When I say AI Is The New Google For Learning I don’t mean that as a positive.
Google has been around since September 1998 and you’ve had the world at your fingertips.
Every piece of information is available at your finger tips and yet your business is
- Not as busy as you’d like it to be
- Not in the financial health you’d like it to be
- Not having the most motivated team you’d like it to be
Despite having unlimited access to information, most businesses still struggle with growth, consistency and implementation.
We’ll be looking below at the difference between AI VS Training. Obviously we’ll be looking at it from a Social Media Training lens, but it’s relevant to all areas of learning.
BEFORE WE START …
It’s important to note that good trainers themselves use AI.
We’d be foolish not to be looking at it.
But the huge difference is experts use AI as a tool, not a replacement.
The posts you see on LinkedIn claiming entire departments have been replaced by AI are usually far more complicated in reality.
AI is powerful when guided by expertise, but in the hands of a beginner that might not be the case as you’ll see.
| Area | AI for learning about Social Media | Social Media Training |
|---|---|---|
| Personalisation | Generic advice dressed up to sound personal | Tailored to your business, goals, audience and challenges |
| Direction | Often helps you continue down the same route | Challenges your thinking and redirects where needed |
| Confidence | Gives answers confidently — even when wrong | A trainer will admit when they don’t know and guide you properly |
| Understanding Quality | Hard to know what advice is genuinely good | Expert filters out weak, outdated and generic ideas |
| Speed of Learning | Fast answers but can send you in the wrong direction | Slower but focused on getting the right outcome |
| Current Trends | Information can already be outdated | Trainers adapt to platform changes in real time |
| Accountability | Can create plans but can’t make you follow them | Follow-up, reviews and accountability keep momentum going |
| Human Understanding | Can’t read confidence, confusion or hesitation | Trainers spot uncertainty and adapt the session live |
| Learning Style | Mostly text-based information delivery | Discussion, exercises, stories and interaction improve retention |
| Real World Experience | Based on scraped information and patterns | Built from working with real businesses and seeing what works |
| Networking & Opportunities | No human connection | Can lead to referrals, introductions and future opportunities |
| Implementation | Easy to consume but easy to ignore | Focused on action and real-world execution |
| Best Used For | Definitions, brainstorming, checklists, starting points | Strategy, confidence, direction and long-term growth |
Personalisation — AI VS Training
An hour before writing this blog I got an email in from a client for a social media training session.
It’s one of the best briefs we’ve ever had.
Nearly 500 words including 15 specific questions.
That allows us to truly personalise the training to the businesses specific needs.
Real personalisation with a look and analysis of their social media in advance.
We also notice when someone is unsure, confused, needs a confidence boost. We can pause there and then, clarify everything and motivate or change direction
Now the thing about AI is it’s very good at sounding like it’s talking directly to you whilst giving very very generic advice.
AI usually defaults to helping the user continue down the route they’ve already chosen. A trainer will often challenge your thinking instead.
And whilst you can prompt in a better way, in many cases it’s no more tailored to you than a horoscope.
Confidence – AI VS Training
How Much Do You Trust Something That Admits It Might Be Wrong?
Chat GPT says “ChatGPT can make mistakes. Check important info.”
Claude says “Claude is AI and can make mistakes. Please double-check responses.”
Grok doesn’t give you such a warning … but that’s Elon Musk all over 🙂
This is a huge danger for beginners as it presents the worst advice possible with the exact same confidence as genuinely strategic sound advice.
In the last couple of years when has an AI tool told you “I don’t know that – sorry”
A good trainer will also admit if they don’t know something.
They’ll tell you “Sorry, I don’t know that, but let me look into that for you”
You Don’t Know What Good Looks Like – AI VS Training
An expert using AI will always be more informed than a learner using AI.
You have to have an element of critical thinking when it comes to AI.
A real life example of this happened recently.
We were working on content pillars and creative ideas recently with a client.
We had 23 new ideas for use on social media and in an ideal world we’d have 25.
