Understanding Degreed’s Approach to AI

Our mission has always been to ‘jailbreak the degree’ and build a future where learning is always accessible. To achieve this, we need to use the best available technologies in a responsible and aligned way that benefits individuals and their employers. We believe AI can play a transformative role in enhancing our solution, enabling us to provide more personalized, efficient, and effective learning experiences for our customers and individual employees.

We believe that current forms of AI, including generative AI, hold huge potential for the learning sector in automating, optimizing and personalizing the learning experience, instructional design, consolidating and analyzing skills data, creating or summarizing content, and more. In doing so, AI makes it easier for organizations to democratize learning, making it accessible and personalized to employees from all walks of life.

We also believe that everyone will need new and enhanced skills to succeed in a future that is augmented by AI. We are actively working to build the frameworks and resources to build those skills in close pace with advances in AI.

We are a technology company that benefits from deep technical expertise coupled with an understanding of the needs of learning organizations developed through our partnership with customers. Our Data Science team has been implementing different forms of AI for almost half a decade, with a consistent focus on improving the learning experience and the data L&D and business leaders can use to inform workforce decisions.

Therefore, we are committed to our customers and their employees, to constantly push the boundaries of learning so that nobody is left behind, without the skills to succeed in the future.

How Degreed currently uses AI

Here are three examples of how Degreed is using AI in its platform today:

• Providing a learner-centric, smarter search experience based on skills data.
• As part of content recommendation to provide personalized learning recommendations for greater content discovery and higher engagement.
• We’re actively working on building a skills tagging model for content.

About the data used in Degreed’s AI

The data that informs a machine learning model is as vital as the model itself, both to ensure data privacy and personal rights are upheld but also to build trust in the insights provided. We place great care and consideration on the data we collect, in ensuring it is as accurate, timely, and unbiased as possible.

All data currently used by Degreed in training its machine learning models is anonymized.

We take great efforts to diversify the training data for our machine learning algorithms. Skills data is collected from a wide range of sources including (but not limited to) Degreed learner profiles, learning content, user search activities, compiled skills data from other sources like the EU’s ESCO database, the O*NET database, strategic partners including Workday and SAP, and so forth.

Our models are regularly tested and evaluated for bias using a wide range of metrics such as precision@K and CTR. This is complemented by a team of evaluators from diverse backgrounds who measure the quality of our models’ outputs.

Our iterative development process allows us to continuously mitigate AI bias and we strive to ensure all models are explainable and transparent.

Our Data Science Team works closely with the data privacy team to ensure data privacy and AI compliance.

Being responsible in our development of AI

To ensure skills keep pace with the ever-changing world, we need to move fast and innovate quickly. But always with responsible use at the core of all our decision-making. There is great promise in the rapidly evolving field of AI, including generative AI and other forms of machine learning, but this can only be realized when such tools are used for the benefit of society and not its detriment.

We believe that powerful technologies like AI need to be developed and used responsibly. We are guided by our core mission of building a future where learning is accessible and all forms of learning are recognized.

As a system of engagement within the learning technology space, Degreed can be used to collect and analyze data on learner behavior and skills. We anonymize all data used to train our machine learning models and all data is stored according to local legislation and industry best practices. We work closely with our partners and customers, to advocate for the responsible use of AI and skills data across the learning and HR ecosystem.

Our approach does not eliminate all risks,

so we commit to always listening, learning, and improving our use of AI based on feedback from our customers, partners, employees, and other stakeholders in our community. We encourage our employees to keep informed about the uses, limitations, and potential biases of AI in regards to their roles, and we foster an open, transparent culture where concerns about AI or anything else can be shared with senior leadership and reviewed.

We urge all businesses to reflect on how AI is best used for the good of society and to guard against its risks.