Recorded live at the 2026 ASU+GSV Summit in San Diego, this session featured Matt Miller, CEO & Co-Founder at OKO Labs; Kim Smith, CEO/Founder at LearnerStudio; Maria Ortiz, Assistant Superintendent of High Schools at City of Newark Schools; Colin Kaepernick, CEO at Lumi Story AI; and Greg Toppo, Senior Writer at The 74 Million.

As AI increasingly took on routine cognitive work, the true advantage shifted to what only humans can do well: think about their thinking, exercise judgment, adapt in unfamiliar contexts, and frame problems worth solving. This session brought together education leaders, system builders, and innovators reimagining how schools cultivate the durable skills AI can’t replicate: metacognition, executive function, adaptability, discernment, and complex problem-solving. The conversation explored how new school models and emerging EdTech tools have moved beyond content mastery to help students learn how to learn. From classroom practice to system design, speakers examined what it takes to prepare students to work alongside AI—not in competition with it—and how K–12 education must evolve to develop the human capabilities that matter most in an AI-powered future.