investments, many teams still struggle to translate tools into real productivity gains, which leads to slower projects, extended timelines and impacted ROI. The issue is not access to innovation but the ability to turn knowledge into action.

This challenge is well captured by Martec’s Law, where technology changes exponentially while organizations change slowly, and the gap between the two continues to widen.

Throughout history, periods of rapid technological change have rewarded those who adapted fastest. What makes this moment unique is the speed. Innovations that once took decades to reshape industries now do so in a matter of years, and in some cases months. The challenge facing organizations today is not simply keeping pace with technology, but keeping pace with the rate of change itself.

The question is no longer whether organizations will adopt new technology, but whether they can accelerate human capability fast enough to keep up.

Rethinking training for a quickly evolving industry

This requires a fundamental shift in how organizations approach training, including how people learn, how they unlearn and relearn, how knowledge is captured, how it is shared and how it is applied in real work.

What distinguishes the current AI renaissance is not simply the technology itself, but the speed at which change is occurring. Throughout history, transformative innovations have reshaped the way people work, but rarely at the pace we are experiencing today. As technology continues to evolve, organizations must continuously adapt alongside it.

Competitive advantage is no longer defined by access to technology but by the ability to adapt to it. As with previous industrial revolutions, the organizations that thrive will not necessarily be those with the newest tools, but those that can help their people adopt new ways of working faster and more effectively than their competitors.

The real advantage lies in the ability to capture, share, understand and apply knowledge while keeping it continuously up to date. In fast moving environments, knowledge cannot remain siloed or live only in people’s heads. It must be embedded within systems that keep it relevant, accessible and usable in the flow of work.

This is the foundation of digital adoption.

Organizations increasingly recognize that transformation depends on people, not just tools, which is why 76% of firms now identify workforce development as their most important priority over the next 12 months, reinforcing that technology investments only deliver value when the workforce has the skills to use them effectively.

A new model for applied knowledge

This is where a new approach to training becomes essential.

Global eTraining is focused on defining and designing training for the 21st century, not as static content but as a living knowledge ecosystem that scales knowledge across teams, accelerates digital adoption and connects learning directly to real outcomes.

Within Global eTraining’s model, learning becomes embedded in the way work actually happens, making it company specific, project specific and role specific, while also being delivered at the right moment it is needed. By aligning training with real workflows and incorporating an organization’s own standards, processes and materials, knowledge becomes more relevant, more immediate and more likely to be applied.

At the same time, this approach is strengthened by the depth of industry knowledge available across Global eTraining’s broad AECO and manufacturing library, combined with the ability to continuously evolve and adapt as technology, workflows and requirements change. The result is a system where learning is not separate from work, but integrated into it in a way that keeps knowledge current, contextual and usable.

Because information is not value, applied knowledge is. Without the systems to support it, knowledge becomes fragmented and lost, but with the right infrastructure in place organizations can move faster, stay aligned and apply skills where they matter most.

Keeping pace with continuous change

As workflows, technology and processes continue to evolve, knowledge must evolve with them. Just as the printing press transformed access to information and the internet transformed access to knowledge, AI is transforming how knowledge is created, shared and applied, marking the next chapter in a long history of technological revolutions that have reshaped how people work.

The organizations that succeed in this new industrial revolution will be those that invest not only in technology, but in the ability of their people to use it effectively.

To learn how to accelerate digital adoption, scale knowledge across teams and ensure your organization keeps pace with this fast changing environment, connect with Global eTraining here.

About Global eTraining

Global eTraining helps AECO and manufacturing firms worldwide close skills gaps, confirm project readiness and accelerate digital adoption with the industry’s leading AI-powered online training platform.

Their platform enables organizations to rapidly build custom company and project workflow training up to 12× faster, ensuring the right teams receive the right training at the right time. Using Global eTraining’s patented course-building technology, companies can combine their own materials and SOPs with AI and pre-existing Global eTraining content from the industry’s largest training library to create highly targeted learning programs.

Courses can be edited, translated, tracked and continuously updated with auto-sync capabilities across one or multiple Learning Management Systems, enabling consistent training for internal teams and across entire projects, including sub-trades and supply chains.

The result is a scalable system that helps organizations enforce standards, reduce rework and accelerate digital adoption across the enterprise.

Learn faster. Retain more. Save time.