Richard Branson: Virgin Group billionaire predicts dyslexic thinkers will be critical in the AI age

Richard Branson says dyslexic thinking will be critical to human decision-making in a world dominated by artificial intelligence.

In an exclusive interview with The Nightly, the British billionaire and founder of the Virgin Group empire which includes 40 companies spanning five sectors and continents, said dyslexic thinkers like himself were creative problem solvers.

“It’s been an enabler to my success,” he said during a video interview from New York.

“I was lucky to be dyslexic — that obviously doesn’t necessarily apply to every kid. But I think with AI becoming so important in the world, dyslexics are able to see what AI can’t see.

“Dyslexics can take all the knowledge that AI gives them and then turn it into something unique and special and I think they’re the best equipped to do so.”

Branson, who has flown into space but has hit pause on funding his ventures into commercial space tourism via Virgin Galatic for at least another two years, said he was constantly working on an array of causes, including pleading for pardons for criminals on death row and campaigning for planetary boundaries — a way of setting limits for environmental harm to the earth.

He attributed his vigour for pursuing a vast array of interests to his dyslexia, a learning difficulty that affects up to ten per cent of Australians according to the Australian Dyslexia Association.

Children with dyslexia usually have trouble spelling, writing, reading and comprehension. The condition has no impact on a person’s intelligence and those with the difficulty are often regarded as creative thinkers with strong problem-solving skills.

It is not known what causes dyslexia but it tends to run in families.

Mr Branson said he was always asking AI questions and described it as an “incredible invention” that should be embraced.

“In our companies, we’ve got to find the right people with dyslexic thinking to come and work with us to embrace it even more,” he said.

“There’s no way AI could compete with a creative thinker — by and large that is right.

“AI and the creative thinker can maybe even solve climate change and some of the other big problems of the world.”

Mr Branson was speaking at the launch of his free-to-access University of Dyslexic Thinking courses that have been released online in partnership with the charity Made by Dyslexia.

The two courses are also suitable for adults and the first modules look at how entrepreneurs and change-makers have used dyslexia to turbocharge their careers.

They will be expanded to include other professions such as banking, advertising and even spying.

“Virgin is definitely looking for dyslexic people to come and work for us because they are more resilient, they are more creative and we obviously want to help them through this university,” he said.

Wearing a “DyslexicU” bomber jacket that stands for Dyslexic University, he joked that it could easily stand for the ‘ungraded’ or failed grades often granted to dyslexic schoolchildren.

Mr Branson dropped out of school at age 16 after being derided as stupid and lazy at school.

“When I was young we were defined as stupid because the word dyslexia didn’t even exist,” he said.

“In some countries like Australia, Europe and the UK, things are much improved, you’re right but that doesn’t mean that people with creative minds like dyslexic people can’t benefit from having courses which can inspire them even further.

“This will be available to kids all over the world.”

Kate Griggs from Made by Dyslexia agreed progress had been made, however, research showed that while workplaces were better poised to embrace the way dyslexics thought, the schooling system was still exam-based which short-changed children who struggled with traditional learning methods.

“All of those skills are not being measured and treasured in schools,” she said.

“We have a lot of work to do in education to help dyslexic people have their skills measured and treasured,” she said.

Research by pollsters YouGov showed that of 5000 people surveyed in the UK, Australia, India and the US 73 per cent nominated complex problem solving as the best measure of intelligence and only six per cent thought the current testing system was the best indicator of intelligence.

Mr Branson said: “I have a lot of dyslexic friends who are in Australia and a lot who work for Australian companies.”

He added that the condition had made him a more empathetic business leader.

“Because I think you realise that you can’t do everything yourself,” he said.

“So you become a leader that is listening to other people, is delegating better than most leaders do and is bringing out the best in other people.”