2025 Student Summit - The future with AI
Find out more about what the post-16 students who attended this year's 2025 summit discovered about AI.
Prof. Dan Brown tests Burgertroid - a student and AI coded game
Our recent Student Summit tackled the future of work and the transformative impact of artificial intelligence is going to have on school leavers when they come to enter the work force. With insightful presentations by Patrick Cunningham, Director and co-founder of Indulge, and Professor Dan Brown of UCL, students were exposed to the current AI landscape and the skills they’ll need to thrive in an AI-powered future.
Today, Tomorrow, and Into the Future – Patrick Cunningham
Patrick Cunningham opened the summit outlining the rapid evolution of AI, illustrating the exponential growth and key developments since late 2022. With OpenAI making large language models (LLMs) publicly available and popular with their ChatGPT program the scope of what AI can produce has evolved to visual content such as imagery, video, and beyond.
Cunningham highlighted the three primary areas of AI integration:
- Desktop AI – Tools that enhance productivity, offering an estimated 20% boost in efficiency for various tasks.
- Chat Agents – AI-powered conversational systems that facilitate interactions and provide intelligent assistance.
- Automation – Cloud-based AI agents that streamline operational tasks, capable of amplifying administrative efficiency by 10x.
“The job market is going to be challenging over the next few years and it's important that young people are ahead of the game with AI to maximise their chances of finding a job in their chosen field. As such it was great to talk about AI with the students at the event and to see them working as a team to build a game using AI in real time.”
- Patrick Cunningham, Indulge Director and co-founder.
At Indulge, AI is embedded in every level of operations, transforming the way business is conducted. While today’s landscape consists of multiple AI tools catering to different functions, the future will likely see a unified platform that integrates these capabilities seamlessly. AI won’t just assist in content creation, but will also take action—writing, designing, and scheduling social media posts within a single system.
Emphasizing that AI will soon become more reliable than humans in knowledge-driven industries like law and compliance. Future professionals will shift towards managing AI systems rather than performing traditional manual tasks.
His advice to students was clear: understand AI’s capabilities, explore its strengths and weaknesses, and position yourselves as informed users and managers of these evolving technologies.
AI and the Future of Work – Professor Dan Brown
Professor Dan Brown’s session delved into the essential skills required to navigate an AI-centric workforce. He stressed the importance of: Adaptability - needing the ability to evolve alongside this rapidly changing technology, critical thinking - by learning to evaluate AI-generated content with a discerning eye, and analytical skills - interpreting and making data-driven decisions with AI assistance.
To illustrate AI’s creative potential, Prof. Brown recommended students read ‘A Machine-Shaped Hand’, a short story Sam Altman of OpenAI generated using AI and the prompt “Short story. Metafiction. Grief”. Since its publication it has been critically acclaimed by human writers such as Jeanette Winterson. He also referenced an experiment published in Nature magazine, where readers struggled to differentiate AI-written poetry from that of a famous author, highlighting AI’s growing sophistication in creative domains.
Taking a hands-on approach, Brown introduced students to Replit, an AI-powered coding tool. In just 15 minutes, two student teams successfully built playable space-invaders inspired games with a burger theme, showcasing AI’s ability to accelerate and democratize software development.
"In AI terms it was great to see the Guernsey next generation so engaged, dynamic, thoughtful and on the case. - The future is in their hands, and it gives optimism for the future."
Prof. Dan Brown - UCL
The summit is part of our Digital Innovators Programme, which is designed to help post-16 students develop key skills they’ll need for their future whether it be for further education or starting their careers. This year we focused on a future with AI, providing young adults the opportunity to take part in activities including a virtual learning course with UCL, our recently held Student Summit, and finally an AI Hackathon in the summer that students can take part in alongside their regular studies.
