The Global Sentiment Survey 2026 reveals an L&D profession entering unfamiliar territory. Long-held assumptions are eroding. The pace of change has accelerated. And learning teams are being forced to confront uncomfortable questions about their role, their value, and their future.
Drawing on responses from more than 3,700 L&D professionals across over 100 countries, this year’s findings do not point to a single dominant trend. Instead, they show a profession under sustained pressure, pulled in multiple directions at once, navigating a landscape that feels fundamentally altered. The report frames it well: L&D is on a journey without maps.
AI Remains Central, But Momentum Has Stalled
Artificial intelligence remains the number one L&D challenge globally, selected by 22.5% of respondents. But for the first time in several years, enthusiasm has leveled off.
That shift is significant.
AI has moved beyond hype and experimentation into operational reality. The question is no longer whether it will reshape learning, but how it should. Where does it add value? Where does it create risk? And what does it expose about the way L&D has traditionally operated?
During the webinar discussion, Donald Taylor described the wider shift bluntly: we have “gone from an era of predictability to where the old rules don’t apply anymore.” AI represents more than a new toolset. It marks a structural break.
Across the survey, AI appears as both opportunity and threat. It promises speed, scale, and increasingly sophisticated personalization. But it also forces a reckoning. If L&D’s core value lies in producing content, generative AI presents a challenge. If its role is to build capability and improve performance, AI becomes a powerful accelerator.
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Global Sentiment Survey 2026 Findings: Personalization and Value Continue to Rise
Most themes in the Global Sentiment Survey 2026 rise and fall over time. In 2026, two continue to climb: personalization and showing value.
Personalization and adaptive delivery have now increased for four consecutive years. At the same time, “showing value” has reached its highest level ever.
Those trends are not coincidental.
AI expands what is possible at the individual level. But it also intensifies scrutiny at the organizational level. L&D leaders are under growing pressure to justify investment, demonstrate measurable impact, and link learning directly to business outcomes.
The emotional tone of the free-text responses reinforces this reality. As Donald Taylor noted during the session, three words surfaced repeatedly: “Overwhelmed. Burnout. Pressure.”
This is not a profession short on ideas. It is a profession stretched thin.
The Decline of Learning Analytics
One of the more striking findings in the Global Sentiment Survey 2026 is the continued decline of learning analytics. Despite AI’s ability to enhance insight and data-driven decision-making, interest in analytics has fallen steadily over the past several years.
This highlights a persistent imbalance. L&D appears far more comfortable refining individual learning experiences than building robust organizational evidence. Personalization is visible and immediate. Analytics requires structural change, stronger data capability, and closer alignment with business strategy.
Without credible measurement, the push to “show value” remains fragile. Impact cannot simply be claimed. It must be demonstrated.
Overwhelmed Rather Than Under-Ambitious
More than 3,500 respondents in the Global Sentiment Survey 2026 described their greatest challenge for the year ahead. The pattern is consistent: demand is rising, capacity is not.
Teams are expected to deliver more learning, faster, across broader audiences and topics, often with static or shrinking resources. AI, rather than relieving pressure, is accelerating expectations.
That uncertainty was captured in one of the webinar’s central metaphors. We must be “drawing a map to see us into this new world.” In other words, the terrain has changed. Drifting through disruption is not an option. L&D must deliberately chart its direction.
Gone are the days of relative stability. As Taylor put it, we have moved into a context “where the old rules don’t apply anymore.” That shift explains the intensity of the responses. The pressure is real because the ground itself is shifting.
A Profession Redefining Itself
Beneath the data lies a more fundamental question: what is L&D for now?
Is it a provider of training? A curator of knowledge? A skills intelligence hub? A performance partner? An engine for adaptability?
The Global Sentiment Survey 2026 suggests that the function is being redefined, whether it is ready or not. Many respondents report expanding into coaching, mentoring, leadership development, and culture. This broadening brings opportunity, but also risk, particularly where mandate and authority are unclear.
As one participant observed during the discussion, “The learning function needs to be reimagined, not automated.” That distinction is critical. Automation may increase efficiency. Reimagination secures relevance.
New and returning respondents may prioritize different tools and trends, but they converge on the bigger reality: complexity, pressure, and uncertainty are now constants.
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What Global Sentiment Survey 2026 Means For L&D Leaders
The Global Sentiment Survey 2026 does not offer comfort. It offers clarity.
AI has surfaced weaknesses. Expectations are rising. Scrutiny is increasing. The traditional operating model is under strain.
For L&D leaders, the response cannot be reactive. It must be intentional. Purpose must be clearly defined. Capability strengthened. Partnerships with the business deepened. Measurement improved.
This is why Speexx continues its long-standing collaboration with Donald Taylor and the Global Sentiment Survey community. The goal is not simply to track trends, but to engage with the structural shifts reshaping the learning function.
If the old rules no longer apply, incremental change will not be enough. The map must be drawn.
Download the full report here.
Watch the replay of the full webinar hosted by Donald Taylor.
