Priya Lakhani is at pains to express how many of the achievements in her colourful career were driven by a strong moral conviction to make the world a better place. This is because the founder of is acutely aware of fears over the potential harms from technology being misused (she sits on the government鈥檚 AI Council). But also because of the 鈥渃ruel鈥 accusations thrown her way. She recounts one investor meeting where an ed tech entrepreneur held up on stage a picture of Elizabeth Holmes 鈥 the American facing jail for fraud related to her failed blood-testing company 鈥 and told the audience: 鈥淭his is the AI in Ed tech in the UK鈥. This was 鈥渞eally awful and very hurtful鈥, Lakhani says, because 鈥渆veryone knows鈥 that her social enterprise firm, which provides a personalised learning platform for 1.2 million students in 55 countries, is 鈥渢he big AI company not just in the UK, but Europe鈥nd frankly the US. How dare they do that? That’s a defamation case, isn’t it?鈥 Lakhani would know the answer 鈥 before moving into business she was a libel barrister. It means I鈥檓 at pains to walk the line between asking probing questions for objective journalism and not offending Lakhani. In some ways it is easy: she is instantly likeable. Her door sign at Century鈥檚 London office, where Lakhani has been making 鈥減ancake cakes鈥 for staff (like pancakes but deliciously spongey) reads 鈥楧umbledore鈥檚 office鈥. Like Harry Potter鈥檚 headmaster, she鈥檚 a wise and morally steadfast educational leader. Unlike him, her thoughts tumble out at 100 miles an hour, leaving me struggling to get a word in edgeways. Pinning her down on some of the tougher questions isn鈥檛 easy. Autism claim questions Century鈥檚 AI-powered, adaptive learning platform is used by 1,200 schools in England. Some 75 per cent of them are state-run and the rest independent, including Eton College. It can be used in class for diagnostic assessments and lesson planning, or outside the classroom for homework or revision. Its 鈥減ersonalised鈥 approach adapts learning to the user and Lakhani says it saves teachers time by marking pupils鈥 progress. A dashboard tells them which students are struggling, why, and how to deal with them. Prices start at 拢1,200 for primaries and 拢3,500 for secondaries. A randomised control trial of the AI is still lacking but Lakhani points to independent studies, such as one by Nesta which shows a 20-30 per cent improvement in adult learners鈥 digital skills. Century鈥檚 AI, which incorporates 鈥渘euroscientific theories on memory function, engagement and motivation鈥, has been 鈥渢rained on big data鈥 for almost a decade now, 鈥済etting smarter鈥 every time a learner uses it. Lakhani bats off GDPR concerns about harvesting data: users are told the AI is analysing their data, which is later provided to teachers. Priya Lakhani With autism, it was overwhelming, the patterns that we saw Schools Week has also unsuccessfully tried to get answers to a well-reported claim from Lakhani that her AI can predict with 96 per cent accuracy whether a child is autistic. Lakhani says behavioural tracking movements detected by the platform鈥檚 AI correlate with demographic data from school information management systems indicating whether a child has special needs. 鈥淲ith autism, it was overwhelming, the patterns that we saw,鈥 she says. Studies show as many as one in 44 children may have autism. An Observer newspaper investigation last year found some children were waiting five years for an NHS autism appointment. A tool to diagnose the condition could revolutionise the education and health sectors, and make big money. So why the secrecy? She refuses again to publish 鈥渃ommercially sensitive鈥 studies, adding: 鈥淲e are an EdTech company, we put the ed before the tech鈥 have learned from the experts who know what they’re talking about that this [technology] is not an appropriate way to diagnose autism. 鈥淚t may be helpful in the future, with a human being as an aide. But if you’re going to advertise it can diagnose, it has to be done right. Century has to do things the right way.鈥 While she would 鈥渓ove to鈥 work with an autism charity and academia to publish a 鈥渇ull study鈥, this is 鈥渁 matter of timing and resources鈥. Entrepreneurialism runs in the family For now, Lakhani鈥檚 focus is 鈥済etting the technology in front of as many students as possible, improving outcomes, reducing teacher workload and to personalize as much as we can鈥. She has a formidable work ethic that makes it hard to doubt she will succeed. At grammar school, Lakhani was told by some teachers she would 鈥渘ever be a lawyer鈥 because she was 鈥渂rown and female鈥. She worked through lunch hours to prove them wrong. At university, while other law students had two or three work placements, she had 20. The day before her wedding, she made her own iced version of Nigella Lawson鈥檚 chocolate fudge cake for 600 guests. On Christmas Day last year, Lakhani 鈥 accompanied by her 12-year-old daughter and ten-year-old son and two dogs 鈥 provided dinner for the homeless in Hamstead Heath. How much of this boundless energy is perhaps down to her own ADHD? Lakhani discovered she had the condition in her thirties but was 鈥渜uite happy鈥 not to have been diagnosed earlier. 