COVID-19 has precipitated a major experiment for education systems across the world and this provides an amazing opportunity for AI to assist in the beneficial transformation of teaching and learning that remote and hybrid approaches are likely to catalyse. However, how can educators be ready to leverage AI and how can AI developers be ready to support educators? Each community must help the other to learn and develop their thinking about what kinds of AI technology can best be used for education and training. The research community also has a vital role to play in helping the AIED ecosystem develop. In this talk, I will consider the current stage of AI’s application in education and the ways in which AI has supported teachers and learners during the pandemic. I will then look towards the future and consider how AI could be used to support a COVID-compliant transformation for our education systems – a transformation that seeks to enable all learners to achieve their full potential. Throughout the talk I will draw on examples from different AI systems to illustrate what is happening in the present and what could happen in the future. I will suggest a way on which we can bring together educators, developer and researchers to create a healthy and vibrant AIED ecosystem and I will suggest ways in which education systems can become truly ‘AI ready.’