Invited by the team at GEMS Education, the world's largest private school company with over 150,000 students from over 150 countries, to present on the future of education.
Matthew GriffinFounder, President and Futurist, 311 Institute
G7 · G20governments advised
850+keynotes
102countries
17codexes
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GEMS, the world's largest private school company with over 150,000 students from over 150 countries, 11,000 staff and over 100 schools in 19 countries, invited Matthew to present on the future of education in an exponential world. It is a world, he argued, where science fiction is becoming science fact, and where every student armed with the right insights, mindset and tools could change the lives of billions of people for the better.
He opened by giving the English teacher access to OpenAI's GPT-2, then the world's most dangerous AI text generator: a tool that can write anything from poems to essays, and that students could one day use to cheat.
"One of the biggest challenges we have as a society is preparing ourselves and our children for a future that will be increasingly fast and furious."Matthew Griffin, United Kingdom, October 2019
Matthew then showed the faculty how science fiction technologies from holograms to tractor beams have arrived, and how a rate of change that already feels fast will go exponential as self-evolving AIs and robots emerge, alongside technologies that let us teach children in new ways, end famine and energy poverty, and disrupt every industry on Earth.
The world our children will live in will be almost unrecognisable. In his view one of society's biggest challenges is preparing ourselves and our children for that future, as automation, autonomous companies and intelligent machines transform global culture, industry and society, with huge implications for skills and work. He left the faculty with one question: are your children prepared?
311 Intelligence
What this means for your leadership team
Readiness is the real test.
The session closed on a single question: are your children prepared? For a leadership team, that turns a technology debate into a duty of care. Schools and employers alike need a view of the skills their people will need as machines take on more tasks.
Speed will outrun planning.
The speaker argued that a rate of change that already feels fast will go exponential. Exponential technologies keep reshaping the economy, and 311 rates that trend as act now. Plans built on slow, steady change will age quickly.
Learning will move beyond the classroom.
Tools that can write essays create an integrity problem, and they also change how students learn. Informal education, where people learn on their own online and through AI, is becoming a main route to skills. Organisations should treat it as part of their own talent pipeline.
Three questions for your next leadership meeting
Which of our skills assumptions will not survive exponential change?
How are we preparing people for work that automation will reshape?
Where do students and staff already learn outside our formal programmes?
The trends and technologies behind this session
From the 311 Starburst, the 311 Strategic Intelligence Unit’s map of the technologies and trends shaping the next 50 years.
It means readiness is now a leadership matter, not an IT matter. Automation, autonomous companies and intelligent machines will transform culture, industry and society, with large effects on skills and work. Organisations that train young people, or hire them, need to plan for that now.
How does exponential technology relate to this session?
It is the core of the argument. Matthew said a fast rate of change will go exponential as self-evolving AIs and robots emerge. 311 treats exponential technologies as a trend to act on now.
How does job automation relate to this session?
The keynote pointed to huge implications for skills and work. Job automation is the trend where AI and robots reshape work as employers automate tasks across office and factory jobs. 311 sets it at act now, so skills planning should start early.
How can 311 brief our leadership team on this?
Through a private executive briefing or leadership workshop, tailored to your sector and held in person first. It turns the themes of this session into decisions for your own people and plans.
Bring this to your leadership teamA private executive briefing or leadership workshop, tailored to your sector. In person first, anywhere in the world.
Analysis by the 311 Strategic Intelligence Unit, from Matthew Griffin’s session and 311 data.
If Matthew gave this session today
Preparing students for when science fiction is science fact.
The codex looks at how we prepare students and workforces for a future where science fiction is science fact, the question Matthew put to the GEMS faculty.
