The White House announced the winners of its first Presidential AI Challenge, a nationwide competition aimed to spur students and teachers to solve problems in their schools and communities using artificial intelligence.
The student winners’ projects ranged from providing homework help and tackling bullying to assisting visually impaired people. Meanwhile, the teacher winners’ projects focused on introducing students to AI concepts through topics they’re already learning about.
“It is wonderful to see this very impressive group of innovators at the White House,” first lady Melania Trump said at the Presidential AI Challenge National Awards Ceremony at the White House on June 9. “I’m proud that you represent the best of America. You are our future.
“You saw AI’s potential and created ideas that will shape America’s future in many areas, including healthcare, nutrition, public safety, and beyond,” she said.
The Presidential AI Challenge, announced in August, invited K-12 students and educators to “solve real-world problems in their communities using AI-powered solutions.” More than 20,000 students participated across all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and 49 Department of Defense schools in 10 countries, according to the White House.
Student participants had to create a proposal for how AI technologies could be applied to address a community problem, or build a solution with AI that can help address that problem. Educators had to propose new and unique ways to teach an AI concept to their students or create an AI tool to manage an aspect of their classrooms that couldn’t be completed without the emerging technology.
Ed-tech experts applauded the challenge for providing an opportunity for students and teachers to find creative ways to use AI to solve problems.
“What it motivated, generally speaking, is something that I was excited to see, and that is getting students to actually start doing something,” said Karim Meghji, the president and CEO of CodeAI, formerly Code.org, a nonprofit focused on AI and computer science education. A big part of learning about AI is getting hands-on opportunities “to tinker with the technology,” he said.
Lisa O’Masta, the CEO of Learning.com, an ed-tech company focused on students’ digital skills, said she appreciated that the challenge “positioned all the winners as builders and problem-solvers, as opposed to users of a tool.”
The challenge highlighted students’ “readiness to participate in the workforce, readiness to solve community problems [using] emerging technologies with judgment,” she said.
But experts also raised concerns about whether the challenge truly taught students the foundational concepts they need to be responsible users and builders of AI.
“Many of the applications were on sensitive topics, things that would actually require students to understand some important pieces: privacy, bias, accuracy, human oversight,” said O’Masta. She questioned whether students fully examined the potential risks and unintended consequences of AI use.
“We have to spend the time and make sure that the administration focuses on making sure that these kids are understanding the ethics and the responsible aspect of this,” she said.
While hands-on experience is important, it should be paired with foundational knowledge, said Meghji.
“How do we learn about physics? We read a book, and then we go throw rocks up in the air, right?” Meghji said. “I feel like we threw rocks up in the air with the challenge. The question is: Did we connect it to foundational learning?”
The White House declined to comment on broader concerns about the challenge and AI literacy. However, the guidebook for participating in the Presidential AI Challenge included questions that require students to think about how their use of AI is appropriate and responsible.
EdWeek Research Center data show that many students are already being taught AI literacy.
Nearly 8 in 10 educators said high school students in their district are receiving lessons on what AI is and how to use it responsibly, according to a nationally representative survey of 499 teachers, principals, and district leaders conducted in December and January. Seventy-three percent said the same for students in 6th through 8th grades.
Trump administration’s push for AI comes amid screen time concerns
The Presidential AI Challenge is part of a broader effort by the White House to support AI integration into K-12 education.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order last year instructing federal agencies to take steps to teach students how to use AI, train teachers to incorporate it into their work, and partner with the private sector to develop relevant programs in schools.
At a White House event in March, billed as a global summit focused on AI in education, Melania Trump described a future in which children would be taught classical studies by an always available and ever patient robot named Plato.
AI and U.S. competitiveness in that sector have been a major focus of the Trump administration.
But not all Republicans appear to share the White House’s enthusiasm.
U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., along with U.S. Sen. Lisa Blunt Rochester, D-Del., has requested that the Government Accountability Office investigate the use of AI in schools—specifically on student achievement, teacher professional development, and special education.
Lawmakers in states led by both parties have been pushing for more regulation of AI in schools. For example, Utah recently passed a law that prohibits using AI for grading and for making “essential decisions” about students.
And in May, the U.S. surgeon general’s office (there is currently no permanent surgeon general) issued an advisory warning about excessive screen use among young people. It pointed to kids using AI-powered chatbots for companionship as being harmful to their physical and mental well-being.
Separately, Republican Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Josh Hawley of Missouri are pushing to regulate AI chatbots and restrict how children can access and use them.
These efforts to curb kids’ access to AI come against the backdrop of a broader backlash against technology in schools as parents raise concerns over the amount of time their kids are spending on screens in the classroom.
