Can LLMs Be Used for Fostering 21st Century Skills?

Recorded live at the 2025 ASU+GSV Summit in San Diego, this session featured Shashank Agarwal, Software Engineer at Google Research; Anna Iurchenko, Designer at Google Research; and Komal Singh, Product Manager at Google Research.

The session addressed the evolving role of skills development as the next frontier in education. The speakers discussed the complex but essential shift from traditional knowledge-based learning to a focus on skills acquisition—both cognitive skills such as communication, critical thinking, collaboration, and creativity, as well as socio-emotional skills like self-regulated learning and composure under pressure. They highlighted Google’s efforts to lead this transformation by innovating ways to measure and develop 21st-century skills and career readiness, ensuring these methods are validated by academia and seamlessly integrated into classrooms around the world.