Keaton PetersThe Trump administration wants to bring more artificial intelligence into K-12 classrooms across the U.S. The administration is preparing a draft executive order, titled “Advancing artificial intelligence education for American youth,” intended to ensure American students develop AI literacy skills.
The global race for AI dominance continues to intensify, with China’s education ministry recently announcing plans to incorporate AI applications into its own educational curriculum. If signed, the potential U.S. executive order would push AI technology into education policy to ensure American students gain exposure to increasingly prevalent tools. Integrating AI in K-12, however, is likely to be contested as public opinion on artificial intelligence remains riddled with concerns.
The draft order would establish a White House task force on AI education that includes key technology advisers such as Michael Kratsios, director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, and David Sacks, Trump’s advisor on cryptocurrency and AI. This group would be charged with developing strategies to incorporate AI education across subject areas and grade levels.
The initiative comes at a time when AI adoption in education is already accelerating. According to recent research from Cengage Group‘s “AI in Education” research series, K-12 adoption of generative AI has increased significantly year-over-year, with 40% of teachers having recently started using AI tools (up from 16% in 2024). The same report indicates that nearly all administrators (96%) and a large majority of teachers (87%) believe AI will play an increasingly important role in education.
Despite the trend, educators are wary of potential problems, with 88% of school administrators and 87% of teachers saying that they believe there is a moderate to severe risk in using generative AI tools, and both figures rising 4% year-over-year. The same report indicates that among districts planning to use AI, there’s significantly increased demand for support for teachers, classroom tech and tutoring.
Under the draft order, federal agencies would be instructed to seek public-private partnerships with industry leaders, academic institutions and nonprofit organizations to develop programs teaching students “foundational AI literacy and critical thinking skills.” The order directs agencies to identify existing federal funding streams that could be repurposed for AI educational initiatives and to prioritize spending on AI education programs.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon would be tasked with prioritizing federal grant funding for teacher training on AI applications, including administrative uses and educational integration across subject areas. The draft order calls for professional development for all educators to incorporate AI tools into their teaching practices.
The draft executive order remains subject to revision before any potential signing by President Trump.
Image by April Bryant from Pixabay
