We Need to Talk, Ava Tar 😬 (Annual Performance Review)
Every employee gets a performance review. So I gave one to Articulate's AI Avatar. Meet Ava Tar: AI Avatar, Virtual Presenter, and self nominated Employee of the Month. She shows up on time, never asks for PTO, and has never once complained about the lighting. She also keeps talking after she's done, talks with her hands (all of them), and her lips occasionally do their own thing. So we needed to talk. 👉 We Need to Talk, Ava Tar 😬 (Annual Performance Review) How it works The whole thing is a Rise Code Block built like an HR review form. You're the manager. ⭐ Strengths: flip cards with the real wins. Script to video in minutes, no camera or studio, it lives right inside Rise, easy script swaps, captions included, and the same face every time. 📋 Growth areas: you rate Ava on 9 competencies like "Knowing When to Stop Talking" and "Works Well With Others." Each rating slams down a stamp, then shows the evidence, Ava's response, and my suggested fix. 💸 Development plan: you get 100 Review Bucks (play money!) to fund her upgrades. The upgrades cost way more than 100, so you have to choose. Just like real life. ✍️ Sign off: sign the review, compare your picks to mine, and hear Ava's response. Then hit reset and try again with different answers. The plot twist: I ran out of credits 😅 Halfway through building a course about AI Avatar credits, I ran out of AI Avatar credits. So I leaned in. Ava's statements are now "submitted in writing due to a credit shortage." Her photo is stamped INSUFFICIENT CREDITS, and the Generate Video button responds with things like "Still 0 credits. We checked." The good news is that AI audio doesn't use credits. So Ava still got her voice. Her face is just on unpaid leave. Her words type out as she talks, which accidentally demos one of my wish list items: an interactive transcript. 🤣 And yes, there's a blooper. Count the hands. 🙌 My wish list for Ava's development plan A trim editor after the video is done, to cut that awkward ending. Two avatars in one video, so we can build real conversations and scenarios. Fix one line without regenerating the whole video and spending credits again. Voice controls for pace, pauses, emphasis and tone, plus a way to fix pronunciation. A calm to expressive slider for gestures and background motion. A lip sync resync button. Translated narration, not just translated captions. A shared team library of approved avatars and voices. An interactive transcript in the player. Why I built it this way A pros and cons list is easy to skim and easy to forget. Turning feedback into a performance review made it personal, a little ridiculous, and much more fun to click through. And it let me be honest about the gaps while giving credit where it's due. I really do like working with Ava. I just want her to grow. 💙 Built with a co-creator I built this with Claude as my development partner. Claude wrote the Code Block, and I directed the design, the jokes, and Ava Tar herself. Every image of Ava Tar was made with the AI Avatar tool. Your turn! How would you rate Ava Tar? And if you only had 100 Review Bucks, which upgrade would you fund first? Tell me in the comments 👇I Was Wholly Unprepared for NOVA’s Translation and Localization Power!
