Prashant Raizada On Education Technology Teaching Vital AI Skills To Future Generations

Prashant Raizada is a serial entrepreneur deeply committed to changing the status quo in education, future of work & sustainability. He was part of the founding team of Infosys BPM, playing a key role towards a $2B exit.

Later, he built EnglishUp as Brazil's 3rd largest but most loved online English learning platform as a flagship corporate venture of Macmillan-Holtzbrinck group.

Leveraging his tenure at McKinsey & Co, Prashant has advised multinational corporations globally on digital transformation. He has spent the last 14 years building businesses in Ed-tech across Asia, LATAM, Europe and the US and co-founded his latest initiative Lumi Network along with his son Nikhil and with Prof Shen at Stanford University. It is an AI-augmented platform empowering 10-25-year-olds to shape their future by building AI, Entrepreneurship & Innovation skills to confront global challenges. Prashant is a practicing monk and uses meditation to enhance the quality of his leadership and life.

Prashant discusses empowering future generations to understand and implement AI tools to solve global challenges, and why digital platforms are key for generating equitable education outcomes globally.

Highlights from the interview (listen to the podcast for full details)

[Indio Myles] - To start off, can you please share a bit about your background and what led to your work in education, technology and the future of work?

[Prashant Raizada] - Largely it is serendipity, but I think that for the last 15 years, I've spent nearly all my time on solving problems in education using technology. I grew up in India, and I completed my education with a degree engineering and an MBA. Then I was an investment banker and management consultant in London early on in my career.

An act of serendipity pushed me right into a high-profile start-up as a founding team member, because my boss (who was a banker) became its CEO. Four and a half years later, we came out of this venture having built a unicorn, and it was purely timing.

It was a business process outsourcing company which was eventually bought by to become a subsidiary of one of India's largest tech companies. It was a global organisation by the time I left it.

That experience made me interested in entrepreneurship, and I enjoyed the absolute chaos, pace and impact that one could bring. It also showed me that my degree and educational background was not coming into play much, but instead the skills and network I had built.

It was a big learning experience. I spent a few years at McKinsey afterwards, but in 2010 I jumped off that lovely ship to start solving problems in education. The last 15 years of my career have involved building three different ventures, the first being an online tutoring company.

I worked with Macmillan publishers as part of a one hundred-million-dollar fund, and I was one of the first guys to join that fund as an operating partner. We looked at solving problems in education globally and then settled on building what eventually became Brazil's third largest and most loved English language learning company.

That venture was driving serious impact because it was giving chances to people who would otherwise never learn the language, improving their employment prospects. We sold that business in 2017, and I was then involved in building schools of the future with British school groups in China. That venture never took off because of COVID-19, but it did lead to the emergence of Lumi, the venture I've been building for the last four years.

Lumi is about empowering the next generation, and by “next generation” we don't mean a specific age. At this point in time, we are focused on developing the next generation workforce to be AI ready. At the same time, it's about creating a workforce with skills I feel were useful early on in my career that were not taught in traditional education.

The way we do our work is interesting. We get students to engage with the biggest problems in the world to learn about AI practically. We also build their durable skills. It's an interesting space I've ended up in, and I'm passionate about making education technology and enhancing prospects for the future generations in an equitable fashion.

I believe that’s how the world will end up, in a better place. I think the time for us to compete and be elite, either in our education or professions, is largely coming to an end. That's my very personal view.

Why do you believe becoming “AI ready” is important for future job seekers, and how can this be taught in an equitable manner?

Becoming AI ready is being smart about the future. We can't be like an ostrich and bury our heads in the sand thinking that AI is not going to affect us. Whether or not you're directly impacted by the technology, it is going to have a substantial influence on your life.

If I look at the world of work, we can argue (certainly in the West or in developed economies, but it's everywhere because AI is a technology like the internet) that it's going to be an intrinsic part of our personal and professional lives soon.

Understanding Artificial Intelligence is going to make a difference in how it begins to engage with us when it truly develops its intelligence. Right now, we are controlling it, but if you look at what AI experts are saying, we're only now talking about AI controlling us.

One such expert, Mo [Gawdat] (who used to be a Chief Business Officer at Google), talks about treating AI like a child. If we teach AI the right values, language and treat it like a partner, then we will discover what AI systems can do.

How do you do this? By educating young people on how to use AI ethically to become more productive, and how to use it in an explainable fashion, which means that when you use it you can explain what you did.

