How Learning Teams Can Prove Real ROI with AI - with Marc Ramos (Podcast Episode 2)

A conversation with Marc Ramos on how we should approach AI, proving ROI, and building a culture of experimentation.

The Business AI Playbook explores how Generative AI is reshaping business operations, knowledge-sharing, and customer engagement. We invite industry leaders to talk about the real-world applications of AI, giving executives practical AI strategies and insights.

Listen to the full episode on Spotify, YouTube, or Apple Podcasts — or check it out below. 

How Learning Teams Can Prove Real ROI With AI

In this second episode of The Business AI Playbook, I spoke with Marc Ramos — a learning leader and innovator with over 20 years of experience driving transformation at companies like Google, Novartis, and Cornerstone.

We explored what it really takes to move from early experiments to meaningful enterprise impact — and why human-first design, referencing existing data, and cross-functional collaboration matter just as much as the tech.

“I’m seeing real impact from teams getting operationally efficient ‘in the kitchen’ — using AI to build ‘better recipes’, and create learning experiences that were previously too manual or complex to produce."— Marc Ramos

In this episode, we discussed:

1. The “kitchen vs. dining room” mindset: How to recognize the difference between what’s visible and what’s happening behind the scenes with AI.

2. Why L&D must lead AI adoption: How learning teams are becoming the new R&D for AI, and why they’re best placed to drive experimentation and adoption.

3. Proving the ROI of AI: Simple ways to show AI’s impact, and why your existing learning and business data is more valuable than you think.

4. The future of information: How AI’s ability to structure and distribute information could change the way we learn, and how the traditional course format may evolve.

5. How companies should approach AI experimentation: The importance of starting with AI governance, policies and ethics before any AI experimentation.

6. Why you need a human-first mindset, not just shiny AI tools: How smart organizations are using AI in the context of learner journeys, and not just chasing trends.

7. Simple ways to experiment with AI: Practical ways individuals and teams can start testing AI, from playing with LLMs to role-playing with prompts and characters.

8. How L&D’s role is evolving through AI: Why learning teams and IT are starting to work more closely together — and what this shift means for how companies implement AI.

“If you think there's going to be value in any AI constructs, products or solutions, you’ve got to go in there — and, following the guidelines from the company that you're working with, experiment like crazy.” — Marc Ramos

The full episode is now available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and YouTube.

A huge thanks to Marc for sharing so many practical insights, fun metaphors and hard-earned lessons in this episode!

About the guest

Marc Ramos is one of the most forward-thinking leaders in enterprise learning, with over two decades of experience at organizations like Google, Novartis, Microsoft, Oracle, and Cornerstone. As former Chief Learning Officer at Cornerstone, Marc led AI-driven learning transformation efforts for over 7,000 customers and 125 million users globally. His current work as a Harvard LILA Fellow focuses on AI’s impact on learning at both operational and experiential levels.