“One of the most exciting aspects of working at Audible is our access to GenAI technology and learning resources,” says Dilukshi Dissanayake. As a Learning Partner on Audible’s Leadership, Learning and Inclusion team (LLI), she has spent 11 years identifying cutting-edge educational opportunities for Audible employees so they can grow their skills, grow in their careers and innovate even more efficiently on behalf of customers.

Lately Dilukshi has been focused on increasing GenAI literacy among Audible’s employees, including co-leading an effort to organize company-wide showcases that feature workshops and peer-to-peer learning sessions. As a result, more employees are now implementing AI tools to free up time and energy to “focus more on what we do best: thinking strategically, connecting with audiences, and bringing our authentic perspectives to everything we create.” These tools include virtual assistants, AI chatbots, and AI app-builders that even the non-technologically experienced can use.

Using AI tools isn’t about undermining your unique contributions, Dilukshi explains. Rather, these tools can be “like having a skilled editor and enthusiastic intern on your team that helps you work faster and elevates your output.” She points out that Audible has always been a place “where technology amplifies human creativity,” and that AI and machine learning can be amazing for helping employees manage the more mechanical aspects of their work. 

In fact, using the very tools she evangelizes, Dilukshi is able to code html widgets and build apps for Audible’s Learning Portal, despite having no coding background—normally she’d have to wait until a supporting tech team had an opening in their busy workload. “By using GenAI tools, I was able to turn an idea into reality so quickly, designing and launching the Audible GenAI Learning Hub in less than four months.”

Dilukshi is no stranger to encouraging employees to lean in and embrace opportunity; she’s been doing that since she joined us in 2014 as Audible’s first instructional designer, supporting our customer care teams. Even before starting at Audible, “I was an early adopter of technology and tools,” she says. She worked briefly at a legal mediation company where she launched the company’s first on demand modules, then joined a media company where she was the company’s first ever e-learning developer.

Although she was happy where she was, an Audible recruiter convinced her to interview, and she was immediately impressed by the culture, which she says was “just perfect”. She was also excited about Audible’s product, given that storytelling was a cherished part of Dilukshi’s childhood. As a first-generation immigrant growing up with limited resources, her family spent a lot of time at the library, where books were a significant escape for her.

Within six months at Audible, she was promoted to lead our customer service training team, managing instructional designers and trainers globally until 2020, when she transitioned to the Human Resources Learning and Development team (the former name of LLI). “Our LLI team offers a comprehensive learning ecosystem,” says Dilukshi. “ In addition to providing internally designed workshops and resources,  we track and amplify external certifications and courses that Audible employees have completed, gathering feedback and promoting the most valuable resources to the rest of the company.”

To help employees get even further ahead with AI and machine learning, Audible’s tuition reimbursement benefit offers advance payment for courses and certifications that focus on those things. “I’m a big fan of tuition reimbursement because I’ve leveraged it throughout my own career,” says Dilukshi.

Dilukshi suggests listening to Ethan Mollick’s bestseller, Co-Intelligence: Living and Working with AI, which sparks ideas for harnessing AI’s power to make work, and life, better. “What strikes me most is how GenAI has unleashed the creativity and curiosity that already exists within our teams,” Dilukshi reports. “Audible employees are naturally innovative, and these tools have become powerful amplifiers of that ingenuity — it's very inspiring to witness the possibilities unfold every day.”