As AI reshapes our world, I find myself asking not just what today’s leaders should do, but what tomorrow’s leaders will need to know?

Or, more personally: what should my grandchildren be learning?

It’s a question I’ve put to many experts in education and technology, and one of the best answers comes from economist David Autor. He says the future will demand people who can:

“Make analytically sound choices in a very complex environment… dealing with information of unknown quality and determining what’s true and what’s reliable, making a plan, making a judgment and leading others.”

That answer has stayed with me. Because it suggests that the skills we need are not only technical. They are human.

What AI can’t do (yet)

AI is already better than us at absorbing vast quantities of information, at coding, translating, calculating. It is no longer enough to teach children to memorise facts or follow steps. Those tasks will be done faster and cheaper by machines.

What machines cannot do is deal with ambiguity, build trust, navigate uncertainty or take responsibility. They cannot decide what matters. They cannot lead.

So the future of education must focus not just on teaching knowledge, but on developing judgement, resilience, creativity and empathy.

So how do we train children to do that?

It will take a shift in mindset, from learning as performance, to learning as exploration. From right answers to good questions. From content delivery to decision-making under pressure.

It means:

• Building critical thinking through real-world problem solving.
• Encouraging teamwork, not just individual achievement.
• Giving children tools to understand bias, navigate complexity and reflect ethically.
• Valuing leadership, creativity and emotional intelligence alongside literacy and numeracy.

And it means adults, parents, teachers and leaders, will need to role model those same capabilities.

The opportunity ahead

I believe there is a tremendous opportunity ahead, not in resisting AI, but in focusing more deeply on what makes us human. Let us not train children to compete with machines, but to complement them. To do what only people can do: to lead wisely, to choose well, and to shape a future that works for us all.

Pat Chapman-Pincher