Education in an AI-Shaped Future

Education in an AI-Shaped Future

A four-week online working group exploring how education should respond to a rapidly changing world.

First round complete

Two cohorts ran through August and September 2026, and notes from every session are now public. There are no dates for the next round yet — leave your details below and I will write when one is scheduled.

Read the session notes Hear about future rounds
Sessions
Four, weekly
Length
90 minutes
Cohort
6–10 people
Cost
Free

Premise

Education cannot wait for certainty.

AI is changing how people access information, perform cognitive work, and think about expertise. Its longer-term effects remain uncertain, but our education systems cannot wait for complete certainty before asking what may need to fundamentally change.

This working group brings together a small number of people to explore the questions carefully. In practice that means curiosity and intellectual humility: separating what we know from what we are guessing, and being specific enough to be wrong.

Sessions

Questions we explore

One question per week, in this order.

  1. What kinds of change should education be preparing for in an AI-shaped world?

    Examine assumptions about AI progress, adoption, labour markets, cognitive offloading, assessment, and institutional change.

  2. What becomes more important to learn?

    Explore which knowledge, abilities, habits, and forms of judgment become more valuable — and which may become less central.

  3. What does this mean in the Indian context?

    Consider India’s scale, inequality, language diversity, institutional capacity, employment landscape, and educational aspirations.

  4. What is worth doing now?

    Identify useful experiments, research questions, collaborations, and practical actions despite uncertainty.

Participants

Who it is for

This group is for people thinking seriously about education, learning, AI, policy, pedagogy, or adjacent areas.

You do not need a formal background in education or technology. Curiosity, openness, and a willingness to engage thoughtfully matter more.

Where it is anchored

Anyone may join, wherever they are. Three of the four sessions are not specific to any one country; the fourth is entirely about India. Sessions run at midday IST, which sits comfortably across Asia, Africa, and Europe, and badly in the Americas.

How places are decided

Each cohort is 6–10 people. Some of the backgrounds that fit: teachers, and people working around schools in administration, operations, curriculum, assessment, or teacher training; people with a policy background; people running education programmes or non-profits; software builders; people working on AI governance or safety; psychologists and learning researchers; and students. The list is not exhaustive. If you build things for a living and want to aim that at something more socially useful, that counts too — it is roughly how I got here.

Selection is about the mix across the group rather than ranking applications against each other.

Format

Format

  • ScheduleFour weekly online sessions of 90 minutes, at midday IST
  • DatesAnnounced when the next round opens. The first round ran in August and September 2026
  • SizeA small cohort of 6–10 participants
  • PreparationA reading and a short writing exercise before each session — roughly 60–90 minutes a week
  • StyleFacilitated discussion
  • CostParticipation is free

Afterwards

What came out of the first round

Notes from all four sessions are public: read the session notes (PDF).

The group is exploratory, so there is no predetermined conclusion or deliverable.

What a round can leave behind is a clearer map of the problem, new research questions, small experiments, collaborations, written reflections, or a continuing working group.

Facilitator

Who is behind this

I am Vatsal. One of the two questions I am actively working on is what education is for in a world transformed by AI, and how we should design it. This group is part of how I am trying to think it through, not a set of conclusions I have already reached.

I run rationality workshops, supported by a grant from the Effective Altruism Infrastructure Fund, and Portal, a community for epistemic and personal growth. I recently built an explainer on how India’s NEET exam leaked twice. I come to education as someone working it out rather than as an expert in it. More at vatsalmehra.com.

Stay in touch

Hear about future rounds

The first round has finished and there are no dates for the next one yet. Leave your details and I will write when a round is scheduled.

Consent

Your details are used only to organise this working group.