When Trump administration officials met Ed-Tech leaders at the White House last week to discuss the country’s vision for artificial intelligence in American life, they have repeatedly stressed a central message: education must be at the heart of the nation’s strategy.
Created by the decree of President Trump in April 2025, the White House working group on AI education is chaired by the director of scientific and technological policy Michael Kratsios, and is responsible for promoting literacy and competence of AI among young people and American educators, organizing a AI challenge on a national scale and forge public-private partnerships to provide AI education resources to kindergarten students to the 12th year.
“The robots are there. Our future is no longer science fiction,” said First Lady Melania Trump during the opening remarks. “But, as managers and parents, we must manage the growth of responsible AI.
Maintain the competitiveness of us
In a registration From the meeting of September 4, several speakers, including the secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, Brooke Rollins, and special advisor for AI and Crypto David Sacks, stressed that the AI will define the future of American work and international competitiveness, with an explicit framing against its competitors like China.
“The United States will lead the world in artificial intelligence, the period, the complete stop point, not China, not our other foreign opponents, but America,” Rollins said in recording. “We make sure that our young people are ready to win this race.”
To do this, Sacks noted that kindergarten in the 12th year and higher education systems must adapt quickly.
“The AI will be the ultimate boost for our workers,” said Sacks. “And it is important that they learn from an early age to use AI.”
The Ministry of Education said that federal funding would also move to encourage the adoption of AI schools. Secretary Linda McMahon said applications that include AI -based solutions will be “more strongly taken into account” and could receive “bonus points” in the examination process.
Embrace change management
Several meeting officials have urged schools and communities not to consider AI as a threat, but as a growth tool.
“This is not one of those things to fear,” said McMahon. “Let’s get him away.” Develop AI-based solutions to real world problems and cultivate a workforce informed by AI and ready for the future. ”
Secretary Chris Wright of the Ministry of Energy has linked the success of the adoption of AI to greater infrastructure challenges.
“We will not win in AI if we do not massively grow our electricity production,” he said. “Perhaps the Killer application, the most important use of AI, is perhaps for education and to repair one of the greatest American gaps, our education system from kindergarten to 12th year.”
Development of labor
The training and reskilling of the workforce emerged as any other priority, the secretary of labor, Lori Chavez-Deremer, describing learning and during employment as essential to prepare workers for an economy led by AI.
“Training programs during the job will help create paid jobs that AI will create while improving the unique skills necessary to succeed in various industries,” said Chavez-Deremer. She linked these efforts to the president’s objective of 1 million new learning nationally.
Alex Kotran, director general of non -profit education Aeedu, said Government technology That members of the working group have spent a lot of time discussing rural schools and the importance of reaching poorly served students, in particular with regard to the preparation of rural students in modern labor.
Private sector commitments
In addition to the White House officials, participants included high-level technology executives and entrepreneurs determined to expand the education of the United States.
During the registered meeting, IBM CEO Arvind Krishna is committed to training 2 million American workers in AI skills over the next three years, noting that “no organization can do it alone”. Likewise, Google CEO Sundar Pichai has highlighted efforts to use AI to personalize learning worldwide, imagining a future “where each student, whatever their experience or location, can learn anything in the world in a way that suits them best.”
In a recent co-author blog On the Microsoft website, the vice-president and president of the company Brad Smith and the CEO of Linkedin, Ryan Roslansky, said that the empowerment of teachers and students with modern AI tools, continually developing AI skills and creating economic opportunities by connecting new skills to jobs are the main priorities of American education on AI.
“We believe that the delivery of the real promise of AI depends on how it is widely broadcast,” they wrote. “This requires investments and innovation in education, training and certification of employment on AI.”
In its efforts to increase exposure to educational tools on AI, Microsoft has committed to providing a free one -year subscription to Copilot for students, expanding access to Microsoft AI tools in schools, $ 1.25 million in educators’ subsidies for pioneering teachers on AI, free link colleges and IA training Community colleges.
Ahead
In a telephone call with Government technology Last week, Kotran expressed his enthusiasm following the meeting of the working group, to which he was invited, declaring that he had been encouraged that education seems to occupy the front of the capital of our country.
“The meeting of the White House working group today, I think, represents an opening to actually exploit the power of the White House,” he said. “But also the federal government to motivate all the other actors who are part of the education system to bring the change that will be necessary.”
But, he stressed, the private sector must support educators and school heads in their AI adoption, given the recent reductions in education financing. According to Kotran, the measurement of the working group will depend on Kotran if the private sector supports states in the tools and the implementation of the AI.
“It will not be enough for an elective class to have an elective class called” Introduction to AI “,” said Kotran. “The only chance we have to progress on the preparation of AI is for companies, the private sector, philanthropies, to put resources on the table.”