Here comes the challenge, AI makes life easy. If everybody learns to “drive” a car without understanding how to do it, we'll have a lot of car crashes! If I look at the world of business, a lot of leaders do not know how to deploy AI in a way where it doesn't only cut costs but truly improves their business.

Where do they look? When we talk about the latest technologies, who are we generally thinking about? It’s young people. We need to equip these people with AI skills. The third part of the equation is this upskilling needs to be equitable. Right now, ChatGPT and these types of tools can be accessed by anybody anywhere in the world.

We need to raise awareness and provide access to AI literacy education in all schools and universities across the world. Now we are focusing on helping university students, because that solves the imminent problem for industry.

However, we do work extensively with schools and soon we will start working with organisations who can take AI education to the far-flung parts of the planet where people can consume this technology, engage with it and learn about it to improve their chances in life.

Can you share key examples to outline the support required to help someone become AI ready?

The support they require is to first learn to become a sophisticated consumer of AI. By sophisticated I mean people should be asking questions like, “do I use AI to enhance my creativity? What AI do I use to enhance productivity? How do I recognise the biases AI has?”

Basically, people need to understand the pros and cons of each of the tools they are using, and for people or businesses who don't understand this, somebody must educate them. Somebody must help people learn to use AI in an ethical and practical way, not just a casual way.

Think about social media for instance, when it came into the world everybody started using it. Social media can be used purposefully, but it also has detrimental effects. If the young population was taught to effectively use this technology early on, there is a reasonable chance we would not have as much of a mental health crisis as we have today.

When my kids picked up social media (I have a 19 and a 15-year-old son and daughter) I didn't know how to guide them. They need that support, but in this case, we are flipping the equation and providing them with proper education, so they improve their chances of getting jobs.

Then they can use the technology to drive impact in the world. That's why at Lumi we are using technology to solve problems that matter to businesses or the world at large, including the UN Sustainable Development Goals. That's what I mean by how we need to support people, and the guardrails are by the way very important.

Do you believe doing good and making an impact should be separate from creating a profitable business?

Your question takes me back to the beginning of my journey in entrepreneurship. I saw that education businesses across the world were far too focused on making a profit than being able to clearly articulate the impact they were driving.

Quite a large percentage of these institutions are charities, and while they have a charitable status, they may not be driving or demonstrating a measurable impact. All you can see is that they are making a lot of money.

I don't want to paint the whole sector with the same brush, but my sister suffered from this problem. She did an MBA in what we thought was a prestigious institution, but the founders were committing fraud. I've seen this play out in various countries where people pay a lot of money but get nothing out of it.

My view is twofold, and I think that doing good and doing well in business need to be intertwined. As a society we've reached a point where to do well (which in this case means generating a profit) requires you to put the entire planet and humanity at risk.

I hope this is not something people will argue with, so we need to take a different approach. I don't think this approach should be just having an impact arm or a CSR strategy. Your impact needs to be integral to your business. It's not about just getting badges, and while some of which like the B Corp certification are good, it’s about believing in making an impact. Do you believe in doing good?

I think there are so many issues today. For example, people think that if you want to do good you must be charitable. Some businesses won't even engage with Lumi because we are not a charity. I find this confounding, because companies are asking us about what impact we're bringing, but they also want us to be a charity. Who knows who can change these rules.

Do you have any recommendations for aspiring changemakers or entrepreneurs who want to infuse an impact goal or purpose into their organisation?

If you want to do good as an entrepreneur or help companies or individuals learn how they can do good, start by thinking about your Return on investment. If you don't deliver a clear business Return On Investment, then you're not going to be able to convince A company’s management team to work with you.

Ultimately, incentives in an organisation are linked to how well the organisation is doing, so have a clear ROI. How does the organisation or individual benefit from working with you? I’ll use Lumi's example.

When we are talking to companies or individuals about working with us to solve the greatest problems humanity is facing, schools’ and parents do not understand. Schools have a curriculum to deliver, so how can they engage students to do good when they all have a busy schedule?

It could be delivered as a project, but no one takes projects seriously in the real world. You're not going to get meaningful funding for a project. But, if we shift to saying, “what Lumi is doing could be developed into a credential recognised by universities,” suddenly everybody is taking it more seriously.

In this scenario, Lumi creates pathways for students to achieve university admission, but this is not the problem we are focused on solving. We are entering the world of work by helping people develop a skills portfolio in which AI is integral. AI proficiency makes you more attractive to employers. Why? Because you're bringing a skill they don't have.

