Analysis: How is Generative AI Shaping the Future of Education, Skills, and Employment?

When the World Wide Web was first introduced in the early 1990s, many feared it would mark the end of life as the world knew it. Today we face a new, unparallelled technology, the rise of generative artificial intelligence (AI), which continues to reshape almost every aspect of human life. From finance, to healthcare, to politics, generative AI is having an irreversible impact, fundamentally transforming the way information is created, disseminated, and understood. The Harrison Foundation is particularly interested, however, in how this expanding technology is impacting education, and what this profound shift in everyday life means for the emerging workforce.

For readers unfamiliar with the term, generative AI is one of several forms of artificial intelligence, distinguished by its ability to create new content, whether that be text, audio, images, or videos, based on patterns learned from existing data. In the context of education, generative AI is widely considered to offer numerous benefits. Most notably, it is enabling teachers to focus more closely on teaching by reducing the burden of time-consuming administrative tasks such as recording assessment data or behavioural incidents. Furthermore, research suggests it has potential to be useful for curriculum and lesson planning, as well as creating more tailored student support.

Despite these positive developments, educators and researchers alike remain cautious about the potential drawbacks of generative AI, particularly its implications for academic integrity, data privacy, and student safeguarding. A growing body of research highlights, for instance, the shortcuts that AI creates for students in researching, structuring, and writing academic work, raising concerns about plagiarism and the decline of independent thinking. Additionally, there are increasing concerns about young people being exposed to inappropriate content due to the largely unregulated nature of the technology.

At the Harrison Foundation, our mission is to be part of creating the circumstances that allow every child to thrive, particularly across the Northeast of England. A fundamental part of that mission, we believe, is supporting young people to become independent thinkers, and equipping them with the knowledge and skills needed to do so. With the rapid expansion of generative AI, however, there is now a serious question mark over whether young people today are developing the ability to think for themselves in the same way as previous generations, even as recently as two years ago.

Our stance is this; generative AI holds remarkable potential if used as a tool, not a lifeline. The best students and workforce of the future will be those who can think, reason, and argue independently, developing their own ideas first and using generative AI only as a means to refine them. Artificial intelligence is not going anywhere, we therefore have no other choice but to adapt and develop alongside it, whilst remaining aware of and vigilant towards its potential dangers.

Daniel Harrison, November 2025.

With thanks to Katie Homer for her contribution toward this paper.

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