A video of Morgan Freeman appears on my screen. “What you see is not real,” he says in his deep Tennessee drawl from a darkened room. “What if I were to tell you that I’m not even a human being?” It takes me a minute to adjust. Is Morgan doing OK? I notice he’s not blinking; his head’s not moving. Ah ha…it’s a deepfake.
I’m watching this clip as part of the UK’s first life-skills curriculum, which is being rolled out to thousands of Gen Z students in Greater Manchester. They will learn essential tools including empathy, time management, challenging prejudice, financial literacy, and spotting misinformation online. The Unesco-partnered non-profit Higher Health has launched the nine-module programme to address a gap in soft skills among those aged 16 to 25, with plans for a nationwide expansion across different education providers such as sixth form colleges, young offender institutions, apprenticeships hubs, and graduate employment settings (it aims to reach 10,000 young people by September).
