Articulate Rise 360 AI is here—does it live up to the hype? Artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping nearly every industry, and the eLearning world is no exception. As one of the most widely used tools for creating online courses, it’s no surprise that Articulate was among the first in the industry to experiment with AI and eLearning. Articulate recently introduced its AI Assistant, promising to simplify and streamline eLearning development and make creating course content 9x faster.

If you know Maestro, you know that we’re Rise power users. We’ve been using the tool for years, we love sharing Rise hacks and tips, and we even created Mighty—an easy-to-use Google Chrome extension that enhances Rise with new customization options, flexibility, and features. So when Rise released its new AI Assistant, our team dug right in to evaluate its features and give our honest feedback. We also tapped into the brain trust that is Maestro Community (MC) to hear what other learning creators think about Rise’s new AI Assistant.

In this article, we’ll provide a quick overview of the tool, the pros and cons we’ve discovered so far, and key considerations to help decide if Rise’s AI Assistant is right for you.

What is Articulate Rise 360 AI?

The promise of Articulate’s AI Assistant aligns with that of most AI tools hitting the market—it’s designed to help you create content faster and more efficiently. The AI eLearning tool is available for both Rise and Storyline (but in this article, we’ll be focusing on its features for Rise).

The AI Assistant is integrated directly into the authoring tool and packed with AI-powered features, including building and converting text blocks, generating quizzes and imagery, block generation, and composing copy. 

Here are a few of the key features of AI in Articulate:

• Course-outline generation: If you’re starting a course from scratch, Rise’s AI Assistant will use your input to instantly generate a course title, description, and lesson titles. A word of caution: the tool doesn’t use Bloom’s Taxonomy or other learning models to generate instructional content. To get the best output, use clear, detailed learning objectives as the input.
• Summary generation: Streamline your development process by automating routine tasks, such as writing course summaries. 
• Magic text import: Have a document of course content ready to go? Simply upload it into magic text import and Articulate Rise 360 AI will convert it into a course block of your choice while retaining your original wording—no more copying and pasting. You can also switch to another block seamlessly, quickly converting one block into another.
• Write and edit inline: With AI in Articulate, you can now adjust the tone, length, or format of your content in just a few clicks. Use prompts such as  “Make it more conversational” or “Shorten this” to fine-tune your content and work through writer’s block.
• Knowledge check generation: Work with Rise’s AI Assistant to quickly generate assessments, quiz questions, and feedback for learners. You provide the content and parameters and AI builds it for you.
• Image creation: The AI Assistant allows you to quickly generate custom imagery or choose from prebuilt options (Bonus: you can also export all of these assets for other uses).

The benefits of Articulate Rise 360 AI 

After spending time with this AI eLearning authoring tool, our team definitely found features to love. Here are the benefits that stood out to our team and learning creators in Maestro Community (MC):

1. Streamlining inspiration and drafting

When you’re staring at a blank screen or feeling stuck, the AI Assistant can spark ideas and keep you moving forward. Not sure what to title your course or lesson headers? Use the tool to generate ideas or iterate on your existing content. It can also help you quickly test out different blocks for your content, without the hassle of copying and pasting it into different components.  

Think of the AI Assistant as an excellent brainstorming partner—it can offer outline suggestions, knowledge check ideas, and feedback phrasing. 

2. Speeding up routine tasks

Tasks like rephrasing text, adjusting tone, or generating audio files are faster with the AI Assistant.

Generating knowledge checks with AI, while not perfect, provides a functional starting point, which can help reduce the initial workload for course creators. We were also impressed with how rapidly we could generate interactive elements like tabs or accordions—those quick wins make an impact.

3. Intuitive and user-friendly

Articulate’s AI Assistant is highly intuitive, with an interface that feels seamless within the Rise 360 ecosystem. Even those new to working with AI should quickly learn the ropes of the tool. Because it’s a proprietary tool, its functionality is familiar to anyone who regularly uses Rise. The tool is built specifically for instructional design, so its features are perfectly suited to the course-creation workflow.

4. Multimedia bandwidth-boosting

For teams with tight budgets or limited bandwidth, Articulate’s AI Assistant can help generate custom visuals that improve the overall look of your course. While AI images aren’t flawless, they work well for placeholders, inspiration, or simple use cases. AI certainly won’t be replacing our designers or media professionals, but in a pinch, these features are great to have.

Articulate Rise 360 AI Assistant: Challenges and limitations

In these early days of the AI revolution, it can be difficult to tell whether AI is solving problems or just creating new ones. The jury’s still out, but it’s worth noting the bumps we ran into while testing out Articulate’s AI Assistant. We rounded out our review by asking learning creators in Maestro Community (MC) to share their experiences. 