Yup, We Need This Course Updated by Next Week During the week of Articuland Orlando, my business partners dropped an “immediate need” eLearning build in my lap. At first, I didn’t think it would be a huge lift. Then I realized I had to fine-tune the English version of an existing course and create a Spanish version. Typically, translating a course from English into Latin American Spanish can take us two to four weeks. After I use Copilot to translate the course's script, an internal expert validates the translation. I then make the necessary changes, and the expert confirms that the revisions are correct. The challenge is that my internal expert has a full-time role with the company, so reviewing eLearning translations naturally falls lower on their priority list. When Articulate announced during the keynote that NOVA’s translation and localization feature had been activated for Articulate360 subscribers, I was literally in the middle of translating my course (MANUALLY). What Can It Hurt - Take NOVA for a Spin I said, “What the heck. Even if Storyline is able to only translate the base layer’s onscreen text, that’s a win.” Mind blown, when NOVA translated nearly everything!🤯🤯🤯 It translated: Onscreen text (base layer) Onscreen text (layers) Onscreen text (Master slides*) Changed the language the player was set up in AI Voiceover audio Lessons learned Written Spanish, typically, runs longer than written English. Resizing your text boxes etc. takes time, even with the tool that spotlights exactly where the issues are. *Some Master Slide (layouts) were translated, some were not. I was not working on a highly complex course, so fixing the lingering untranslated Master Slide (layouts) was not a big deal. As mentioned in Articulates Help documentation, when you have hardcoded text onto an image, that will not be translated. I can’t share a full demo, but I captured a few screenshots for your perusal (see below). My Key Takeaway Bottom line, the time NOVA saved us is remarkable. I was so excited, I nearly called my manager to rave about it (even though she was on vacation 🤣🤣).Work from Home: Flexibility Meets Productivity
Hi everyone! I created this microlearning using Nova's presenter-style video feature, and I’m really excited about the possibilities it offers. This tool opens up new opportunities to create learning experiences that are engaging, meaningful, and memorable for learners. Work from Home: Flexibility Meets Productivity | Rise 360How to Create a Step-by-Step Guide in Articulate 360 AI
This week's tip comes from elizabeth (that's me!) at our certified training partner, Yukon Learning. By now you've probably seen the buzz around some of the new types of content you can create in Articulate 360. One of the new features is the ability to create a guide, which contains step by step instructions to completing a task. All you need is a video, and Articulate 360 does the rest. You can even record your screen right inside the tool! In this video I'll show you how to create a step-by-step guide using a screen recording. You'll learn how to: Upload an existing screen recording Review and edit guide steps Update the automated thumbnails Annotate your images Resources: Yukon Learning YouTube Channel Need Articulate 360 Training? Sign up.Why AI Could Turbocharge L&D Professionals
Amid all the excitement surrounding artificial intelligence (AI), there’s one glaring fear: “Is AI going to replace me?” It’s a reasonable concern. After all, generative AI can work a whole lot faster than we mere mortals. But here’s the deal: AI is a tool. And a tool is only as good as the person who wields it. At Articulate, we think of AI as an accelerator of human capability, not a replacer of human ingenuity. Let’s unpack why AI can’t do everything alone and how—when used effectively—it doesn’t take away potential but unlocks it. AI Has Limitations On the surface, AI-generated content truly feels like it could’ve been written by a human. But mimicking a human isn’t the same as being a human, and that makes all the difference. Courses built solely with AI are prone to the following hurdles: Inaccuracies. AI is a people-pleaser. If it can’t give you a correct answer, it will still produce a reasonable “something”—but that something might be riddled with half-truths or outright “hallucinations.” Without a human validating output, AI might deliver wholly fabricated content. Biases. Generative AI was trained on the internet, making it highly susceptible to biases. Take away ethical human input and guidance, and AI may reinforce stereotypes, spread misinformation, and deliver inequitable training with unapologetic conviction. Ineffectiveness. AI can’t independently create complex, engaging learning experiences like the L&D pros. It can work quickly, but only a human course creator knows the nuance that goes into helping learners wrap their heads around tough topics, develop complex skills, and work through real-world practice scenarios. AI Requires Guidance AI’s limitations remind us that it can’t work alone. The sidekick is only as good as the hero. And AI is only as good as the e-learning heroes who use it. High-quality training requires humans in the driver’s seat. If you don’t have professionals consulting with stakeholders, discerning learning needs, setting directions, iterating with AI, and validating outputs, you end up with training that misses the mark. What Can AI Do? So, if AI isn’t replacing L&D