A new executive order from President Donald Trump is directing the integration of artificial intelligence into K-12 schools in an aim to equip the future U.S. workforce with skills needed to further the technology’s innovation capabilities.
The order signed April 23 establishes a White House Task Force on AI Education, which will be chaired by Michael Kratsios, the director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. Other members of the task force will include Secretary of Education Linda McMahon, Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer, and David Sacks, the president’s special advisor for AI and crypto, according to a White House fact sheet.
The task force is also directed to establish public-private partnerships to provide resources for K-12 AI education which the White House said would also aim to equip students with better AI tools.
“AI is where it seems to be at, we have literally trillions of dollars being invested in AI,” said Trump while signing the order at the White House on Wednesday. “AI is the way the way to the future,” the president added.
A “Presidential AI Challenge” is also slated under the executive order. While specific details on what the challenge would look like weren’t provided, the order states that it will “feature multiple age categories, distinct geographic regions for competition, and a variety of topical themes … to reflect the breadth of AI applications.”
The order furthers a Biden-era priority by bolstering AI-related registered apprenticeships under directions given to Chavez-DeRemer to grow registered apprenticeship opportunities and use intermediary contracts and existing discretionary funds to develop more apprenticeship programs.
Former President Joe Biden had pushed for the development of the U.S. cyber workforce through what his administration called skills-based hiring, including the development of registered apprenticeships that connected thousands of Americans to by mid-summer 2024.
In January, Trump had cancelled a Biden executive order that had directed Federal agencies to incentivize the use of registered apprenticeships by Federal contractors and had resulted in several cyber-related programs overseen by the Labor Department.
Under Trump’s order to establish AI registered apprenticeships, he also directed the Secretary of Labor, in coordination with the director of the National Science Foundation (NSF), to prioritize discretionary grant funding for providers that commit to developing or expanding AI courses and certification programs for high school students.
Additionally, the order directs the NSF to emphasize research on the use of AI in education.
The order follows other moves by the president to move the U.S. forward in its efforts to dominate AI global competition. He has vowed to help build AI data centers and other AI-related infrastructure, amid touting billions in commitments from companies to boost AI innovation.
The order also comes as Federal officials and lawmakers have expressed concern about a dwindling cyber workforce and questions about whether the nation has the workforce to support accelerated efforts to innovate and then later protect that technology through improved cybersecurity practices.