How to transform the education of underprivileged students, with care and AI

Many teachers don’t have the skillsets for counselling students or delivering the wraparound care required for the best learning - but could AI help equip them? Akshay Saxena is the co-founder of Avanti Fellows, an organization that takes bright underprivileged kids from mainly rural India and trains them to enter the country’s top learning programmes. In 16 years as an educator, he says he’s learned one thing above all: when it comes to learning, care is more important than content. Akshay shares his optimism for education in the age of AI, which - besides obvious uses as a problem-solver and learning aid - could relieve teachers and caregivers from onerous tasks and free them up for more meaningful work. Akshay Saxena is a Schwab Foundation Social Entrepreneur of the Year 2025.