Priya Lakhani OBE

Biography

Priya Lakhani is a true visionary whose award-winning work with artificial intelligence changed the way children are taught in classrooms around the world.

As a trusted authority in tech, Priva caught the UK Government’s attention and shaped policy which encourages and protects innovation. And in a world driven by technological change she is the go-to expert for BBC News and has appeared in the pages of The Times and Time Magazine. After a successful legal and business career Priya described having a ‘lightning-bolt moment’ after discovering a startling fact about education.

A junior minister revealed 20 per cent of pupils in the UK cannot read, write or do maths well enough to get a job at the end of formal education. The solution, Priva believed, was artificial intelligence. She found a complete lack of digital transformation in classrooms, saying it was where “innovation went to die”.

She built an AI system which analysed the way students absorb information which improved learning and engagement while saving teachers hours of marking. Her tech company, called Century, was a huge success and more than a thousand schools in England use the platform.

Priva’s tech revolution also had a big social impact being used in some of the world’s poorest countries including Malawi and Lebanon. Awards include the sought-after gold award for AI in Education at the Reimagine Education Awards, an annual event known as the ‘Oscars’ of Education.

Priva still has a highly influential role shaping tech that touches all our lives and advises the government’s chief scientific adviser on pro-innovation regulation.