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Leaders in Cutting-Edge Learning Technology
Since its inception in 1994, WILL has led the learning and development industry in innovation:
- The first teaching / training course to deploy video on a computer
- A U.S. patent for our branching storyline teaching methodology
- Advanced analytics for customers a full decade before the rest of the industry
- The first computer-based, instantly bilingual eLearning course
- The first intelligent remediation based on complex inputs
- Developed and deployed gamification and serious games long before the phrases were invented
- The first interactive video-based training hosted on a government website with full ADA compliance
- First to mobile-first training approach
- First to AI-powered training coaching
People Are Our Brand, Technology Is Our Fuel
WILL's proprietary software products would rival Adobe's authoring applications (if we ever let the rest of the world use them!)
WILL stays at the leading edge of technical security whether through our SOC II compliance, operation of .gov websites, or national defense-related technical security.
WILL's state-of-the-art learning platform, player, and customer portal are the envy of other training providers.
WILL's courses are so leading edge they've been chosen by academic researchers at institutions such as U. Penn, B.U., Walter Reed, and UVA for studies of their impact.
When September 11th happened, the Joint Chiefs of Staff quickly needed the best training developer on the planet – they called WILL.
What Are We Researching This Year?
WILL Interactive was founded on the cutting edge of technology and has stayed there. Current efforts include:
- 1Effective and responsible use of AI
- 2New branching storyline teaching methodologies
- 3New strategies for measuring effectiveness
- 4Techniques for improving the user experience of training
- 5Strategies to achieve best-in-class customer service
- 6Technologies that support our customer experience
Effective And Responsible Use Of AI
So much potential, so much hype… but what are the prudent uses of AI today for training development?
Since 1994, WILL has always been leaps ahead of the training and education industry in ways to improve the impact of education and training through eLearning.
We have been researching AI since before it was practical to use it. AI has exceptional potential in some areas to improve development efficiency and learning outcomes.
On the other hand, some applications create poor results and are morally problematic. We choose to move thoughtfully and deliberately rather than chart a course we don't completely believe in.
Artificial Instructors
Willow – she's our next leap. By training an LLM with our research and source texts, we've developed and are refining artificial instructors who can guide users through a near-human facilitation of learning content.
- Socratic, not didactic
- Utilizes well-researched learning impact of "teach back" techniques
- Taps into a user's social learning domain
- Enforces learning standards
- A lean-forward learning technique
- Personality can be adjusted
- Voice to text and text to voice capable
- Instantly multi-lingual
- Exceptionally professional interactions
Yet… There are reasons you've not attended an AI music concert or watched an AI stand-up comedian. Can artificial instructors ever be accepted in the human community the way a student interacts with a real teacher? We aspire to find out.
Generative AI
Through experimentation with generative AI video, audio, still images, and music, we have found mixed results and are concerned about potentially publishing the derivative works of copyrighted materials.
Text To Voice
Use: MediumWe are bottling our best voice over artists (with their consent and compensation) to create voice overs and narration in areas where the AI voice is consistent with quality.
Generative From Our Own Work
Use: LowWe are discovering potential uses for generative video that uses our own video or still frames as a reference but the quality is low and hallucinations are frequent.
Generative From Others' Work
Use: Only abstract imagesWe have discovered generative services using copyrighted materials unencumbered by any moral or legal obligation to fair use.
Should AI Create Training By Itself?
Just like food made quickly and cheaply can displace food that's well-made, training and education are dealing with a similar identity crisis.
Acceptable Content
AI is heavily biased toward mediocrity and doesn't provide what we think of as creativity. AI doesn't do experimentation; it just exploits it. It's not actually "generative"; it consumes knowledge to recombine it.
Bad Learning Experiences
AI can't provide the contextualization and experiential processes that make learning sticky. AI has never sat at a desk, it has never fit into a workplace culture, or felt the anxiety of a difficult decision.
Incredibly Cheaply
An LLM is configured to perform adaptive high-tech regurgitation cheaply. Will garbage in, garbage out become the commerce of education and training at the expense of our collective genius?
"We all have to find our identities in this new paradigm as both producers and consumers."
Teaching one another came so much earlier in human history, and has played a more vital role in our development, than the concept of money. WILL Interactive as a company will not chase margins at the expense of our impact on learning.
We'll use AI as an invaluable assistant, utilizing the ways it enhances the value we bring to customers. But we will be the pilot, as the best tech is still human.