Why We Must Urgently Rethink Education in the Age of AI

Why We Must Urgently Rethink Education in the Age of AI

This weekend, I had the privilege of contributing a piece to The Yorkshire Post on a subject that’s become impossible to ignore: our education model is no longer fit for purpose in a world transformed by artificial intelligence.

In 2019, I wrote that AI had the potential to emancipate us from drudgery, just as slaves once did in ancient Greece. That idea was provocative then. Today, it’s urgent. The future I anticipated has arrived faster than even the most ambitious forecasts predicted — and with it comes a clear challenge: we must stop educating people for jobs that machines are already better at.

Just a few years ago, it was unthinkable that a machine could pass the US Medical Licensing Exam. Or the bar exam. Or the Wharton MBA. But today’s AI systems are not just beating tests — they’re writing legal briefs, composing music, coding complex software, and diagnosing diseases with a level of precision and speed no human can match.

So where does that leave us?

The truth is stark: our current education model — built for memorisation, standardised testing, and predictable career paths — is now redundant. When an AI can instantly synthesise the entire corpus of human knowledge, what’s the point in learning to regurgitate facts?

We must reorient our system to focus on what AI can’t do.

That means:

• Critical thinking and judgement: The ability to question assumptions, weigh ethical considerations, and navigate complexity.

• Creativity and innovation: Not just repeating patterns, but generating new ones — solving problems AI can’t anticipate.

• Emotional intelligence and collaboration: Building trust, resolving conflict, leading with empathy — skills that define human leadership.

• Moral reasoning: Machines can tell us what is, but never what ought to be.

Perhaps most importantly, we must teach adaptability. The ability to re-learn, re-skill, and reinvent ourselves will be the most valuable trait of all in a world that changes faster than any curriculum can keep up.

This is not a cause for despair — it’s a call to evolve. AI doesn’t eliminate the value of human work; it demands that we redefine it. Our schools, colleges, and universities must shift from knowledge dispensaries to nurseries of uniquely human potential.

The AI revolution isn’t coming — it’s here. What we do next will determine whether it leads to mass redundancy or a golden age of human flourishing.

Let’s choose the latter.