Established in 2023 by Alex Zarifeh, then Trust Lead for Careers and Personal Development at the Arthur Terry Learning Partnership (ATLP), Futures Readiness emerged from growing concern about the widening gap between the evolving world of work and the UK’s traditional educational model.
Alex recognised early on that relying predominantly on memory-based testing was insufficient preparation for today’s workplace – let alone the rapidly emerging, AI-shaped economy of tomorrow.
Anticipating the transformative impact of breakthroughs in Artificial Intelligence, Alex set out to ensure students and educators were adequately prepared for the seismic changes ahead. Futures Readiness is a not-for-profit social enterprise dedicated to empowering learners and educators to understand and navigate the unprecedented scale of change caused by the Artificial Intelligence Revolution.
HEAR MORE FROM OUR FOUNDER, ALEX ZARIFEH
Underpinned by a skills framework developed in collaboration with Associate Professor Shane McLoughlin of the University of Birmingham, each Futures Readiness session fosters critical thinking, reasoned debate and ‘AI Discernment’ – the ability to judge when to adopt and when to resist AI-driven tools and models.
Futures Readiness proactively addresses both threats and opportunities inherent in AI. While numerous studies forecast extensive job transformation, disruption and potential losses in specific roles and industries, AI simultaneously opens unprecedented opportunities, enabling individuals of all ages to turn creative ideas into practical applications, products, and services.
Rooted firmly in human intelligence and aligned with ‘Team Human’, Futures Readiness helps students and educators critically assess and selectively embrace technologies that genuinely enhance human potential, while guarding against those that risk cognitive atrophy or diminish human agency.