鈥淢aybe the label would have affected me negatively, maybe not鈥, she says. Growing up in Cheshire, Lakhani鈥檚 parents ran a manufacturing business. She spent holidays with family in Nairobi and was 鈥渟poiled rotten鈥, waited on by servants. 鈥淚t never felt quite right to me,鈥 she says. Her parents later moved to London, where her dad retrained as a 鈥淕rand Designs鈥-style architect designing 鈥減henomenal鈥 homes 鈥 including Lakhani鈥檚. Priya Lakhani and her mum Dipa Lakhani Entrepreneurialism runs in the family: by 2012, Lakhani had quit law and built the country鈥檚 first fresh ethnic sauce company, Masala Masala, based on her mum鈥檚 traditional recipe. The social enterprise provided over three million meals and thousands of vaccines to the underprivileged in India and Africa, and funded nine schools there. She was appointed an adviser to then business secretary Vince Cable鈥檚 entrepreneurs forum, alongside Dragon鈥檚 Den鈥檚 Julie Meyer and James Caan. Lakhani recalls a meeting when Matt Hancock, then a junior business minister, said: 鈥20 per cent of our nation can’t read, write or do maths well enough to get a good job at the end of formal education 鈥 and this is a problem that we need to solve鈥. Lakhani calls it a 鈥渞eal wake up moment鈥 I鈥檇 just spent four years funding schools in Commonwealth countries that all replicate the British model, which doesn’t work for 20 per cent of our kids. What’s going on?鈥 The turn of the Century So she turned her sights to education and learned from leaders across all types of schools that, while different, they used the same 鈥渙ne size fits all delivery鈥. 鈥淭eachers were complaining鈥 They were showing me all this marking and assessing they were doing which looked just like when I was at school. They were frazzled with all this work.鈥 Lakhani took several 鈥榥anodegree鈥 online AI courses and became 鈥渃ompletely hooked鈥. She already knew neuroscience: after being beaten with a brick during a robbery 13 years ago, she read 鈥渆very medical journal related to PTSD written since the Vietnam War鈥. When building the company, she said she was 鈥渓aughed out the door by every venture capitalist鈥 because she is 鈥渘ot a former Google engineer鈥. She was told 鈥測ou don’t look like an AI entrepreneur鈥, and one investor asked her: 鈥淪weetheart, can you explain what AI is to me?鈥 But Lakhani convinced enough backers to believe in her. Century has raised 拢22 million in investment, and Lakhani claims it no longer requires further funding. Despite being 10 years old, it is still classed as a 鈥渟mall鈥 company and does not have to file audited accounts (it meets two of the three thresholds: a turnover of 拢10.2 million or less, 拢5.1 million or less on its balance sheet, or fewer than 50 employees). Annual accounts show Century has posted a 拢16.5 million loss since it was founded – 拢3.3 million of that was in 2021-22. Lakhani says this shows the invested money being spent. But she gives the impression throughout our conversation that her overriding objective is to improve education, rather than make as much money as possible. She said the company is 鈥渙n the path to break even鈥. A global expansion includes partnering with the Canadian online learning company D2L to host its K-12 curriculum which last month launched in the US. Six other partnerships are planned over the next six months. Vitriol is 鈥榚xtraordinary鈥 Lakhani is now writing a book on disinformation and fake news, her third book, following one on why the current education system is failing and a sci-fi children鈥檚 story. It follows someone creating a fake Twitter account of her in 2019 when ministers across different countries were seeking to adopt Century鈥檚 tech. The account tweeted ministers 鈥渃alling them really horrible words鈥 that Lakhani 鈥渨ould never repeat鈥. The ruse was so authentic, she was messaged by a Department for Education official asking her to stop tweeting. 鈥淚鈥檓 just trying to mind my own business, just trying to solve a couple of problems in education and the amount of vitriol I have received鈥s extraordinary.鈥 But she points to the 鈥渆xtraordinarily kind鈥 people in the education sector who 鈥渒eep [her] going. When I meet them, it just reminds me why I鈥檓 doing what I鈥檓 doing. People think entrepreneurs are just so resilient, but actually it does take the community.鈥