Trump’s Executive Order Spurs Federal Push for AI Literacy

Federal agencies are working to expand AI literacy across the current and future workforce through strategic partnerships, education initiatives and generative AI tools, following the Trump administration’s Advancing Artificial Intelligence Education executive order, senior leadership explained during the AI+ Expo in Washington, D.C. this month.

Labor Department Leads the Future AI Workforce

The Department of Labor will play a significant role in creating a strong AI literate workforce, Deputy Secretary Keith Sonderling told GovCIO Media & Research in an interview at the event.

“We could talk about staying competitive across the board and building AI, building that infrastructure here in the United States and being the global leader on artificial intelligence, but we need workers to do that,” said Sonderling. “We need a new generation of skilled and trained workers to be able to execute on the President’s plan.”

The first part of the plan aims to increase AI literacy in the K-12 education system. Sonderling said integrating information technology studies into the K-12 curriculum will ensure young learners are prepared for the future workforce.

“If we can start making these programs accessible to everyone in school and everyone having that baseline core literacy of AI … like they learn any anything else, that next generation of workforce will be ready for the job,” said Sonderling.

The second part of the AI literacy plan aims to help those currently in the workforce or looking to enter the workforce understand AI. Another executive order tasks the Labor Department, along with the Education and Commerce Departments, to “reach and surpass 1 million new active apprentices” in tech trade jobs.

Sonderling said through the Labor Department’s registered apprenticeship program, workers have an alternate pathway to break into the technology sector instead of attending a college or university. The apprenticeship program will rely on a strong partnership between the federal government and the private sector, removing regulatory barriers that have inhibited growth in past apprenticeship programs.

“Students right out of high school can potentially enter these tech companies … and they can earn while they’re learning as opposed to going to school and then waiting for six, seven years to get that job,” said Sonderling. “It takes a mindset shift for all of us, and we need buy-in from the educational institutions, from the state, from the workforce development agencies, and more importantly, we need buy-in from the tech companies.”

Energy, Labor Work Together to Foster AI Literacy

The Department of Energy and its 17 national labs will work with other federal agencies to advance the AI workforce. Acting Director for the Office of Science Harriet Kung said during the event that investing in the workforce will be key to America’s competitive edge in the emerging technology.

“We want to really increase AI literacy even down to the K-12 levels. All 17 DOE national laboratories as well as [DOE] AI experts are contributing to this call to action,” said Kung. “The workforce pipeline is really key to winning this race.”

Kung added that the Energy Department and the National Labs host students each year, from high school to post-doctoral, for internships and to provide hands-on experience for early career scientists.

“What’s so unique about the DOE system is that we allow the students and early career scientists to work side by side with world leading scientists and engineers,” said Kung. “These are people who can train and develop technologies and solve problems while working with scientists in the labs.”

State Department Empowers the Workforce with AI

Federal leaders are focusing on educating the current federal workforce on AI, in addition to bringing new AI talent in the door. Generative AI chatbots are one way agencies are helping their workforce understand AI and perform job duties better.

The Department of State’s Foreign Service Institute has developed an AI chatbot to give foreign affairs professionals real-time feedback on how they respond to questions.

Acting Deputy Director and Provost of the Foreign Service Institute Cassandra Lewis said during the event that the chatbot acts like a diplomat and engages students in real world conversations. Lewis said FSI teaches over 53 different languages to their workforce and are using the “Ambassador Bot” to help students learn faster.

“We have really leaned in to get the workforce to understand [what] AI is and to show them how they can use artificial intelligence to increase their ability to acquire language skills easily and quickly, even paired up with the use of our faculty,” said Lewis.