Dive Brief:
- The White House issued an executive order Thursday aimed at expanding youth access to AI training programs, the latest move from President Donald Trump to make the technology a national priority.
- The order created a task force on AI workforce and training composed of several top advisers and cabinet members, including Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer and White House AI and Crypto Czar David Sacks.
- The White House order directs the task force to provide AI training for educators, expand access to AI apprenticeship and create a Presidential Artificial Intelligence Challenge to “encourage and highlight student and educator achievements in AI.”
Dive Insight:
The Trump administration took an early interest in AI. In January, President Trump reversed Biden-era AI regulations and signed an executive order setting the stage for the creation of an action plan on AI adoption.
The Thursday executive order targets access to skills, a critical blocker for AI adoption plans in the enterprise. Businesses have largely turned to upskilling to address the mismatch between available talent and open roles.
“To ensure the United States remains a global leader in this technological revolution, we must provide our nation’s youth with opportunities to cultivate the skills and understanding necessary to use and create the next generation of AI technology,” Trump said in the executive order.
The new task force has been directed to create public-private partnerships between AI organizations, academic institutions, nonprofits and other organizations to develop online resources on AI literacy for K-12 students.
Interest in AI training soared last year as workers familiarized themselves with the technology. Online training company O'Reilly said demand for generative AI learning nearly quadrupled last year, with interest in prompt engineering programs growing more than 400%.
Despite ongoing upskilling efforts, less than one-third of employers have undergone AI training, according to a report from Jobs for the Future published earlier this month.