professionals, what is it doing? If you’re a course creator, think of AI as another tool in your kit—and a mighty valuable one at that. Use AI mindfully, and you can: Collate information quickly. Have several dense documents to sift through? Consider using AI to pull and synthesize the information—kick-starting your course-creation process. Get a first draft. Debating how to start a lesson or course? AI solves the notorious “blank page” problem by giving you a first draft. Then all you have to do is fine-tune it. Brainstorm. Need to toss some ideas around? Your AI helper is an excellent creative thought partner. For example, you might use AI to think through course outlines, come up with industry-relevant examples, and surface themes within your work. Modify and personalize your work. Want to change direction or adapt your training for a different audience? No problem! AI can switch up your tone or writing style in a flash. Accelerate monotonous tasks. Have a lot on your plate? You might free up your day by using AI to speed through time-consuming, repetitive work. For example, you could ask AI to generate a summary, knowledge check, or full-course quiz based on your content. Well-Guided AI Unlocks L&D Superpowers Ultimately, with course creators at the wheel, an AI sidekick helps course creators do more, work smarter, and achieve their goals faster. The result? Instead of replacing L&D pros, AI gives them superpowers. Learning teams who leverage AI have more time, freedom, and mental space to use their specialized expertise, dig deeper, innovate, and home in on the creative side of course creation and design. Wrap Up The scary robot takeover isn’t happening anytime soon. AI is an invaluable asset. But it only works if we keep humans at the center. For more information about AI, check out these helpful resources: Build Compelling Courses Up to 9x Faster with Articulate’s AI Assistant 4 AI Basics Every E-Learning Creator Needs to Know in 2024 3 Ways AI Transforms Workforce Skill-Building Is Your Organization Ready for AI? How Articulate AI Safeguards Your Data You can stay in the loop by subscribing to our newsletter and finding us on LinkedIn and X (formerly Twitter). Want to try out our apps but don’t have an Articulate 360 subscription? Start a free trial today.How E-Learning Experts Are Shaping Articulate AI
What makes Articulate AI unique? It all started with a singular focus: Develop a tool, not a toy. Sure, AI is entertaining. But we recognize that what you really need as e-learning pros is functionality—something that inspires, elevates, and enables human creators to get things done. So, how do we get there? Our developers called in the experts, partnering with e-learning pros every step of the way. We’re working on a suite of features built with course creators like you, for you. Let’s pull back that creation curtain and unveil how the scene is unfolding. Consulting L&D Pros at Every Stage Articulate’s talented engineers, product developers, and designers aren’t working in a vacuum. From planning through creation, testing, modifying, and scaling, we’re developing Articulate AI iteratively with ongoing input and feedback from people who live and breathe e-learning. It started with consulting experts both inside and outside Articulate. As production began, the collaborative efforts only skyrocketed. Business as usual for us means regular brainstorming sessions, routine updates, rapid-fire discussions, shared docs, testing, working meetings, and feedback, feedback, feedback. Shaping the AI Features and Interface Thanks to this collaboration, e-learning experts are helping define what features Articulate is prioritizing and how the AI interface will work. More specifically, the L&D pros are: Molding the workflow. They share their typical workstreams and outputs with developers—ensuring that Articulate AI will work for you, not against you. Influencing features. L&D pros brainstorm AI’s limitations and values and present their findings, pitching ideas and rating features by the potential impact on Rise 360 work. Refining outputs. They help shape ideal AI outputs, influencing decisions around what questions AI should ask and when, how many outputs AI should generate, and how frequently you should touch base with AI before getting your final results. Shaping the user interface. E-learning creators are further helping our product designers customize how AI shows up to bring you a seamless and easy-to-understand authoring experience. Setting the Benchmark Articulate’s e-learning experts are working tirelessly throughout testing to help ensure you get the best possible AI outputs. Here’s how these subject matter experts are making a difference: Improving back-end prompt instructions. Leveraging e-learning best practices, they’re helping craft and test back-end prompt instructions to improve output quality. Developing the standard. Our e-learning experts are also developing weighted criteria for judging the AI outputs against instructional design frameworks—setting the benchmark for what “good” looks like. Testing the features. Who better to judge AI than those who use Articulate’s tools every day? With each update, the pros test the features, assessing what works and what doesn’t, and share their findings with developers. Our Goal? Tailored AI That Delivers Results We truly believe our deep collaborative efforts will pay off. When we release Articulate AI it’ll be specialized to