Shaping the Future of Social Mobility Through AI and Emerging Tech

What if we could harness AI and emerging technologies to help young people from lower socio-economic backgrounds overcome persistent barriers to opportunity?

Earlier this year, we published a market scoping paper and our first blog post, asking a bold question: what if we could harness AI and emerging technologies to help young people from lower socio-economic backgrounds overcome persistent barriers to opportunity?

Since then, we have been listening and conducting further research to better understand how tech can be harnessed to support young people. Through our third cross-industry workshop, we have gathered insights from young people, educators, funders, tech innovators, and policy experts. We’ve been exploring what a new kind of challenge prize could look like, one that centres equity, drives innovation and ensures young people from lower socio-economic backgrounds aren’t left behind in the AI age.

From ideas to insights: What we’ve learned so far

A quick recap: since January 2025, over 30 organisations have joined us in the Discovery Phase of the AI and Social Mobility Challenge Prize initiative co-led by EY Foundation, Social Mobility Commission and Social Tech Trust. You can find more details in our first blog post and downloadable market scoping paper.

Through three co-creation workshops and wider research, a few things have become clear.

First, there’s a strong appetite for change, but only if it’s done with the people it’s meant to support. That’s why we’ve placed young people from lower socio-economic backgrounds, and their representatives from NGOs, tech ventures, education, policy and community groups, at the heart of this process. Their ideas and experiences have shaped where we go next.

Second, we’ve agreed on a key principle: ethics and equity should guide any AI or emerging tech solution. That belief led us to four core themes that now shape the direction of the challenge prize:

1. Reaching marginalised youth: Tackle digital exclusion and create AI pathways for young people

2. Workforce needs: Define AI skills and shift to skills-first hiring models

3. Career guidance and hiring: Improve mentorship, skills-matching and modernise HR systems

4. Ecosystem changes: Address algorithmic bias, regulatory safeguards and trust in AI tools

We explored how these themes show up in real life. Feedback from educators, employers, youth organisations and others painted a clear picture:

• Essential skills, especially soft skills, aren’t being developed consistently

• Career advice often arrives too late or misses the mark

• Too many young people who are out of education or work fall through the cracks

• Mentorship and role models matter, but access is uneven

• The AI skills gap is growing, and teachers and support workers need help to keep up

• There’s confusion about employer expectations and patchy support across regions

This insight helped us test five potential challenge prize questions, each focused on closing these gaps and opening up new opportunities.

Defining the challenge question

To make sure the challenge prize tackles the right issue in the right way, we tested five possible questions with stakeholders across the ecosystem. We wanted to understand what matters most, where innovation could have the biggest impact, and how we could shape a challenge that is relevant and grounded.

Each question explored a different barrier young people face, whether that’s digital exclusion, lack of confidence or careers guidance, or gaps in developing essential skills.

Two challenge prize questions stood out. One focused on how we support young people who are currently disengaged from education, work or training. The other asked how we might create accessible AI tools that give young people real-time feedback on their employability and transferable skills. These questions felt both urgent and open to practical solutions.

Other ideas explored how AI and emerging tech solutions might support the adults who work with young people, how they could help build career networks, and how to prepare young people for a fast-changing world of work. These conversations helped map out where real progress could be made.

Each question was reviewed using shared criteria. Was it relevant to what young people are facing? Was it clear enough to act on? Would it attract strong responses? And are ventures ready to build? We’re now reviewing all the feedback to make sure we ask the right question, one that sparks action and creates space for the most promising ideas. The final challenge prize question will be shared later when the prize is launched. If you’re a funder, impact venture or aligned organisation, you can still shape what comes next. We’re open to more voices, ideas and support.

What’s coming next and why now’s the time to join

 

We’re now preparing the next phase of the challenge prize, including designing the prize format and getting ready to reach out to aligned organisations. Because the structure is still being shaped, there’s still time to help influence how it works. We’re actively looking for funders, partners and supporters to help shape the next stage. If you are building technology with social impact in mind, supporting ventures that aim to make systems fairer, or engaging in work related to AI or social mobility, now is a great time to connect with us.

Let’s build a fairer future for young people

This is about more than just funding startups. It’s about changing how innovation works, and who it works for. We’re building momentum, and this is your chance to be part of it. Join us in making AI & technology a force for social mobility! Let’s innovate to inspire the next generation.