Trump Proposes New Executive Order to Incorporate Artificial Intelligence in K-12 School Curriculum
Schoolhouses across the United States often grapple with providing essentials like pencils and paper, but the new education secretary is attempting to fulfill President Trump's pledge to detach the federal government from education - except for stripping funds from universities that exercise free speech rights.
On a different note, AI is a different beast. A recent executive order focuses on incorporating AI in classrooms by funneling funds towards cultivating "AI literacy" among students and teachers. Titled "Empowering American Youth with Artificial Intelligence Education," the order emphasizes that AI is a driving force behind innovation, boosting productivity, and transforming the way we work and live.
The order highlights the importance of providing students with opportunities to learn and create cutting-edge AI technology to keep the United States at the forefront of the technological revolution. In drafting this new order, the Trump administration seems to be making a direct move in response to China, which recently announced plans to overhaul classrooms by integrating AI applications in textbooks and teaching curricula. Both nations are fiercely competing to maintain the lead in the artificial intelligence sector, hoping it will preserve their global influence.
The White House is forming a task force on AI education, including technology sector heavyweights like Michael Kratsios, the director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, and President Trump's advisor on crypto and AI, David Sacks. The task force will seek public-private partnerships with industry, academia, and nonprofit groups to promote AI education among students.
The order also instructs federal agencies to prioritize existing funding for AI programs and earmark funding for training teachers on how to use AI for administrative tasks, teacher training, and evaluation. All educators will undergo professional development to integrate AI into all subject areas.
A study by Microsoft and Carnegie Mellon University found that an individual's trust in AI assistants tends to decrease their critical thinking about these tools' conclusions. Concerns have been raised that new programmers do not fully understand how to code and are merely accepting answers given by coding bots, potentially bypassing fundamental knowledge needed to solve problems or formulate better solutions. Users on platforms like X have even relied on chatbots for counterarguments in debates without checking the factual accuracy of their statements.
While there's potential for AI to be a tremendous asset - for example, helping students search through expansive amounts of data quickly or translating old texts to English - it's essential to remain cautious. Notoriously tech-illiterate schools may struggle to implement AI effectively when many people still struggle to comprehend how AI models work or fear they are "thinking" because of their anthropomorphic design. As teachers battle to hold students' attention, it's challenging to find ways to integrate technology productively, even though there's an argument for smartphones being essential to productivity in the 21st century.
Education Secretary McMahon earned laughter when she confounded the term artificial intelligence with "A1," the steak sauce. Good luck implementing ChatGPT in 4th grade!
- The recent executive order aims to infuse AI into classrooms by channeling funds towards AI literacy, emphasizing AI as a driving force for innovation, productivity, and transformation in the future.
- The White House is assembling a task force on AI education, involving tech sector leaders like Michael Kratsios and David Sacks, with the goal of fostering AI education through public-private partnerships.
- A study by Microsoft and Carnegie Mellon University suggests that individual trust in AI assistants may lead to reduced critical thinking about the tools' conclusions and the potential for users to rely on chatbots without verifying factual accuracy.
- The integration of AI into education raises concerns about tech-illiterate schools effectively implementing AI and comprehension of how AI models function, given that many people struggle to understand AI and fear its anthropomorphic design.