So I took to AI showing exactly which detailed prompt I’d use for a business like theirs and we looked through the results.
I rejected 70% of ideas as total rubbish, 25% were average and generic, 5% were good.
It took an expert to see that whereas if you don’t know what good looks like you could have taken AI at face value as good ideas.
Speed of Learning – AI VS Training
Fast isn’t always the best option.
AI Is Fast. But Fast In The Wrong Direction Is Still Wrong.
As part of our social media training we work our way through a 2 hour social media strategy work booklet.
It’s indepth. It does take 2 hours. It’s a discussion back and forth between trainer and learner.
An AI prompt could provide an outline of the same areas in 5 minutes.
The difference is you could go down completely the wrong route and end up in a worse place than where you are now.
Relevance To Current Trends – AI VS Training
We know how often social media changes because often we’ll only finalise a presentation the night before in case of any major platform changes.
Even in training we’ve had to say to clients – “this isn’t in the powerpoint, but there’s been a change 30 minutes ago”
Social Media changes at such a pace that often AI is out of date based on content from 6-12 months ago at its most recent.
Is what you’re learning on AI relevant to the world today or what it was in the past?
AI’s Knowledge Has An Expiry Date
Accountability – AI VS Training
What happens in 2 or 3 months after you start learning?
Is there someone at hand to sit down with you and say
“These were the goals and this was the calendar – what has gone well, ok and terribly and what changes are needed”
The accountability sessions are something we recommend to all our social media training clients.
Because then training becomes something that gets actioned and worked on after the initial session.
The whole point of learning for business is get a return on the time / money and with no accountability learning can just be ticking a box without implementation.
AI Can Write Your Plan. It Can’t Make You Stick To It.
Real World Opportunities: AI VS Training
And the final point.
People love to help people whereas AI serves you information.
You reach the end of the training session with a human and there’s opportunity for further support
They can refer you to others.
They can open up their black book of trusted suppliers to help you with other areas of business.
They can book you to speak at a Networking event.
They can write an article about you and share your story on social media.
They can even become your customer.
CONCLUSION: AI VS Training for Learning
AI is great for a number of things.
ChatGPT is great for initial ideas when you have writer’s block
Claude is great for analysing your writing and suggesting alternatives
Grok is great work giving overviews of news stories from different sources
For learning however it takes either a degree of knowledge of the subject matter you’re looking to learn on so you know what good looks like … or … it can be used as a very basic entry level before chatting to an expert.
In terms of learning it 100% isn’t to be taken as fact, up to date or relevant to you specifically
If you want information from a subject expert that is tailored to you go for human.
WHERE I WOULD USE AI FOR SOCIAL MEDIA INFORMATION
Use it for glossary information to explore terms in the subject you’re not quite sure of.
It can be used as a starting point or check list for things you need to learn about.
WHERE I WOULD USE A SOCIAL MEDIA TRAINER
An experienced trainer has worked with hundreds (or thousands) of businesses; spots patterns; seen what actually works in real life; seen mistakes repeatedly
That means they can often identify problems very quickly.
Think about what is the cost of getting it wrong by trusting AI.
AI searches can give you incorrect advice or generic advice and lead you down the wrong path.
One thing that a trainer notices whether it’s Face to Face (121 or group) or on zoom is the visual clues.
We notice when someone is unsure, confused, needs a confidence boost. We can pause there and then, clarify everything and motivate or change direction.
What you also get with a trainer is exercises, interactive tasks and stories to really bed the information in.
A trainer can often identify in 15 minutes what might take a business owner 6 months of trial and error
Information is everywhere. Direction, accountability and experience are still valuable
NEED HELP WITH SOCIAL MEDIA FOR YOUR BUSINESS
Looking for authentic ways to grow your social media
Chat to us about Social Media Marketing for YOUR organisation , so we can better understand YOU and what will grow your organisation
We can only find out what is unique to your business by chatting with you
Look at our Social Media Training and Social Media Management services
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Please call Alex on 07806774279 or email alex@altrinchamhq.co.uk