Many of the shortcomings we experienced with this tool apply to AI in general—as the technology evolves, we anticipate that Rise’s Assistant will improve right along with it.That said, here are some of the tool’s current drawbacks:

1. Content accuracy and depth

Among our team and community members, it was resoundingly clear that content generated by Articulate’s AI Assistant can’t compete with ID-created content. As one writer put it, “The content lacks depth, and it’s not intuitive when working with existing storyboards or detailed outlines.”

Articulate may refine the tool’s capabilities over time, but for now, we found that it tended to string content together, creating long chunks of content lacking flow and structure. We also found that the AI struggled with nuanced or specialized topics. For example, it may oversimplify complex concepts or omit critical details, requiring thorough fact-checking.

If your course content needs to be precise, you’ll have to spend time fact-checking and refining—limiting the tool’s promised efficiency.

2. Writing quality

On a similar note, the learning creators we spoke to felt that the content generated by the AI often felt robotic or bland. In some cases, the tone didn’t feel consistent from one block to the next. While tone adjustments are possible, they require trial and error to get right—requiring extra editing to find the sweet spot.

Because the tool doesn’t use Bloom’s Taxonomy or other proven learning frameworks to generate text, the content didn’t reflect instructional-design best practices. Finally, we found that transitional language and content flow between blocks are weak, leading to an overall clunkier course design.

3. Image quality

Across the board, AI-generated images often lack the polish required for consumer-grade projects, especially when depicting people or niche concepts (something many AI tools struggle with!). We’ve found that AI-generated images and illustrations often lack consistency, making it difficult to achieve a cohesive look and style throughout your course. 

4. Accessibility concerns

Accessibility is a top priority for us, as it is for Articulate. While Articulate has many admirable accessibility features, the AI Assistant fell short in a couple of key ways: the tool doesn’t automatically include navigation text or alternative text for images, which means you’ll have to make manual updates for compliance. 

5. Pricing and scalability

Articulate 360 AI is a separate subscription and costs more than the standard package. Many learning creators (ourselves included), were interested in continuing to play with the tool—but not willing to spring for the increased price. Also, the AI Assistant is only available as an add-on for all users in an organization’s subscription, which can be cost-prohibitive if only a few team members need it. We’d love to see a per-seat option in the future.

Best practices for using Articulate Rise 360 AI

Going all in on AI eLearning tools? We rounded up some pro tips for getting the most out of the tool and ensuring your courses are high quality, accurate, and engaging:

1. Use it as a drafting tool

Think of the AI Assistant as a first-draft generator. It’s great for getting ideas on the page, but you’ll still need to step in to refine, fact-check, and add polish. 

We also love the idea of using AI in Articulate to quickly generate placeholder text for design previews. We often create sample courses for clients during the design preview stage of our eLearning development process. We typically use lorem ipsum as placeholder text—now we can use Rise’s AI Assistant to generate sample text relevant to the course material. 

2. Leverage its strengths in specific areas

Know when to use AI and when to use your good old-fashioned human brain. We love using Rise’s AI Assistant for tasks like generating summaries, knowledge check templates, adjusting text tone or length, and testing block layouts. Our advice? Skip image generation for high-visibility projects and rely on professional photography, stock photos, or custom illustrations instead.

3. Combine AI with other tools

We’re all for a well-stocked L&D toolkit. Instead of replacing other tools with the AI Assistant, we’d recommend pairing it with other proven tools like Adobe Stock, Illustrator, Figma, WellSaid Labs, and more. Use it alongside these tools to fill specific gaps in your workflow.

4. Educate your team

AI is a bit like the Wild West right now and it’s important to be an informed user. Train your team on the AI Assistant’s strengths and limitations. Emphasize the importance of reviewing and editing AI-generated content. If your company hasn’t already researched the nuances of AI and developed guidelines, now’s a good time to get everyone aligned and informed.

Is Articulate Rise 360 AI worth it?

We’re excited to see Articulate leading the charge on AI and experimenting with new ways to empower learning creators. Our stance here is consistent with how we view all new technology: it’s critical to explore it thoughtfully, intentionally, and through the lens of your organization’s values, mission, and vision. 

Articulate’s AI Assistant has some powerful features, but it’s not a magic bullet. It can speed up parts of your workflow, but it won’t replace the critical thinking and learning expertise that go into creating great experiences. If you’re willing to experiment and treat the AI as a collaborative partner (not the final word), this robust new tool is likely to increase your productivity and spark creativity.