President Trump Issues Executive Order to Support AI Education and Workforce Development

Quick Hits

• President Trump’s executive order aims to enhance AI education and workforce development in the United States.
• The order establishes a cross-agency task force to implement the policy and prioritizes public-private partnerships with industry leaders and academic institutions to provide resources for AI education and workforce development.
• The order further directs the secretary of labor to promote registered apprenticeships in the AI industry.

The EO, “Advancing Artificial Intelligence Education For American Youth,” seeks to create a framework for expanding AI education in K-12 and higher education and expanding AI workforce development. The EO outlines a strategy to integrate AI into education, promote early exposure to AI concepts, and develop an AI-ready workforce.

Central to the EO are establishing public-private partnerships to provide resources to teach AI literacy in K-12 education and a U.S. Department of Labor (DOL)-led initiative to establish registered AI apprenticeships.

The EO comes after President Trump, in his first days in office, issued a separate order, EO 14179, “Removing Barriers to American Leadership in Artificial Intelligence,” which seeks to “enhance America’s global AI dominance” and rescinded a Biden-era EO that had sought to balance promoting development of AI with safeguarding workers and consumers from potential negative impacts of the technology.

Promoting AI Education

President Trump’s latest EO establishes the “Artificial Intelligence Education Task Force,” which brings together the heads of a range of federal government agencies and entities, including the secretary of labor, the secretary of education, and the special advisor for AI and crypto. The task force is directed to create the “Presidential Artificial Intelligence Challenge,” a competition across multiple age categories and regions. Additionally, the EO seeks to prioritize and establish resources to support training teachers on the use of AI.

A key component of the EO is to “establish public-private partnerships with leading AI industry organizations, academic institutions, nonprofit entities, and other organizations with expertise in AI and computer science education” to provide resources and support for AI in K-12 education. The order further directs the task force to develop industry commitments and identify federal funding mechanisms, including discretionary grants, to support K-12 AI education.

Registered Apprenticeships

The EO directs the secretary of labor to “increase participation in AI-related Registered Apprenticeships” by engaging “industry organizations and employers” and supporting “the creation of industry-developed program standards to be registered on a nationwide basis.” The EO directs the secretary of labor to encourage states and federal grantees to use funding provided by the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) “to develop AI skills and support work-based learning opportunities within occupations utilizing AI,” including encouraging states to use set-asides to integrate AI learning opportunities in youth programs. The EO further directs the secretary of education and the director of the National Science Foundation (NSF) to create more opportunities for high school students to take coursework on AI and expand such coursework or certification programs.

Next Steps

The EO advances the Trump administration’s promotion of AI technology and development and supports broader application of AI in various contexts through AI literacy. In particular, the EO further focuses on involving AI technology developers and industry leaders through public-private partnerships to provide financial support and resources to expand AI education and provide workforce development opportunities.

Thus far, the Trump administration’s policies regarding AI differ from those of the Biden administration. While the Biden administration likewise promoted AI development, it was simultaneously cautious of the potential negative impacts of the technology. For example, many regulatory agencies during the Biden administration issued nonbinding guidance regarding the risks of AI and safeguards to protect against those risks, and the administration encouraged private organizations to self-regulate. One key element of the Biden administration’s approach was its “Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights,” which outlined nonbinding recommendations for the design, use, and deployment of AI and automated systems when such tools are used in ways that affect an individual’s rights, opportunities, or access to critical resources or services.

Without a similar federal focus on guardrails against AI, it is anticipated that states will continue to fill in the gaps. Many states and jurisdictions, including California, Colorado, Illinois, and New York City, have already passed laws and regulations or are considering new laws and regulations to restrict the use of AI without human oversight and clarify that the use of such technology to employment-related decisions may result in substantive violations of federal and state antidiscrimination violations.

Ogletree Deakins’ Technology Practice Group will continue to monitor developments and will provide updates on the Governmental Affairs, Higher Education, and Technology blogs as additional information becomes available.

This article and more information on how the Trump administration’s actions impact employers can be found on Ogletree Deakins’ New Administration Resource Hub.

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