Q&A: Dr. Juliann Young on Making Learning in the Workplace More Accessible with Generative AI

If you put on captions while watching TV, then this Q&A may be for you.

You’re already practicing what Dr. Juliann Young preaches: finding the way information works best for you. While you may use captions to catch dialogue in noisy environments or to better process information visually, millions of others are actively discovering their preferred method to learn and consume content.

In fact, more than 100 million people use ChatGPT on a weekly basis. That’s 100 million people who use this generative AI chatbot for a myriad of reasons, from content creation and research to data analysis and personal assistance.

But Juliann Young, the Founder of Advanced Learning Partners, says the potential of AI extends far beyond these common applications — particularly in education and professional development.

We recently spoke with her about AI’s untapped potential in the accessibility space — not just for those with disabilities, but for anyone who processes information differently than typical formats currently allow.

The transcript has been edited for brevity. Here’s Dr. Young.

A: I always say I came into learning and development through the back door.

Three of my kids are autistic. At the time, I was working with my oldest son who was struggling to learn science concepts. One night we were working through the parts of a cell, looking at a diagram, and we were both getting frustrated. I thought, “There’s got to be a different way to teach him,” so we started building a cell together. He totally understood it, went to school the next day and aced the test.

I remember saying to my husband how interesting it was the way his brain learns information. I came at it from a neuroscience perspective, thinking my brain works this way, his brain works that way. I realized, “Oh, this is learning science. This is how we are built.”

I started learning design when my son was in third grade because this is when I started trying to find out how to help people learn efficiently. I started giving trainings at his school, then at local public schools, community schools, broader schools, and then high schools. I was thinking of it in terms of accessibility for people with different learning challenges, but really, it was about how we all learn differently.

Generative AI is going to change the way all people learn. It’s not just a tool to make classes more engaging — it’s going to completely transform the face of education.

Years later, my second son, who’s also autistic, was in college and came to me after getting a 54% on his psychology test. I asked how he studied, and realized he needed assistance to visually see how his studying was going. When he was little, we created flashcards and made a game of it. Now as an adult, he needed something similar.

I went online looking for tools for adults and found StudyFetch. My son started using it and his grades jumped 30% in one semester. That’s when it clicked for me that generative AI is going to change the way all people learn. It’s not just a tool to make classes more engaging — it’s going to completely transform the face of education.

A: I still teach, and realized after 25 years, I can no longer go into a classroom and give a 45-minute lecture and expect students to pay attention. They don’t care how many jokes I tell or how interesting the material is; I can do cartwheels, bring in a band, and I’m not going to keep their attention for 45 minutes.

It’s not just young people — it’s everybody. The way information is given to us through movies, TV, and media affects how our brains learn.

We always talked about chunking material for short-term memory to move it into long-term memory, but it’s so much more salient now. It’s not just young people — it’s everybody. The way information is given to us through movies, TV, and media affects how our brains learn. Our brains learn to learn a certain way.

I have two choices: I can either try to force their brains to learn a new way, or I can meet them where they’re at. When you meet them where they’re at, amazing things happen. You realize what you can teach them in small bites and what they can teach you.

A: I had a recent contract where they didn’t think much about accessibility because they kept saying, “People have page readers.” One day in a meeting, I sat down and started a page reader. But it reads everything, right? I said, “We don’t want page readers. We need this differently.”

People who need to learn by listening — maybe because they have a two-hour commute in Boston — need more of a podcast option rather than a reading option. People who work in very noisy environments can’t use that podcast option — they’ll have to be able to read.

We should have elements throughout the learning where they can show through their daily work that they’re able to do this. That really moves the needle and gets people excited.

When I started to ask, “What about your workers who work on the floor in noisy environments?” The light bulbs started going off. By the end, we were able to get audio versions of certain things alongside the written versions they preferred.

One thing I always discuss when designing is the purpose of assessments. People say, “We need an assessment to know they did the work.” If that’s all you want to know, we can create a checkbox saying “Yes, I did this work.”

But if you really want to know if they can apply it, we should have elements throughout the learning where they can show through their daily work that they’re able to do this. That really moves the needle and gets people excited.

A: You will lose your clients. It’s as simple as that. It’s going to come to a point where people will come to your website or your storefront, and if your material is not accessible, they are going to walk away.

Accessibility is becoming mainstream. When we go to a restaurant, we get a paper menu but can also scan a QR code because, for some of us, it’s easier to read with a backlight. We naturally choose places that work for us. You will start to weed yourself out of our economy if you are not rising to the bar.

You will start to weed yourself out of our economy if you are not rising to the bar.

But it’s not as hard as many companies think. With AI, this can be done relatively easily. Get an AI contractor or freelancer, and have them come in and give suggestions. I guarantee it’s not going to be as overwhelming as you think.

I think about the Targets and the Kohl’s of the world who are now showing people in wheelchairs, and Target has this wonderful clothing that’s accessible. They got a huge boom in their business when that all started.

We have to remind ourselves that it’s not about lifting up people who need help. It’s really about meeting the needs of everybody.

That always should have been there, but it wasn’t. When you think about that and look at those as use cases, we have to remind ourselves that it’s not about lifting up people who need help. It’s really about meeting the needs of everybody.

We have to remember when we’re talking about accessibility, especially in learning and development in enterprise, in whatever business you’re in — that is what we’re really talking about. It’s meeting the consumer where they are and meeting their needs where they are. That’s the key.

A: AI cannot do everything. Now, I love AI and I’m a huge proponent, but you’ve got to have that human touch. Once you have your AI system in place and are creating accessible media or consumer goods, you still need humans involved because we can do things that AI cannot.

[AI is] a great jumping-off point and will get us very far, but we can’t jump into the abyss and say “AI handled it,” or else we’re going to get burned.

An accessibility feature might say “If you’re blind, click here.” As humans, we understand that’s a little harsh. We understand emotion, motivation, and intercultural considerations. AI can’t do that — at least not yet, so we have to be careful not to rely too heavily on AI. It’s a great jumping-off point and will get us very far, but we can’t jump into the abyss and say “AI handled it,” or else we’re going to get burned.

Dr. Juliann Young is the Founder, Lead Learning Strategist, and Designer of Advanced Learning Partners and an Instructional Designer at Kingswood University. With a PhD in psychology, she applies her 25-year expertise toward educational technology and leadership development. She currently specializes in helping organizations modernize their learning systems by integrating Generative AI to meet different learning styles and needs.