Elena Sinel, founder & CEO, Teens in AI, argues that empowering teenagers today is the key to building tomorrow’s digital leaders and ensuring technology serves the public good
The way we prepare young people for their future has never mattered more. Across the United Kingdom and beyond, governments are investing heavily in digital transformation, with artificial intelligence at the centre of strategies to modernise public services, improve efficiencies, and meet ambitious sustainability targets. Yet without equipping the next generation with the right digital skills, we risk creating a workforce unprepared for the future and a public sector unable to take full advantage of the technologies shaping our world.
The challenge is clear. By 2025, the World Economic Forum estimates that 97 million new roles will emerge globally as technology adoption accelerates, while 85 million existing roles may be displaced. AI-related expertise, critical thinking, and problem-solving are consistently cited as among the most in-demand skills. For governments, this means that investing in digital and AI literacy is not just about preparing young people for private sector jobs – it is about ensuring the future strength of the public sector itself. From healthcare and transport to environmental services and policymaking, digitally skilled employees will be critical to creating agile, innovative, and citizen-focused services.
At Teens in AI, we have already engaged over 23,000 young people across 101 countries, helping them to explore artificial intelligence through hands-on projects rooted in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. From designing AI tools to monitor urban air quality, to creating applications that optimise food distribution and reduce waste, teenagers are proving that they can already apply cutting-edge technology to pressing public challenges. This is the talent pipeline the public sector cannot afford to ignore.
Bridging education and digital careers
One of the greatest barriers is the gulf between what young people learn in schools and the digital skills required in workplaces. While there are positive moves towards embedding computing in curricula, education too often remains theoretical, leaving students without the experience to apply their knowledge in real-world contexts.
Our work shows that when young people are given access to AI tools, structured mentoring, and problems with real-world relevance, they not only learn faster but begin to imagine themselves in digital careers. A student who might not consider a career in government, for example, suddenly sees how AI can be used to improve the efficiency of public transport routes, support clinicians in diagnosis, or help local councils track and reduce carbon emissions. These tangible applications create a bridge between the classroom and careers that directly serve the public good.
By embedding AI learning not just in Computing, but in English (debating the ethical use of AI-generated text), in Citizenship (interrogating bias in algorithms), and in Geography or Science (applying AI to climate modelling), students see technology as more than a coding skill: it becomes a lens for critical thinking, ethics, and problem-solving. When sustainability is placed at the core of these projects, aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, young people develop a natural awareness of how AI can support government priorities such as reducing emissions and improving resilience to climate change.
Why AI skills matter in public services
For public services, the stakes are high. The NHS faces ongoing pressures around staffing and resource allocation; AI can help predict demand, optimise scheduling, and support preventative care. Transport authorities must manage decarbonisation and congestion; AI models can optimise traffic flows and reduce emissions. Local councils seek to provide services more efficiently with shrinking budgets; AI can automate repetitive administrative processes, freeing up staff to focus on citizen engagement.
But AI is only as fair and effective as the people who design and deploy it. If we fail to educate a broad and diverse group of young people in AI literacy, we risk building public systems that are riddled with bias, inaccessible to communities, and damaging to trust in government. The more educated our students are in the ethical implications of AI, the less bias will find its way into the systems shaping public life. This is why training tomorrow’s digital leaders is not just an economic imperative, but a democratic one.
Building global relevance and ethical grounding
Our curriculum is explicitly designed against internationally benchmarked frameworks, including UNESCO’s AI Competency Frameworks for Students and Teachers, the OECD/EC AILit Framework, the DQ Institute’s Digital Intelligence Framework, (not discounting the insights of the World Economic Forum’s 2025 Jobs Report). These frameworks ensure that the content young people engage with is globally relevant, grounded in ethics, and aligned with the highest international standards.
Equally important is the collaborative model we pursue. Working with global organisations including Sage and Sage Foundation, Capgemini, Red Hat, other partners and industry experts, we expose young people to real-world problems, tools, and professional mentorship. This collaboration between educators, industry, and governments helps students build not just technical literacy, but the leadership, teamwork, and ethical awareness that are so essential for future careers in the public sector.
Government policy and grassroots impact
In my own work, I have had the privilege of engaging with governments at the highest levels – from contributing to UK parliamentary roundtables on AI education, to joining diplomatic and policy dialogues overseas. These experiences highlight a simple truth: governments are grappling with how to build digital capacity quickly enough to match technological change.
On 5 November 2025, the UK Government published its response to the Curriculum and Assessment Review: Building a World-Class Curriculum for All – a long-awaited step towards embedding AI literacy and digital competence across the national curriculum. The response signals an important shift in recognising that AI is not just a technology issue but an education one. It is a welcome direction and reflects growing consensus that AI skills must be seen as foundational to both national competitiveness and civic participation.
At the same time, the grassroots perspective is equally instructive. I have seen first-hand a 16-year-old design a machine learning model to help local councils track recycling patterns, and another build an app to support mental health services for young people. Such projects prove that teenagers already have the creativity and sense of civic duty to design technology that strengthens public services. What they lack is scale, access, and pathways into the public sector.
A call to action
The question is not whether governments should invest in AI education for young people – it is how urgently they can act. Without deliberate policies to embed AI literacy across curricula, strengthen partnerships between schools and industry, and provide pathways into public service careers, we will miss a critical opportunity. The public sector cannot compete with private industry for digital talent unless it invests early in building that pipeline.
The UK is well placed to lead. By embedding AI education into national curricula, aligning with international frameworks, and making public sector careers visible and attractive to young people, the government can build a workforce that is not only technically capable but ethically grounded. This is how we ensure that AI serves the public good, supports sustainability targets, and builds trust between citizens and their government.
The opportunity is before us. We can choose to see young people as passive recipients of digital change, or as the leaders who will drive it. In my experience, when given the tools, guidance, and purpose, teenagers do not just learn AI – they reimagine how it can serve society. For governments, there is no more powerful investment in the future of public services than preparing the next generation of digital leaders today.
