Education is one of the most profound arenas in which the AI transformation is already unfolding, and the central question is not simply how AI can make learning faster, more personalised or more efficient.
The deeper question is: what kind of human beings, communities and futures do our education systems now need to cultivate?
This mini-conference invites us to look beyond tools and technologies, and to explore AI as a challenge to the very purpose of education: the development of wisdom, discernment, creativity, ethical responsibility, relational intelligence, and the capacity to live well in a rapidly changing world.
AI & Education Challenged creates a space for thoughtful, courageous dialogue, where educators, policymakers, technologists and thinkers can engage critically and imaginatively with what it means to keep education deeply human in an age of artificial intelligence.
Moderated by Dr Ekaterina Matveeva, Dr Marina Demchenko and Dr Mar Introini
Speakers:
Mage Liu: Applied AI Strategist & AI Operations Lead
Mage is the Operations Lead of a top-tier AI social companion product under a listed AI company. Originally trained in film and television content creation, she entered the tech industry as a story specialist — drawn in by a deep curiosity about AI. Together with her team, she helped train an at-the-time state-of-the-art model in the AI Roleplay space, combining data alignment with human- and machine-constructed training data. She owns end-to-end AI model evaluation — using expert review, automated evaluation pipelines, and model-selection strategy to deliver best-in-class model performance to business teams at a fraction of the typical cost. In her current role, she leads operations for the AI social business line and is accountable for both AI content quality and business revenue. She has previously been invited as a guest speaker at the Polytechnic University of Lisbon.
Stewart Alsop: Founder of The AI Whisperer Club & Host at The Crazy Wisdom Podcast
Stewart Alsop has recorded over 600 episodes for the Crazy Wisdom podcast and the Stewart Squared podcasts, he has also hosted AI whisperers in Buenos Aires with over 80 presenters and an active group of 500 AI builders.
Arantza Caballero: Political advisor and AI governance specialist at the Embassy of Japan in Spain.
Arantza serves as Spain Country Chair for AI, Data and Cybersecurity within the G100 Global Women Leaders network. A member of the Japanese delegation to REAIM 2026, she actively shapes responsible AI policy at the highest international levels.
Temitope Ogunsemo: Founder and CEO of KrystalDigital
Temitope founded Krystal Digital in 2010, where he develops and deploys customised software applications and IT training for educational institutions in Nigeria, with its flagship MySkool Portal offering an information management system that has become one of the most profitable IT education solutions in the country. Named among Forbes’ 30 Most Promising Young African Entrepreneurs, Temitope is now at the forefront of integrating AI into education across sub-Saharan Africa.
Dave ‘Tex’ Smith: Systems designer
Dave ‘Tex’ Smith has spent a lifetime in service to the community as a systems designer, facilitator, advocate, and therapist working across education, health, tech and policy in both public and private sectors. As a technology pioneer he was invited to co-facilitate an all of Government Think Tank charged with the redesign of central government policy – a project that gained worldwide attention, and being awarded the Government’s top award (IPANZ award) for a public/private sector initiative. His approach to addressing complexity via the inclusion of a novel but affordable, inclusive, simple tech alongside a reciprocity model is now a common piece of tech on all modern mobile devices.
