As I’ve written about before, I got really excited about the possibilities of AI for L&D in the spring and summer of 2024. I rolled up my sleeves and dug in – only to be disappointed. At that point, in my view, the hype was outstripping the reality. So, I dialled the enthusiasm down, took a bit of a step back and largely watched from the side lines as the technology evolved.
PerformaGo takes shape
2025 came around and by early spring, my enthusiasm was building again. By late spring, early summer this year, the way ahead became clearer still and by mid-July, the PerformaGo project was a go.
Since then, I’ve had my share of disappointments, frustrations and tech glitches. Moments when things were not as easy or as reliable as expected. But, overall, as the summer progressed and faded into autumn, I continued to be surprised and amazed at what, on a good day, AI and associated technologies were able to achieve.
However, even though I’ve been mightily impressed by the progress of the no-code/low-code movement, I hadn’t fully realised just how radically AI is transforming the tech world.
The moment everything shifted
However, that all changed for me in mid-October with the launch of a new version of a tool called Xano. I’d been experimenting with Xano through the summer, as I’d identified it as part of the tech-stack I would need to build PerformaGo.
Although it positioned itself as a no-code/low-code tool, I had been finding some aspects of its interface and functionality pretty heavy going. So, I was curious to discover how the new version would stack up against the existing version I had been using.
Xano 2.0 and the bigger realisation
Watching the live launch was fascinating for two reasons:
First, it revealed that the new version (2.0) was a change on a pretty epic scale (great news, by the way). Second, I suddenly realised that Xano’s transformation was just one example of a mind-boggling shift:
We are fast approaching a moment where non-technical people will be able to build highly sophisticated software tools… without needing some of the current gatekeepers.
The tech ‘priesthood’
And the gatekeepers are an interesting crowd – almost a priesthood. At the very bottom of the hierarchy, you find the coders. The sometimes-nerdy kids with few social skills but brilliant coding and math abilities. The kind of people who share their Python code and contribute to the building of open-source data libraries.
They are probably the last people on the planet to consider themselves part of a closed, elite group; but their skills make them so. Most people are not inclined to coding. Most coders are not good at teaching or explaining coding to people who don’t share their natural inclination for it. By definition, therefore, you have a pretty closed shop.
Layer on top of that group the thirty-something, hoodie wearing tech bros who make up the top layers of the hierarchy. These are the ones making the pitches, securing the venture capital and schmoozing the power brokers and politicos. These are the ones who have wielded enormous power and influence. Changed the world in extraordinary ways (some of it for good; some of it for ill).
In short, if you weren’t gifted technically or you weren’t well-connected with the bros at the top, you were mostly outside looking in. A mere user of their products, sometimes feted but frequently jerked around and treated with minimal respect.
The ironic twist
So, during that Xano presentation, it took a moment for the irony to sink in. Because it is a huge irony. That the ‘priesthood’ who built the tech world, who were so convinced that their skills, their products, their genius would ultimately rule the world, have now created the very thing that will ultimately loosen their grip on that power.
Because AI is fast moving us to a world where you won’t need to write code. Instead, you will describe what you want and AI will code it for you. In the old world, the hard part wasn’t imagining a tool. It was translating that imagined idea into a hard-coded reality. In the new world, AI is becoming the translator.
This isn’t just a technological change. It’s a power change.
The doors are opening
If someone like me, mid-career, L&D background, non-coder (although somewhat technically savvy) can build something as ambitious as PerformaGo, then that new world isn’t hypothetical. It’s here already.
Of course, we are still in the early days of the creation of that new world. There’s much more to come. And let’s be honest, changes on this scale don’t always work out exactly as expected.
But you can be sure the tech ‘priesthood’ isn’t about to vanish in a puff of smoke. They will adapt. They will survive. They will maintain a good deal of their power and influence.
But the direction of travel is clear. Their grip is loosening. Access to their world is broadening. The ability to create is no longer dependant on using a language only a few could speak.
AI hasn’t destroyed the ‘priesthood’. But it has cracked open some doors that used to be firmly shut. For me and, I suspect, for many others those open doors change everything.
More on this next week. Until then…
