AI skills – what a primary school can teach us about AI governance

Those are the words of a primary school headteacher in the UK. Nick Harris runs the Powerstock school in Dorset, and explains the thinking behind a policy he has driven himself:

Our pupils are growing up in an AI-shaped world. Some of them were using AI without even being aware of it, so we realized we had to get ahead of the game. If we don't teach them to use AI critically and ethically, then they're going to misuse it and misunderstand it, and that is a dangerous place to be.

Wise words, and a statement that puts him ahead of many enterprises, where AI – as I have explored in previous reports – is often applied uncritically as shadow IT, beyond the view of strategic teams. The result of their tactical, hype-driven approach is clear from the recent MIT report, which finds, in effect, a 95% failure rate.

So ...