You're bringing skills they don't expect you to have, durable skills inconsistent in people coming out of universities. Some university graduates have great interpersonal skills, communication skills, resilience, and storytelling capabilities, while others just don't.

By helping people develop these AI skills, it means you can do good by hiring me, so both the company and individuals benefit from tackling these big problems. Otherwise, what will happen is you will become a nice to have charity initiative, which has very few donors or investors. You're looking for impact funds and foundations to give you money, but there's no private equity or corporate money coming your way.

What opportunities or obstacles have you observed in the education technology industry or future of work?

I've been talking about AI so much, and one thing is clear to me; we are going through the infancy stage of AI adoption. This is clear to many businesses, so let's take the media or creative sector as an example.

I can create an advertisement for a new car without a one-hundred-person crew descending into a fancy part of Italy to film a car driving on a beautiful road. This multi-million-dollar project can be converted into a single digit million-dollar project that requires only two people who understand how to use AI for creative purposes.

Employers are still welcoming people who are proficient in machine learning and data science; they are a niche that is still required. But now employers largely require people who are aware of how to work with AI. It's a skill that is in high demand.

The second more generic trend I personally care a lot about, and I've seen a lot of companies begin to care about is they're not looking at what school you went to. Companies are now looking for a certain set of skills which will make you useful from day one.

I see this trend increasing because companies are under pressure to hire less people because of technology. As companies are still under pressure to deliver greater returns, they would want people who can drive value quickly.

I also see a third trend (which is probably a little bit further away) where society will dismantle the paradigm of children doing school until they are 18 years old to then go to university and finally enter the workforce.

There's a guy called Naval Ravikant in [Silicon] Valley who's widely respected for his opinions on start-ups. He made an interesting statement where he said the future will be almost only start-ups, two to three person companies generating a billion dollars in revenue.

People will do stuff for a few weeks and then move away to work on something else. In that environment, you need to be highly skilful to be in demand. You also need to be entrepreneurial in your mindset, and this is important for both the emerging workforce and employers to understand.

What inspiring projects or initiatives have you come across making a positive change?

Honestly, nothing immediately comes to mind other than a charity I have been involved in in the past which I think is super important. It's called Think Equal, and Think Equal is run by a wonderful and energetic woman named Leslie Edwin who's on a mission to engender a sense of equity between men and women and girls and boys from the age of two or three years old.

Until boys understand how to value and treat the opposite gender, equality is just a pipe dream. One could argue it is more relevant in developing parts of the world, but I don't think so. I think it's a global problem, and this is an initiative that needs a lot more attention and love.

Other than that, I think any initiative shaping future generations need more love, support, and attention rather than companies who are focused on helping you succeed on what exists today.

Test prep companies are getting you into a good college, and while it's important (I'm not denying that) companies like Lumi are just one of a kind. There are so many institutions, charities or businesses who need to try harder, because the world's going to be significantly disrupted by AI, the climate, and even geopolitical challenges.

What books or resources would you recommend to our audience?

There is a book called Conscious Capitalism written by Professor Raj Sisodia who used to teach at Boston College. This is a brilliant book of companies that have done well while doing good, and it's one of the most inspiring books I’ve read.

I happen to know the author, and I engage quite a lot with him. It's a brilliant book I think should be on every CEO’s table. The second book I will recommend has nothing to do with business. It's a book that changed my life, and it's called the Autobiography of a Yogi.

This book was made famous by Steve Jobs, but it came into my life in 2017 when I'd sold one of my previous ventures in Brazil. I was unhappy, but this book turned me firstly into someone who started to meditate, but it also completely changed my perspective on life from doing good and doing well to doing good as well.

It helped me understand what I can and cannot control and how I could live life as an act of service. It’s about how to be a good human being by not trying to change the world, but by changing yourself. I read this book 7+ years ago, and it's made a huge difference to my life. That book is not for everybody, but it's phenomenal.

Any final thoughts you would like to share with our audience?

I'm just smiling because when you asked me about l other initiatives all I could think of was Lumi! I think this interview is also a call to action for anybody who's listening to talk to me about Lumi.

Come ask me how we are developing an AI ready next generation. Ask me about how we are preparing people equitably for the world of work, especially if you are a start-up or scale up company. If you are in business and you are thinking about how to address the young talent conundrum, reach out to me.