Trump Executive Order Calls for Artificial Intelligence to Be Taught in Schools

Since generative artificial intelligence exploded into public view a few years ago, schools and educators have wrestled with how to handle the powerful but still-evolving technology. Should they ban it? Embrace it?

A new executive order signals the White House is leaning firmly toward embracing it.

On April 23, President Donald Trump signed Advancing Artificial Intelligence Education for American Youth, promoting the “appropriate integration of AI into education” to help keep the United States at the forefront of this technological era.

The order’s main goals are to teach students and train teachers to effectively use AI in order to enhance educational outcomes.

Introducing AI into classrooms, the order says, “not only demystifies this powerful technology but also sparks curiosity and creativity, preparing students to participate actively and responsibly in the future workforce and nurturing the next generation of American AI innovators to drive scientific and economic achievements.”

To achieve this, the order establishes a White House Task Force on Artificial Intelligence Education, composed of cabinet members and led by the director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy.

The task force is instructed to quickly form public-private partnerships with AI companies, nonprofits, and universities to develop online AI literacy resources for K-12 students.

At the same time, the executive order assigns the secretary of education the task of finding ways to fund AI-driven education initiatives at the federal, state, and local levels. Examples cited include creating AI-powered teaching tools, strengthening college advising, and expanding access to high-impact tutoring programs.

The order also calls on the education secretary to prioritize funding for professional development to help teachers integrate AI into computer science classes as well as across all subject areas. It further emphasizes training teachers to use AI to cut down on administrative work — a shift that many educators are already enthusiastic about, according to Pete Just, the generative AI project director at the Consortium for School Networking, an organization for K-12 edtech leaders.

“This has given teachers valuable time back in their week,” he says.

Beyond that, the order proposes developing AI-focused registered apprenticeships, launching a Presidential Artificial Intelligence Challenge for students, and expanding opportunities for high school students to take AI courses, including through dual enrollment in colleges.

While some parts of the order come with no firm deadlines, several objectives are expected to be completed within a few months.

Some education leaders expressed optimism about the order’s ambitions, while also raising concerns about its execution.

Generative AI’s arrival is “a bit like the arrival of electricity,” says Beth Rabbitt, CEO of the education innovation nonprofit The Learning Accelerator, explaining that it could dramatically transform the world — for better or worse.

“It’s crucial that we, as educators, help kids understand how AI works and how to use it responsibly,” Rabbitt says, “while minimizing potential harm.”

Just hopes the executive order will push AI higher on the agenda for school leaders, some of whom, he says, have been hesitant to confront it.

“Increasingly, leaders are burying their heads in the sand,” Just says. “I think this will definitely reignite the conversation.”

Playing Offense and Defense Much of the discussion around AI in education has centered on defense — preventing students from cheating, resisting workforce displacement, and addressing inequitable access to quality education. Concerns also persist about companies rushing AI tools into classrooms without proper protections against bias, misinformation, data security issues, and errors.

Rabbitt points out that the order was issued during a broader rollback of AI regulations. She notes that the Trump administration has rescinded previous Biden-era AI regulations and that this education-focused order doesn’t include the safety measures found in a separate Trump directive pushing for AI adoption within federal agencies.

“There’s still a lot of work to do to make sure the AI tools given to children are safe, effective, and protective of their well-being,” Rabbitt says.

Still, many educators are already looking for ways to proactively use AI. One example is the School Teams AI Collaborative, supported by The Learning Accelerator, where dozens of educators across the country are experimenting with AI-enhanced instruction. Some projects involve using AI to give feedback on student writing or helping students learn about civics by creating voter registration chatbots.

Leveraging AI to support teacher training fits with the vision of Cheryl Holcomb-McCoy, the new president and CEO of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education. She notes that many teacher training programs already use mixed-reality simulations to better prepare future teachers.

“How can we adapt AI tools to provide real-time, personalized professional development for teachers,” Holcomb-McCoy asks, “instead of making them wait for generic, infrequent training sessions?”

She was encouraged to see the executive order commit to investing in teacher development. Given ongoing shortages of teachers and lagging student achievement in STEM fields, Holcomb-McCoy says she would like to see more federal support aimed at preparing outstanding science, math, and technology teachers.

As for the AI resources promised by the order, she asks, “How will the federal government ensure that every teacher and every child, regardless of where they live, will have equitable access to these tools?”

Rabbitt advises policymakers and educators to be realistic about the speed of AI integration, allowing enough time for thoughtful, strategic implementation.

“The worst outcome would be rushing AI into classrooms before teachers and students are ready,” she says. “We saw during the pandemic how problematic it can be to rapidly pivot to technology-heavy instruction without adequate preparation and support.”