meet your needs as an e-learning creator. Rather than offering a one-click magic button with subpar results, Articulate AI will complement your workflow. The built-in processes will keep humans at the center, incorporating instructional design best practices and enabling you to iterate every step of the way. Wrap-Up Thanks to direct, ongoing input from e-learning experts, Articulate AI will empower you to do more. Magic happens when great minds come together—and a whole lot of minds are melding to create Articulate AI. We can’t wait to share that magic with you! Ready for more? For more details about these upcoming features, check out the following resources: Build Compelling Courses Up to 9x Faster with Articulate’s AI Assistant 4 AI Basics Every E-Learning Creator Needs to Know in 2024 How Articulate AI Safeguards Your Data Why AI Could Turbocharge L&D Professionals Before you take off, remember to subscribe to our newsletter to get the latest product updates, e-learning examples, and expert advice directly in your inbox. You can also find us on LinkedIn and X (formerly Twitter). Want to try out our apps but don’t have an Articulate 360 subscription? Start a free trial today. And if you have any questions, please share them in the comments.How Articulate AI Safeguards Your Data
Artificial intelligence (AI) is gaining a lot of hype, and for good reason! This technology has the potential to streamline work and inspire human creativity. But new advancements also bring new hesitations. And in AI’s case, data privacy is chief among them—with 63% of consumers fearing how AI could misuse their data and more than 1 in 4 organizations banning generative AI over security concerns. At the same time, AI is a critical asset in a creator’s tool belt. Companies waiting to adopt AI risk lagging behind. So, what’s the solution? At Articulate, we’re committed to giving you the innovative AI features you need with security safeguards you can trust. Let’s dive into how we’re making that happen. Compliance Standards We’re excited about our AI-powered product enhancements—and that includes how we’re keeping customer information safe and confidential. For starters, this means complying with relevant laws and industry standards. Here are a few highlights: Articulate complies with international data protection protocols, including CCPA, GDPR, SOC 2, ISO 27001, and ISO 27701. Committed to upholding these standards, we’re updating our SOC2 and ISO reports this year to include AI and monitoring the evolving laws applicable to Articulate AI. Articulate 360 is FedRAMP® authorized—and that’s not changing with AI. We’re including AI in our 2024 FedRAMP® Audit. If you’re unfamiliar with FedRAMP® authorization, it means that Articulate apps are among the select few to meet strict cloud security requirements determined by the U.S. federal government. As regulations evolve, so will we! We’re deeply committed to our security and privacy standards and will continually review and update our practices to align with the changing landscape. Robust Transmission and Encryption Protocols As we integrate AI into our platform, we’ll continue protecting customer security with the most advanced encryption technology publicly available. How do we do that? We encrypt your data via secured connections with Transport Layer Security (TLS) 1.2 or 1.3 encryption. Carefully Vetted AI Partners We’ve carefully selected our AI partners, including ElevenLabs and OpenAI. What’s more, we have contractual obligations with these partners to uphold our collective commitment to your privacy and security. Zero Data Retention Policy If you’re like 80% of consumers, you might be concerned about how your online data is being used. With Articulate AI, rest assured: After Articulate AI generates your content, any data used in the process is immediately deleted from the servers of our AI subprocessors. To make sure you don’t lose your work, Articulate still retains your data as long as your subscription is active, but we never use your information to train our AI models. We Give You Control You can control AI access on your account at the admin level. This allows you to enable access for everyone, limit it to specific user groups, or turn it off entirely. Wrap-Up Technology evolves, but Articulate’s commitment to privacy and security remains the same. We understand how important data protection is to you, and we’re committed to maintaining your trust. Our AI-enhanced offerings are safe and secure—allowing you to stay on the ball with AI innovations while prioritizing the protection of your data. Interested in learning more about our approach to security and data protection? You can reach us at [email protected] for general security-related questions and [email protected] for privacy notice and data management questions. Also, be sure to check out these resources for extra intel: Read how to Build Compelling Courses Up to 9x Faster with Articulate’s AI Assistant Dive into AI Security and Privacy at Articulate Review our Articulate 360 Security Policy Learn more about Global Data Security and Privacy at Articulate Explore our Privacy Notice Visit our Trust Center Check out Articulate’s Terms of Service Review Articulate’s Data Processing Agreement You can stay in the loop by subscribing to our newsletter and finding us on LinkedIn and X (formerly Twitter). Want to try out our apps but don’t have an Articulate 360 subscription? Start a free trial today.
